Ensuring Political Stability for Economic Recovery
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) calling the IGP and the Army Commander for questioning about the failure to prevent the attack on peaceful demonstrators on May 9 is an…
Author: Basil Fernando
People’s Uprising for System Change
April and May 2022 will be remembered as the most important months in the post-independence era. During this short period the much hoped for people’s awakening expressed itself powerfully. People who wielded…
The Need to Restore Judicial Review
Many discussions are taking place concerning the issue of restoring democracy by way of undoing the executive presidential system. As a way of achieving this, the suggestion is for the abolition of…
Abolishing PTA is the Only Way Out
Justice The Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) (Amendment) Bill, a bill to amend the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 (PTA), has been gazetted by the order of…
The Essentials of Participatory Constitution Making
Sri Lanka has entered into a period of crisis that is worse than it has ever faced in recent history. The economic and financial crises will last for a long time even…
Desmond Tutu: The Man Who Revived the Moral Universe
Archbishop Desmond Tutu who passed away this week will be counted among the great human beings who contributed to the political transformation of his own country and a person who revolutionised the…
The Need for People’s Participation in Constitution Making
A fake constitution alters the rules of logic that are the basic foundations of a good constitution. The change of logic leads to irrationality. The spread of irrationality into public institutions creates…
Downgrading Human Rights Commission No Remedy for Victims
The recommendation to downgrade Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) from Grade A to Grade B by the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights,…
The Constitutional Roots of the Problem of Disappearances
There is a bagful of tricks that Sri Lankan governments have been using when it comes to the issue of revealing the truth and providing justice to the families of the disappeared.…
One Country, One Law; No Law Enforcement, No Law
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s appointment of Presidential Task Force mandated to implement the One Country, One Law concept, headed by radical monk Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera, is a clear indication that another period of…
Beware: The Third Readymade Constitution is Coming Soon
Professor G.L. Peiris has announced that the drafting process of the Constitution is over and that the text is ready. He said that it was to be presented to the Parliament in…
Proposed Amendment to Criminal Code is a Grave Setback for Human Rights
The proposed Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979 will open up a Pandora’s box of serious abuses. In essence what…
New Mechanisms Required to Ensure Justice for the Disappeared
Today of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances “Sri Lanka has the world’s second-highest number of cases registered with the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.…
From Fantasy to Nightmare: The Myth of Absolute Power
After many years of being a politician in various capacities, J.R. Jayewardene had come to the conclusion that if he could rule all by himself without any restraints, he could do a…
People’s Resilience and Judicial Independence
The people of Sri Lanka, like those in several other countries, are learning that their past could cost them their lives and the lives of their loved ones and those of many…