Legal System Damaged by Illegal Arrests and Detentions
Illegal arrests and illegal detentions do not only harm individuals – they also cause irreparable damage to the legal system as a whole. The recent wave of arrests of those who participated…
Author: Basil Fernando
Widespread Arrests Used to Intimidate the Population
From all parts of the country, there are reports of arrests of people who participated in the protests that erupted against the hardships caused by the economic meltdown. For months people made…
A New Era of Politics Begins
A peaceful mass uprising on July 9 has brought about the end of a political era that started with the promulgation of the 1978 constitution of Sri Lanka, a constitution that completely…
Good Governance, Bad Governance and No Governance
Good governance means a system of governance that ensures economic efficiency guaranteeing economic stability throughout a nation. This economic efficiency can only be brought about by the observance of transparency, accountability and…
Wild Politics and Brutal Policing
Police brutality is very much a normal part of the abnormal way of life that exists in Sri Lanka just as attacks by wild elephants have become an usual part of life…
For a Change-Making 21st Amendment
The key objective of the 21st Amendment is to undo the undemocratic powers of the executive president and to expand the space for better governance. This would imply that no attempt will…
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…
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.…