Long Way to Go on Rights for All
In an oral update session on progress in Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka Maarit Kohonen Sheriff, Director of the Global Operations Division in the Office of the UN High Commissioner for…
Author: Savitri Hensman
At End of Extraordinary Year, Hopes and Uncertainties on Rights
In mid-November last year the National People’s Power (NPP) centre left coalition won a landslide victory in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election after its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake was voted president in September….
Building on Hope, Gaining Trust: Challenges for a New Government
Elections can be times of hope, offering the possibility of a fresh start, yet also bring deep divisions to the surface. Sri Lanka is one of several countries where in 2024 voters…
Truth, Reconciliation and Interim Secretariat
A recent UN Human Rights Council session raising grave concerns about the situation in Sri Lanka, including a report by High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, was the focus of a…
Time for Sri Lanka to Chart a New Course on Human Rights
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged Sri Lanka to break from the past and chart a new course. Addressing the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council…
Tensions Rise Over Rights Violations as Elections Approach
The regime has declared its defiance of a Supreme Court order, increasing tensions over violations of democratic and broader human rights, as Sri Lanka prepares for elections. Those in charge have repeatedly…
Still Seeking Accountability 15 Years Later
Failure to hold the powerful accountable for misusing their power and inflicting damage on other people has harmed large numbers of Sri Lankans. This has been pointed out across the country and…
Human Rights Council Updated on Regime’s Abuses
“Sustainable peace and reconciliation will not be achieved in Sri Lanka with regressive laws and authoritarian approaches, which will only serve to perpetuate the human rights concerns of the past,” said Volker…
Further Rights Violations Draw International Scrutiny
People suspected of using illegal drugs are among the latest Sri Lankans to find their rights under attack from the regime. So are those sharing news and views online that might suddenly…
75 Years On, UDHR’s Relevance in Sri Lanka and Beyond
On December 10, 1948 the UN General Assembly adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Drawing on grim experience of how misuse of power caused massive destruction and suffering and reflecting…
Palestine and Israel, International Law and Sri Lanka’s Grim Experience
Recent events in the Middle East have left people throughout the world horrified, especially since so many of the injured and killed have been children. Those with widely varying backgrounds and beliefs…
Strong Criticism and Weak Excuses: Sri Lanka at HRC
On the opening day of the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on September 11, member states were considering yet another report detailing abuses by the Sri Lankan regime….
Government Attacked for Lack of Accountability Ahead of HRC Sessions
Lack of accountability by the powerful undermines the rights of numerous Sri Lankans, according to a hard-hitting report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk. The situation of…
Forty years On: Denial, Remembrance, Resistance and Hope
The horrific events of July 1983, when a wave of state organised arson and murder against Tamils left many dead, displaced or traumatised, shocked people in Sri Lanka and internationally. Many people…
Government’s Feeble Response to UN Human Rights Review
Numerous ways in which human rights failings harming Sri Lankans should be set right were flagged up on July 10 by the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC). This was part of…