In the 11 months just past, several media reports were busy portraying the events in the trial of Danushka Gunathilaka, the Sri Lankan cricketer charged with sexual assault and violence against a…
In the precolonial period of country’s long history, much of organised life was impacted from inter kingdom wars, natural events, harsh climate, hierarchical attitude and behaviour of provincial rulers, and the demands…
Sri Lanka, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, has been facing multiple and endless crises for decades. Effective solutions must be found to resolve the political, economic, cultural and relationship issues between the…
The draft of Sri Lanka’s Online Safety Act, published last week, is draconian, dangerous, and it should come as no surprise, also dumb. I’ve not studied any vocal support of the draft,…
There are two reasons that motivated me to select this topic. The first is my desire to share with you my conviction that the ruling idea of university in Sri Lanka needs…
On September 15, the government published an Anti-Terrorism Bill, referred to as the ATA. The Bill is presented as a revision of an earlier version that was gazetted in March 2023, when…
The government’s proposed National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) has come in for criticism from a leading international human rights organisation, which also condemns the ongoing persecution of victims’ families, human rights…
It was the spring of infatuation. Millions of Sinhala voters saw Gotabaya Rajapaksa the way he saw himself, a colossus among men, a king reborn. He and his acolytes had spent much…
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.…
We at the BCIS began to conceptualize and plan this publication on the experience of democracy in our country at a time when the Sri Lankan people were on the verge of…
Sri Lanka’s health system continues to face extreme challenges in the aftermath of the economic crisis and continued lack of health system strengthening. While some of the urgent threats such as power…
The issue of female labor force participation in Sri Lanka has remained a subject of discussion for several decades yet tangible progress in improving it has been elusive. As the country grapples…
Perhaps I have been a little provocative in my choice of title. It’s not Sri Lanka that has a Channel 4 problem, it’s the Sri Lankan government. But in this corner of…
Between August 1989 and January 1990, 48 school children in Embilipitiya were abducted and murdered. Several of their bodies were found in a mass grave nearby. Some of the perpetrators, including military…
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…
