Criminalizing Sexual Harassment: Are We Doing Enough?
The law criminalizing sexual harassment could change very soon. A bill, which proposes to amend S. 345 of the Penal Code, has been gazetted. This is a welcome development. Yet amendments to…
Districts
Revisiting Ray Wijewardene at 100: Reality is Catching Up With His Vision
Ray Wijewardene (1924-2010) often quoted these words by the English poet Robert Browning, embedded in the poem Andrea del Sarto. An engineer, aviator, inventor, farmer and a public intellectual of the highest…
A Divided Government Verses a Diverse Opposition
With nominations for the September 21 presidential elections now completed, a survey of the political landscape provides an interesting picture. A record 39 candidates are in the fray but most of them…
Kings in Waiting
The most iconic moment at Nelson Mandela’s star studded memorial service was a handshake. As US President Barack Obama ran up to the podium under a light drizzle, a CNN reporter was…
A New Low In Bro Behaviour
Look up “schoolgirl” and “rape” and “Sri Lanka”. There are many stories which are posted by Google Search with those taglines. We have to refine the search for the most recent atrocity…
Long Standing and Emerging Conflicts Over Contested Religious Sites
The root causes of Sri Lanka’s 26 year civil war have yet to be addressed resulting in many consequences including exacerbating the issue of land conflicts and contestation related to places of…
Culture vs. Human Rights: Decriminalisation of Same-Sex Relationships in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s attempts to build an inclusive society through legislative moves that could result in greater equality for the minority LGBTIQ community have been met with opposition by the country’s religious leaders….
Most Sri Lankans Think Country is Moving in the Wrong Direction
The latest SLOTS polling for July 2024 shows that 72% of Sri Lankans continue to say that the country is heading in the wrong direction while only 8% believe it is on…
Seventy Five Years of the Geneva Conventions
In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, Groundviews conducted an in depth interview with Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, a distinguished human rights lawyer and former UN Under-Secretary-General. Dr. Coomaraswamy, renowned…
Celebrating the Adivasi of Sri Lanka
The Adivasi, historically known as the Veddas, are considered the indigenous people of Sri Lanka. They have lived on the island for millennia, maintaining a distinct ethnic identity and a way of…
The Status Quo Ante, A System Change Or Real Reforms
A few weeks ago, Sri Lankans were not certain if there would be a presidential election in 2024, with an alleged lack of clarity regarding the term of the president and a…
Sajith Premadasa Leads in Presidential Election Voting Intent
Institute for Health Policy’s (IHP) Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS) MRP provisional estimates of Presidential Election voting intent in all adults in June show that support for SJB leader Sajith Premadasa…
How to Preserve the Brand Value of Sri Lanka’s Wildlife Tourism
On August 1 Sri Lanka celebrates Sri Lankan Leopard Day, which will be observed annually following a proposal from the Wildlife and Nature Preservation Society of Sri Lanka (WNPS), the country’s oldest…
SJB Leads Among General Election Voters
The latest estimates from Institute for Health Policy’s (IHP) SLOTS MRP model show a decline in all adult voters’ support for NPP/JVP to 26% (-5 compared to the previous month) pushing SJB…
Leaving No Child Behind in the Fight Against Human Trafficking
The World Day Against Trafficking in Persons is observed on July 30 to raise awareness about human trafficking and to promote the rights of trafficking victims. The day was first observed in…