Photo courtesy NewsInAsia “…by tomorrow, everything will already look different; by tomorrow, everything will already feel different.” – Viktor Klemperer () It was October 1348. Bubonic plague, known to posterity as the…
26th March 2020 To: H.E. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Hon. Jayantha Jayasuriya, Chairman of the Judicial Services Commission, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of…
Photo: AFP, Ishara S. Kodiikara via Nominations for the parliamentary elections of 2020 closed late last week and barely an hour after the close of nominations, the Elections Commission made its widely…
Image courtesy WHO Frank M Snowdon (Epidemics and Society – from the Black Death to the Present) This week, Chinese authorities heaped praise on ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, absolving him of the charge…
Image courtesy The Economist As unprecedented events unfold due to the pandemic caused by the novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19), misinformation can be deadly. This is a brief guide to the pandemic,…
“If you are not in favour of legal abortion, then you are in favour of illegal abortion” Prof. Arulkumaran On October 28, 2012, Savita Halappanavar, a young Indian dentist, died in Ireland…
“I was taken to hospital without my consent. They restrained me when I refused to be medicated, and gave me an injection to sedate me. I had a full-time job, supporting my…
The term “sustainable development” has been increasingly used among the global community since the 1992 Rio Summit. To achieve this, environmental conservation, supported at a policy level, is crucial. Yet energy production…
In an article a few weeks ago, I argued that an embryo is a person with dignity and rights, and that this must change how we see both abortion pregnancy. There were…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that close to 800,000 people die by suicide each year, with the majority of deaths occurring in low-income and middle-income countries. Many more attempt suicide. Suicide…
Photograph: Paul Mezzer/FRF/Getty via The Irish Times From well-intentioned comments about our weight and skin colour, to the insidious experience of being followed as we walk on the street, women are wearily…
The government of Sri Lanka recently announced plans to widen the scope of the law on abortion. This initiative was subsequently put on hold because of strong opposition from religious leaders and…
Image courtesy Asia Society I once came into contact with a woman on account of a professional relationship we had. We had met to discuss her prolonged absence from work. With a…
It’s 10:30 am at the Social Institute for the Development of Plantation Sector (SIDPS) pre-school on the Strathspey estate in Maskeliya. The children, most of them around five years old, queue up…
In Sri Lanka, doctors and students have been protesting for months, requesting the government to shut down the private South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM), the only private university in Sri Lanka currently…
