Powerful and Connected? Go to the Head of the Queue
Photo courtesy of Think Global Health After much persuading from friends I finally went to get my Covid vaccine. The whole of last week I tried to book a time and place…
Human Rights
The Case of the Poet Without a Voice
Photo courtesy of WSWS “We will grit our teeth and with submission to god, wait, even if the adversary aims at us the stone in the catapult sling, and aims the arrow…
Won the “War” but Lost the Law
Calling a civil conflict or a civil war, a war itself, is very misleading. Wars are fought with external enemies. However, civil conflict or a civil war is a fight that takes…
Why States Must Not be Left to Their Own Devices
Image Courtesy of The Sunday Observer It is a curious thing to imagine the state of human rights around the world if national leaders were simply left to their own devices. Fortunately,…
Burqa Ban Undermines National Security and Human Rights
Photo courtesy of The Telegraph The Sri Lankan Cabinet has agreed a ban on wearing burqas and other full face veils in public, which is almost certain to be approved by Parliament….
Freedom of Expression: Where Do We Stand?
Photo courtesy of Sri Lanka Brief Today is World Press Freedom Day with the theme “Information as a Public Good” “Stifling the peaceful expression of legitimate dissent today can only result, inexorably, in…
Ramadan with a Ban: Face Masks On, Niqabs Off
Photo courtesy of Twitter Ramadan for many of us Muslims is a month of peace and spirituality, a month of tolerance, speaking good words, sharing good thoughts and connecting with God and…
Commissions of Inquiry: Grave Threat to Democracy and Judicial Independence
Photo courtesy of Sri Lanka Mirror Several initiatives have already been taken to implement the recommendations of the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into political victimization (the CoI) including…
From Cradle to Grave, the LGBTIQ Community is Oppressed at Every Turn
Photo courtesy of Roar Media Sri Lankan society is structured on strict gender roles and responsibilities where anything different to heteronormative and binary gender standards is considered abnormal, deviant and deserving of…
Muslims and Market Monopolies: Unpacking a Prejudice
Photo courtesy of South China Morning Post In Sri Lanka, both mainstream and social media often portray Muslims in a negative light. This portrayal draws from pre-existing prejudices towards Muslims. These prejudices…
Denying Justice While Dehumanizing a Community at Large
Photo courtesy of Shreen Saroor Thirty-one people died in the suicide attack on Zion evangelical church in Batticaloa on April 21, 2019, of which 14 were children. To date the church remains…
Disabled Rights as Human Rights – Fighting for Recognition and Acceptance
Photo courtesy of the Sunera Foundation Not so long ago, to be a person with disabilities meant stigma, exclusion and isolation because people are disabled by society and not just by their…
Romanticising Resilience: Why the Struggle to Survive Should not Become a Way of Life
Resilient is a word frequently used by human rights activists and the development sector, to describe persons affected by war and violence. In Sri Lanka, the mothers of the disappeared are…
Fear in the East: What Lies Beneath
They joke of being followed by intelligence officers and questioned on who visited them and what they spoke about but underneath lies a real fear of being intimidated, harassed and threatened when…
12 Years Later, the War Affected in the East Struggle On Without Land and Housing
Thennamaravadi is an isolated rural village some 65 kilometres north of Trincomalee on the Pulmoddai Road. The inhabitants rely mostly on farming and fishing to make a livelihood. They have some livestock…