In November 2012 a massacre took place at Welikada Closed Prison in Colombo during which 27 imprisoned persons were killed. On January 13, 2022 one of the three persons charged, Emil Ranjan…
Sri Lanka’s apparel workers, mostly female, provide an important contribution to the country’s economy. In 2019, apparel exports amounted to $5.2 billion, almost 40% of all exports. The industry provides direct employment…
“A crisis of this magnitude can lead to renewal or destruction…” Ariel Dorfman (The last September 11) Perhaps England’s Henry II did not quite say, “Will no one rid me of…
The former Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, emphasized that terrorism strikes at the very heart of everything the UN stood for and it was a global threat to democracy, the…
Protection and justice for the people of Sri Lanka will be discussed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) at its 49th session from February 28 to April 1. In the…
Nearly three years have passed since the deadly 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. While failing to prosecute the actual perpetrators, the state has singlehandedly used the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) as a…
“Sri Lanka has the world’s second-highest number of cases registered with the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Since the 1980s, an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 people from all…
Another year, another pre-Geneva scramble. At the brink of economic collapse and desperate to maintain GSP+ trade status with the EU, the Sri Lankan government finally feels the heat. Enough, that is,…
A common theme running through this year’s Colomboscope, entitled Language is Migrant, is the enduring consequences of Sri Lanka’s civil war as seen through the eyes of several young artists based in…
December 19, 2021. Jaffna town. 6 am. Three motorcycles parked one behind the other at an angle with headlights on. Two armed military personnel, clad in black, on each motorcycle. Women headed…
While Sri Lanka grapples with an inevitable economic meltdown, the international community has not forgotten the country’s obligations to move towards a reconciled society through the process of transitional justice. One of…
Sri Lanka’s return to terror came on April 21, 2019 with the bombing of three hotels and three churches that killed 267 people and injured about 500. The trial of 25 men…
Thirty years after ratifying the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNRC) in 1991, child protection is a national crisis in Sri Lanka. Over the past 16 months, 10…
Desmond Tutu was a black, South African, Christian male but in a world where colour, caste, class, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, sexuality and gender matter, he transcended all of that to be a…
2020 flowed into 2021 with a continued air of uncertainty due to the unrelenting spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The third wave saw cases and deaths rise exponentially, taking the country’s healthcare…
