The Deception Continues
On February 24, after the Interactive Dialogue on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) when the burial issue dominated discussion of Sri Lanka’s respect for minority rights, the government…
Human Rights
Waiting for Godot: A Story of 600 Acres in Mullikulam
Three years ago, the villagers of Mullikulam in the Mannar district left behind their brick homes with water, toilets and beds to camp out in tents on the land they called home.…
For Families of the Disappeared, the International Community is Their Last Hope
It is a small shed with cement brick walls and an asbestos roof facing a dusty street. Car horns blare and trucks rattle past. Outside on a weedy patch of grass three…
Braving Harsh Repression, Human Rights Defenders in the North Soldier On
The sentiments are unanimous. Under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency and government, Sri Lanka’s human rights defenders in the north are being threatened, harassed and intimidated on a scale never experienced before. Interviews…
Pressure on Government Mounts as Key UN Meeting Approaches
Pressure on the government is growing in the run-up to a United Nations Human Rights Council session in February-March 2021. People in Sri Lanka, diaspora members, human rights activists and officials and…
Sowing the Seeds of Conflict: Statement by UN Officials and Independent Experts
Former UN officials and independent experts call on the international community to take immediate steps towards justice and accountability to end Sri Lanka’s cycles of violence. The recently released report on Sri…
Richard
Animals continue to crack in Sri Lanka, Richard. Lions don’t exist in the natural state, nor tigers roam through the brush. Elephants, yes, are still around, mostly straggly survivors in an orphanage…
Sri Lanka: Government Suffocating Dissent and Obstructing Justice for Historic Crimes
Amnesty International Press Release: The Sri Lankan Government has launched a renewed crackdown on dissent that is severely curtailing civil society freedom and obstructing efforts to deliver justice for conflict-era crimes under…
Does This Sound Familiar? Becoming Myanmar
The recent coup in Myanmar has created an interest in looking into the impact of military rule that began with the 1962 coup and continued up to 2011. Burma (now Myanmar) was…
HRC46: Not for Reform But for Respite
Why do Sri Lankan human rights advocates repeatedly place their trust in an imperfect and highly politicised inter-state human rights mechanism year after year? For many of us working in the domain…
Repairing the Past Through Gendered Reparations
The transitional justice process in Sri Lanka has come to a grinding halt. Reconciliation between the majority and minority communities has never before seemed such a distant dream as the government goes…
Eradicating the Barbaric Practice of Female Genital Mutilation
In a tribal region of Afghanistan, a sad 10 year old girl, heavily made up and veiled, sits silently at her wedding ceremony to a 70 year old man. In a rural…
Loved Ones Lost: The Pain Behind Forced Cremations
Sri Lanka continues to maintain its policy of mandatory cremations for those who have died due to COVID-19, deeply distressing the Muslim community whose faith prohibits cremation. The science, the faith, the…
The Descent Into a Kafkaesque World
Sri Lanka will celebrate its 73rd independence anniversary on February 4 but for many years now, the day has become one to recount failures and the loss of achievements made during the…
Human Rights Advocates Urge Strong Resolution on Sri Lanka at Human Rights Council
Photo courtesy of Global Centre for Responsibility to Protect International and local human rights advocates urged the UN Human Rights Council’s Core Group for Sri Lanka not to be fooled into presenting a…