2021: The Year in Review
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…
Human Security
Pattani Razeek’s Abduction and Killing – An 11 Year Wait for Justice
On 11 February 2010, Pattani Razeek, a former Grama Niladhari (Village Official), a former Managing Trustee of the Community Trust Fund (CTF) and an Executive Committee Member of the Asian Forum for…
Committing Ecocide: The Desecration of a Green and Pleasant Land
Whenever President Gotabaya Rajapaksa embarks on a “discussion with the villagers” visit, Sri Lanka’s environmental defenders shudder in anticipation of yet another verbal executive order resulting in the destruction of more trees,…
A Tough Time for Human Rights
On February 26, the Sri Lankan government withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1, which Sri Lanka endorsed in 2015. The resolution commits Sri Lanka to ensuring truth, justice and reconciliation…
Military Drones Flying Over Privacy and Freedom
Many are familiar with drone technology as a highly advanced aerial technology. Drones have become increasingly useful for organizations such as the United Nations to provide relief and essential items including food…
Human-Elephant Conflict in Sri Lanka – Undoing Thousands of Years of Coexistence
The elephant is a symbol of pride, and of cultural and religious significance to Sri Lankans. They have been a feature of attraction, bringing large numbers of tourists to Sri Lanka’s National…
Stopping the Landslide
Basil Rajapaksa (Daily FT – 29.7.2020) Basil Rajapaksa is the Rajapaksa family’s thinking man. Unlike his brothers and nephews, he doesn’t shoot his mouth off. His remarks should be taken seriously, because,…
COVID-19: The Need to Choose Lives Over Politics in Sri Lanka
Although Sri Lanka managed to control the initial COVID-19 outbreak, the country is now at a critical juncture where political and public health priorities are at odds. There is an election scheduled…
When the Pandemic is a Portal to Militarization
Image courtesy the “11 years later: Back on the Frontlines, Fighting for You” announced an article by Gagani Weerakoon on Ceylon Today on the 23rd of May. She went on to draw…
Scapegoating the Muslims: From Aluthgama to Post-Easter Sunday to COVID-19
Photo via To date in Sri Lanka 9 persons are said to have died of Covid-19 and out of these 4 are Muslims. At least 02 of these victims’ families believe their…
Ramzy Razeek: An extraordinary struggle for an ordinary life of service upended by an arrest
Image courtesy Ramzy Razik was arrested on April 9, 2020 at his home off Katugasota in Kandy by the CID. The next day, he was produced before the Colombo Magistrate where the…
The President in the Pandemic
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…
Poignant Short Stories
Image courtesy The following two short stories were sent in by Tara Kumarasinghe. She is “writing on behalf of the ‘invisible demographics’ in an attempt at social commentary to ensure corona doesn’t…
Releasing Prisoners to prevent spread of COVID-19 in prisons
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…
A bell tolls for the world
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…