Navigating Geopolitics: The Need for a Balanced and Nuanced Approach
The visit of Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe to Sri Lanka in late April 2021 – the second visit by a high ranking Chinese official since the pandemic – has raised…
International Relations
The Geneva Mess
The farcical arithmetic of the regime and its apparatchiks notwithstanding- that the abstentions should be counted as support for the regime and the majority of the world’s population is with it –…
Human Rights and “Foreign Interference” in Sri Lanka and Beyond
In the 1970s, an idealistic young medical student was seized during a US-backed military coup. She and her parents were tortured, as a result of which her father died. Her boyfriend, also…
Changing the Human Rights Discourse
As the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) winds its way in Geneva, it is now almost certain that the country specific resolution on Sri Lanka, presented by the…
UNHRC’s Ominous Warning
At its 46th sessions, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) will be debating the resolution on Sri Lanka that has many observations and recommendations. The recommendations made will pose a number of…
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…
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…
73 Years On – The “Neocolonial” Haze
If colonization is the exercise of hegemony, administrative control and the fundamental subjugation of one group of peoples to another, then the question for post-independent Sri Lanka should be whether or not…
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…
Calls to Hold Sri Lankan State to Account at UN Human Rights Council
The Sri Lankan government is likely to face an uncomfortable time at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in February-March 2021. Strong criticism can be expected, in the light of…
Extremist Democracy: Reflections on the January Rebellion
The propagation of extremism, the political patronage it receives and the fueling of division in society by extremist elements and their actions is the very antithesis of democracy and democratic principles. Extremist…
President Joe Biden’s Impact on the World and Sri Lanka
The result of the US presidential election of 2020 has far reaching consequences not only for the United States but also globally. Within the US, the outcome will surely benefit African American…
UN at 75: Time to Change Perceptions and Realise Potential
In 2020, the United Nations completes seven and half decades since its inauguration and since its Charter came into operation on October 24, 1945. Following the brutality of war and the misery…
Covid-19, 20th Amendment and the Shadow of Chinese Dominion
“ On October 7, Sri Lanka officially informed the United Nations that the government of Gotabaya Rajapaksas has successfully contained Covid-19. On October 7, 519 Covid-19 patients were identified in Sri Lanka.…
Sri Lanka and the UN: Retreating from Human Rights and Democracy
Concern is growing, at home and internationally, about increasing unwillingness among leaders – especially the president – to accept checks on the power exercised over the people of Sri Lanka. “I am…