Anti-Terrorism Bill Version 2.0: Still Worse Than the PTA
On September 15, the government published an Anti-Terrorism Bill, referred to as the ATA. The Bill is presented as a revision of an earlier version that was gazetted in March 2023, when…
Peace and Conflict
Human Rights Watch Questions Credibility of Proposed Truth Commission
The government’s proposed National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) has come in for criticism from a leading international human rights organisation, which also condemns the ongoing persecution of victims’ families, human rights…
Unthinking Nation
It was the spring of infatuation. Millions of Sinhala voters saw Gotabaya Rajapaksa the way he saw himself, a colossus among men, a king reborn. He and his acolytes had spent much…
Strong Criticism and Weak Excuses: Sri Lanka at HRC
On the opening day of the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on September 11, member states were considering yet another report detailing abuses by the Sri Lankan regime.…
Re-Imagining Democracy in Sri Lanka
We at the BCIS began to conceptualize and plan this publication on the experience of democracy in our country at a time when the Sri Lankan people were on the verge of…
Sri Lanka’s Channel 4 Problem
Perhaps I have been a little provocative in my choice of title. It’s not Sri Lanka that has a Channel 4 problem, it’s the Sri Lankan government. But in this corner of…
Jagath Weerasinghe: I Have No Art That Will Make You Comfortable
Between August 1989 and January 1990, 48 school children in Embilipitiya were abducted and murdered. Several of their bodies were found in a mass grave nearby. Some of the perpetrators, including military…
Government Attacked for Lack of Accountability Ahead of HRC Sessions
Lack of accountability by the powerful undermines the rights of numerous Sri Lankans, according to a hard-hitting report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk. The situation of…
If Only the Trees Could Speak Justice Could be Served
Sachithanandam Padmaranjani has been waiting for 14 years to hear news about her husband whom she handed over to the army in May 2009. Padmaranjani, who fled into the army controlled area…
Why Sri Lanka Has Descended into Chaos and the Way Forward Part 1
Sri Lanka is passing through a turbulent time in terms of its economy, society, governance, community cohesion, cultural spirit and ethos. After the political and social upheaval generated by the lack of…
We Want Nothing But Justice Say Families of the Forcibly Disappeared
On September 5, excavations will begin on a mass grave found in the Kokkuthoduvai area of Mullaituvu in accordance with a court order. The new mass grave is one of around 32…
Poetry and Photography Reveal the North’s War Trauma
Sarath Chandrajeewa’s first impressions of Jaffna came from his father’s stories about the north where he was stationed as a police officer. His father spoke of the friendliness of Jaffna people, their…
Pyromaniacs on the March
“Patriotism,” wrote Ambrose Bierce in is “The combustible rubbish ready to the torch of anyone ambitious to illuminate his name.” Patriotism is not the last refuge of the scoundrel, as Samuel Johnson…
Batalagoda Rubber Estate Workers Fight for Basic Rights
The Batalagoda private estate is situated in the Ibbagamuwa Divisional Secretariat of the Kurunegala district. Its entrance is about three kilometres from the Pangolla junction on the Dambulla-Kurunegala road and is easily…
An Alternate View of the People’s Struggle Through the Camera Lens
A short documentary film, The People’s Voice Is Louder, featuring the works of four lens-based practitioners from different parts of the country captures the energy, passion and desperation of the people’s uprising…
