Last week witnessed the coming to the fore of the deep divisions within the governing alliance as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa sacked two Cabinet Ministers, Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpilla, and laid bare…
With the misuse of laws, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which are aimed at protecting the rights of citizens but are actually used to stifle them,…
While returning from Vavuniya to Colombo, I stopped to purchase fruit from a roadside vendor near Anuradhapura and got into a conversation with her about the country’s most pressing issue – the…
The Sri Lankan government was never likely to find the scrutiny of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in March 2022 a comfortable experience. In a discussion delayed because of the…
The gold balloon tubes spelling out the words “welcome back” still hang in the living room, swaying in the gentle breeze one month after he finally returned home, a stark reminder of…
As elegant old buildings and diverse neighbourhoods disappear before our eyes, sacrificed on the altar of development, a group of people came together in 2018 to initiate the We Are From Here…
Sri Lanka has reached out to the Russian Federation owing to the growing national crisis in the country, a national crisis that involves foreign exchange, fuel, power and of course basic essentials…
The laudable theme of this year’s World Wildlife Day is Ecosystem Restoration. What a noble ideal but is it applicable to Sri Lanka? In the last two years, the country has seen…
The onset of the bi-annual sessions of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), in which Sri Lanka features prominently on the agenda through UNHRC Resolution 46/1, contributes to several local activities….
There has been some progress on aspects of human rights in Sri Lanka in the past year according to a key United Nations report but major failings remain and, on some matters,…
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…
The Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 as amended (PTA) has terrorised many Sri Lankans for over four decades. I have also been detained under the PTA, faced…
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…
