Where is Kindness in Our COVID-19 Health Policy?
Photo courtesy of Sri Lanka Mirror Today is World Health Day Towards end of March, about two months into the pandemic, a TV program discussed the challenges of the pandemic response with…
Politics and Governance
UNHRC Resolution: A Ray of Hope for Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy of Oneindia The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka” was adopted with 22 members of the council voting in favour of…
Human Rights and “Foreign Interference” in Sri Lanka and Beyond
Photo courtesy of Voice of America 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…
Past is Prologue for Sri Lanka’s Journalists
Photo courtesy of Centre for American Progress (A briefer version of this article was published in the UK Guardian on March 4.) In the thrall of an increasingly authoritarian presidency, Sri Lanka needs courageous…
Geneva and Other Fateful Trysts
Image courtesy of Films for Action “There will be no investigation in the country…because I will oppose it…. Whether it is United Nations or any other country [sic] we are, I am…
A Statement on the PCoI on Political Victimisation
Image Courtesy of News First I am going to explain about the Commission on Political Victimisation established by President Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The Commission was set up to investigate acts of political…
Sowing the Seeds of Conflict: Statement by UN Officials and Independent Experts
Image courtesy of United Nations 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…
Sri Lanka: Government Suffocating Dissent and Obstructing Justice for Historic Crimes
Image courtesy of Amnesty International 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…
HRC46: Not for Reform But for Respite
Image Courtesy of AP News 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…
The Defence Secretary and the President
Photo Courtesy of BBC News Sri Lanka is led by a man who has, by his admission, two faces. In a more democratic avatar is Gotabaya Rajapaksa the President. Here, the individual…
Cult and its Heretics
Image Courtesy of Women Working “The sleep of reason produces monsters.” –Goya (Title of the 43rd etching in the Los Caprichos series) The tyranny of unreason does not stop at the borders…
2020: The Highlights
Photo Courtesy of Sanjaya Eknaligoda Click here to see full story or click below.
The Void in the Nation’s Heart
Photo Courtesy of Women Missing Voices “After the war in 2009, society became divided into two. There was hate propaganda on the internet. Sinhalese got together and wanted to boycott Muslims shops…This…
Military Drones Flying Over Privacy and Freedom
Photo Courtesy of Sri Lanka Army 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…
Nonsense Upon Stilts? Revisiting Justifications of Presidentialism In Sri Lanka
Photo Courtesy of Daily News With the enactment of the Twentieth Amendment, Sri Lanka embarks yet again down the fraught path of authoritarian presidentialism. Whether this latest adventure ends in a democratic…
