Photo by UN/Myriam Asmani, via World Education Blog The Grotius Lecture 2014[1] PREFACE Sometime at the end of 2011, while I was still the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General…
In 2009 , the then Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights (hence disbanded) ‘sought to remedy’ the many deficiencies that exist in the current fundamental rights chapter of the 1978 constitution.…
Photo courtesy What says the law? You will not kill. How does it say it? By killing! – Victor Hugo Rizana Nafeek’s execution on Wednesday (9th January) outraged many Sri Lankans. She…
Following the assassination of Neelan Tiruchelvam by the LTTE on 29 July 1999, in a spontaneous outpouring of grief and loss, friends and people with whom he worked, including from the institutions…
Photo courtesy Given the comments to the article I wrote on 19th May, I felt it was better to respond to them substantially. The first question point I raise is still debatable…
R Sampanthan is a Member of Parliament and leader of the Tamil National Alliance and Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi. Photo from vivatamils.2009 on Flickr. A visit to the Mayan exhibition in Paris…
The AI campaign ‘Play by the Rules’ is a trailblazer (http://web.amnesty.org/pages/lka-020407-petition-eng), in marketing terms AI must be exultant with the publicity that it has received globally and especially in Sri Lanka. For…
She stands tall at the heart of the British Museum’s South Asian exhibit. In all her gilded bronze glory, her eyes search passing spectators, although the jewels which once adorned them have…
Undeterred by the economic crisis, the government continues its attempts to enact regressive, repressive and counter-productive laws. The most recent is the Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill. Lack of legal definitions Persons to…
After temporarily living in Maldives, Singapore and Thailand, the previous President Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived back in his homeland in early September. Any Sri Lankan citizen, including a president who abandoned his post,…
In 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic devastated the world and under its malevolent cloak, Sri Lanka’s environment, wildlife and wilderness had to face some of the greatest threats they have ever had. Not…
This proposal for a new Chapter on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms in a future constitution was prepared in response to the public invitation to submit proposals to the Ministry of Justice Experts…
Featured image courtesy The Star “If they harm me, it is the country they harm.” The beautification of Gotabaya Rajapaksa is on full throttle. The names of his front organisations are indicative…
Photo by ISHARA S.KODIKARA/AFP, via How many of you can honestly say that you have never visited a pornography website? I don’t have the numbers, but if I had to guess, only…
The ‘divide and rule policy’ of the British colonial administration in Sri Lanka covertly took advantage of the country’s ethnic profile to appoint better educated Tamils in key government positions  to act…
