SJB Charts a Clear Alternative National Security Policy
Subsequent to the recent release of the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter Attacks and after the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva had passed a resolution…
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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 –…
Why Language Matters
Sri Lanka’s post-colonial language policy was neither fair not desirable. A largely non-English speaking population was governed by a small class of English-speaking elite. Weary of being excluded from governance and public…
Vajira – the Creator of Children’s Ballets
Histories of the tri-traditional dances of Sri Lanka – Kandyan, Low Country and Sabaragamuwa – generally highlight a handful of pioneering women, point out their significance as the first female dancers on…
Protecting Human Rights and Ensuring Justice is the Duty of the State
On March 24, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador was saying mass in his church when he was brutally gunned down in front of a horrified congregation. The Archbishop of…
A UNHRC Resolution for Protecting Sri Lankans
The United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) passed a resolution on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka despite government opposition. This will allow ongoing monitoring of a situation that…
UNHRC Resolution: A Ray of Hope for Sri Lanka
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 the resolution, 11 members…
Preserving and Protecting Precious Water Sources
World Water Day 2021, at the start of a critical decade for climate action and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), opens with an outcry by stakeholders about the impacts of ongoing rampant deforestation…
Where Journalists Self-abduct and Ecocide is Green
To mark the Global Climate Action Day, the youth wing of the Wild Life and Nature Protection Society put up a massive mural decrying ecocide. The President’s environmental-loving soul was lacerated by…
When Crying in the Wilderness is Just Not Enough
“Knowledge is power: You hear it all the time but knowledge is not power. It’s only potential power. It only becomes power when we apply it and use it.” Jim Kwik These are…
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…
Tackling Police Torture Through A New Law
A Gazette notification was published on March 5 announcing proposed amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code. It creates the obligation for all magistrates in the country to visit police stations situated within…
Children as Propaganda: Let’s Protect Rather Than Penalise Child Soldiers
Kannan was ten when he joined the LTTE; he left when he was fourteen. His testimony on what he had experienced as a child soldier recruited against his will and forced into…
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…
COVID-19, Ethical Trade and Women Apparel Workers
It is one year since Sri Lanka went into lockdown. At a recent press briefing by women members of Sri Lanka Chamber of Garment Exporters, a member of the Joint Apparel Association…
