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…
Search Results for: torture
UNHRC’s Ominous Warning
At its 46th sessions, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) will be debating the resolution on Sri Lanka that has many observations and recommendations. The recommendations made will pose a number of…
Past is Prologue for Sri Lanka’s Journalists
Photo courtesy of Centre for American Progress Terror tore through me when I heard that my friend and editor of the Nation newspaper Keith Noyahr had been abducted. It was May 2008; civil…
Pressure on Government Mounts as Key UN Meeting Approaches
Pressure on the government is growing in the run-up to a United Nations Human Rights Council session in February-March 2021. People in Sri Lanka, diaspora members, human rights activists and officials and…
Sowing the Seeds of Conflict: Statement by UN Officials and Independent Experts
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 recently released report on Sri…
Does This Sound Familiar? Becoming Myanmar
The recent coup in Myanmar has created an interest in looking into the impact of military rule that began with the 1962 coup and continued up to 2011. Burma (now Myanmar) was…
Sri Lanka at 73 – Reaching Out to Liechtenstein!
“I was fascinated with the theme that we must make it happen together, which was perhaps said a countless number of times during your presentation. But Sri Lanka has a problem. We are…
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…
Living in Hell: The Plight of Prisoners Held Under the PTA
The findings of the National Study of Prisons undertaken by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka have been discussed in numerous articles since its publication in December 2020. The study was…
Calls to Hold Sri Lankan State to Account at UN Human Rights Council
The Sri Lankan government is likely to face an uncomfortable time at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in February-March 2021. Strong criticism can be expected, in the light of…
Not All Detainees Are Equal: Class, Ethnicity and the Prevention of Terrorism Act
Photo courtesy of InfoLanka Kanagasabai Thevathasan is a 64-year-old prisoner I met while I was at the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. Twelve years have passed since he was arrested, more…
We Will Not Forget
We will not forget Mullivaikkal, the shot, the strafed, the scissored, and the cluster-bombed. We will not forget holes in roofs, holes in water tanks, holes in heads. We will not…
Setting the Record Straight on Human Rights
Human rights is a much misunderstood and maligned concept in Sri Lanka. It is sometimes seen as a Western notion and not in keeping with the culture of the country. However, people…
A Cruel and Inhumane Prison System Needs Urgent Reform
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka conducted the first national study on the treatment and conditions of prisoners from February 2018 to January 2020. The findings of the report are very…
A Proposal for a New Chapter on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms in the Constitution
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…
