Sri Lanka’s attempts to build an inclusive society through legislative moves that could result in greater equality for the minority LGBTIQ community have been met with opposition by the country’s religious leaders.…
The regime has declared its defiance of a Supreme Court order, increasing tensions over violations of democratic and broader human rights, as Sri Lanka prepares for elections. Those in charge have repeatedly…
With the Presidential election slated for September 21, three leading candidates stand out: the incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW), the leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa (SP) and the leader of the…
Prof. Chandraguptha Thenuwara’s annual memorial exhibition to commemorate Black July is showing at the Saskia Fernando gallery. serves as a link between past and present, providing a reflective examination of Sri Lanka’s…
This month marks the second anniversary since former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted in a mass uprising. The 2022 March to July mass protest wave was truly an extraordinary event in Sri…
Two years ago, on July 20, 2022, the Sri Lankan parliament voted to elect a successor president to Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The SLPP put its full weight behind Ranil Wickremesinghe; even a parliamentarian…
Labour law reforms are drawing strong resistance from local and transnational labour and civil society groups. The Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment, Manusha Nanayakkara, presented an Employment Draft Bill to the…
The president’s speech in parliament last week raises serious concerns about his own understanding of the workings of the Constitution and his own commitment to constitutional governance and the independence of the…
Had writer V.V. Ganeshananthan lived in Jaffna instead of New York, she would have been summoned by Sri Lanka’s Counter Terrorism Investigative Division (CTID) and grilled for a couple of hours over…
The recent suggestion by United National Party (UNP) General Secretary Range Bandara to hold a referendum to postpone elections by two years caused an outcry and was quickly denied by senior UNP…
In 2023, the number of refugees and asylum seekers (those with pending refugee applications) in the world increased about 8.75% from 45.9 million to 50.3 million, according to statistics of the UN…
Although Sri Lanka is a world away from Palestine local activists, motivated by the slaughter and suffering that the Palestinian people are undergoing in their own land each day, are carrying out…
As both a developing nation and a biodiversity hotspot, Sri Lanka has to tread a delicate balance between conservation and development. The recent decision to degazette portions of the Vidattaltivu Nature Reserve…
When the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was hosted by India a couple of months ago everybody sat up and took notice, especially those old enough to recall that once-revolutionary movement’s strident, even…
Thousands of people gathered in a hot, dusty field in Mullavaikkal in the Mullaitivu district to mark the end of the bloody civil war on May 19, 2009. The area was dotted…
