Criminalizing Sexual Harassment: Are We Doing Enough?
The law criminalizing sexual harassment could change very soon. A bill, which proposes to amend S. 345 of the Penal Code, has been gazetted. This is a welcome development. Yet amendments to…
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Kings in Waiting
The most iconic moment at Nelson Mandela’s star studded memorial service was a handshake. As US President Barack Obama ran up to the podium under a light drizzle, a CNN reporter was…
A New Low In Bro Behaviour
Look up “schoolgirl” and “rape” and “Sri Lanka”. There are many stories which are posted by Google Search with those taglines. We have to refine the search for the most recent atrocity…
Culture vs. Human Rights: Decriminalisation of Same-Sex Relationships in Sri Lanka
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….
Tensions Rise Over Rights Violations as Elections Approach
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…
Will the Real Wickremesinghe, Premadasa and Dissanayake Please Stand Up?
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…
Meta-Real: Provoking Thought on Reconciliation, Healing and Change
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…
The Post Aragalaya Political Trajectory
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…
Political Storms, Imagined and Real
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…
Impact of Reforming Labour Laws
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…
Constitutional Governance and the Independence of the Judiciary
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…
The War Against Words
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…
Postponing Elections and Voting Dilemmas
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…
Sri Lanka Falls Short in its Responsibilities Towards Refugees and Asylum Seekers
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…
Lending Sri Lanka’s Voice to the Palestinian Cause
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…
