IMF should oppose restrictions on freedom of expression, Civil Society Groups join The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should urge Sri Lanka’s government to abandoned draft legislation that would severely curtail civil society and jeopardise the IMF’s program in the country, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the IMF that was released today. The […]

Sri Lankan governments do not respond to early warnings and thereby invite trouble. The Easter Sunday carnage (2019) could have been prevented if the Sirisena-Wickramesinghe  government had heeded repeated intelligence warnings of impending terror attacks. It let the grass grow under its feet, and disaster struck. It has now been revealed that the Gotabaya Rajapakse […]

Volcker Türk, UN High commissioner for Human Rights presents update on human rights situation in Sri Lanka Two years ago, tens of thousands of Sri Lankans took to the streets demanding deep democratic reforms and accountability for economic mismanagement and corruption, which resulted in the most severe socio-economic crisis in a generation. There was great […]

Investing in women also includes addressing discrimination and ensuring laws, policies, budgets and investments that respond to their needs • It is time that Sri Lanka prioritises women’s empowerment and recognises that gender equality is not only a matter of rights but the bedrock of equitable, peaceful and prosperous society. However, it takes investment to […]

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has been in the news again- this time for the wrong reason. Questions are being asked about justification, if any, of the unprecedented salary increases they seemed to have helped themselves to when the country is in a soup both economically and socially. Let us examine different aspects […]

What is the world coming to when the Speaker of Parliament fails to act independently and impartially and incurs the opprobrium of the entire Opposition to the extent of provoking an attempt to oust him? It is only natural that public trust in the legislature has eroded severely, in this country, and the number of […]

Media reports state that the government is considering the abolition of the Executive Presidency instead of holding the next Presidential election which is constitutionally scheduled to be conducted later this year- between September 18 and October 18. One website quoted that former President Maithripala Sirisena as stating that President Ranil Wickramesinghe has tasked a group […]

Members of the media have carried out many protests in past against harassment, threats and curtailing of freedom of the press In a letter addressed to the Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the Media Organisations Collective, comprising several leading media organisations in the country, has expressed concerns on attempts by MPs to use Parliamentary Powers and […]