Mar 4, 2022
by Alan Keenan London School of Economics and Political Science, GCRF Gender, Justice and Security Hub The original version of this essay was delivered as a presentation to a webinar organised by Le Conseil Universel des Droits de L’Homme (UHRC), ‘Undermining...
Feb 10, 2022
On 7 February 2022, after more than 21 months in detention, the Colombo Court of Appeal granted bail to Hejaaz Hizbullah, a prominent human rights lawyer and activist. Hejaaz was initially arrested by Sri Lankan security forces on 14 April 2020 under the draconian...
Dec 21, 2021
As 2021 comes to an end, we have been looking back over some of the key developments in human rights, justice, and accountability in Sri Lanka over the last year. This has been an extremely challenging year in Sri Lanka, as an increasingly militarised, authoritarian,...
Dec 16, 2021
On 3 December 2021, the UN’s expert on Contemporary forms of Slavery, Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata, published the preliminary findings from his recent visit to Sri Lanka. Whilst he acknowledged some of the progress that Sri Lanka had made regarding contemporary...
Dec 3, 2021
Police Scotland will not continue training the Sri Lankan police force, it was announced last week. Chief Constable Iain Livingstone confirmed during a meeting with the Scottish Police Authority on 24 November 2021 that no further deployments to Sri Lanka will be made...
Nov 23, 2021
On 2 June 2020, whilst the Sri Lankan parliament had been dissolved since March pending delayed elections, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced the formation of two new Presidential Taskforces. One of these Taskforces, ‘for Archaeological Heritage Management in the...
