A turbulent week in Sri Lanka – what has changed?

In a turbulent week in Sri Lanka, peaceful protests were attacked, the Prime Minister resigned, the military were deployed to the streets of Colombo, and a new (but old) Prime Minister was appointed.   How did we get here? For over a month, thousands of Sri...

Preserving Sri Lankan Heritage, or Entrenching Buddhist Supremacy?

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...

Human Rights Roundup: June

Here we look at some of the key developments in human rights, justice, and accountability in Sri Lanka over the month of June.  Bail for Shani Abeysekara Shani Abeysekara, the former director of the Criminal Investigation Department, who was arrested in late July 2020...

Dynastic Politics: Rajapaksa Family Control of the State Budget

The government of Sri Lanka is dominated by the family of the president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. By occupying 9 ministerial roles, including 7 out of 30 positions on the cabinet, the Rajapaksa family controls nearly a quarter of Sri Lanka’s state budget. In the midst of a...

A retreat from the precipice. For now. (19 December 2018)

After fifty one days of political turmoil in Sri Lanka, the coup attempt that was launched on the evening of Friday 26th October has failed. Following a series of crucial judgements from Sri Lanka’s highest courts last week, which deemed President Sirisena’s...