Apr 14, 2021
On 14 April 2020, prominent human rights lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested by Sri Lankan security forces under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for alleged involvement in the tragic Easter Sunday bombings in 2019. Hejaaz has been denied unrestricted...
Apr 13, 2021
Next week, more than 200 Sri Lankan troops will be deployed to a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali. We want to stop that from happening, and ask for your help to ensure that it doesn’t. Why? Because in 2019, the UN itself announced it was suspending deployment of Sri...
Mar 23, 2021
On Thursday 18 March, the UK parliament held a debate in the House of Commons discussing “UK commitments to reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.” Twenty two MPs took part in the debate, with over half of them calling for the UK to designate...
Mar 19, 2021
The Human Rights Council (HRC) has now been in session for four weeks with discussions on human rights around the world. As we explored in a previous blog post, the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights offered a strong starting point for discussions on Sri...
Mar 5, 2021
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...
Feb 24, 2021
As the Human Rights Council opens its 46th session, member states have the opportunity to shape and vote on a new resolution on justice and accountability in Sri Lanka. In January, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a damning report...
Feb 16, 2021
The Sri Lanka Campaign co-hosted a webinar on Friday 12 February with the Global Tamil Forum, Canadian Tamil Congress and the Centre for Justice and Human Rights at New York University. Moderated by our Campaign Director, Melissa Dring, there were eight panellists...
Feb 9, 2021
Friday, February 12th 2021 Time: 8:30am (EST); 1:30pm (GMT); 2:30pm (CET); 7:00pm (IST); 12.30am (AEDT) Co-hosted by The Global Tamil Forum, Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice – New York University, Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice and The Canadian...
Jan 18, 2021
On 8th January, authorities demolished the Mullivaikkal memorial at Jaffna University, which was erected in 2019 to commemorate the tens of thousands of Tamil civilians who were killed in the final stages of the war in 2009. Students who peacefully protested the...
Dec 22, 2020
As 2020 comes to an end, we take a look at some of the key developments in human rights and accountability in Sri Lanka over the last 12 months. It makes for grim reading. Yet despite increasing intimidation and harassment, victim-survivor communities and activists...
