The launch of the UK’s human rights sanctions regime is an opportunity for the UK government to take action against impunity in Sri Lanka. The UK should join the US in designating Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva and consider adopting sanctions against other...
INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre have just released their regular monthly report on repression of dissent in Sri Lanka for the month of May. It records an alarming uptick in incidents when compared to previous months. The graphs below illustrate some of the...
We are pleased to announce the release of a short new report, ‘No Place for Soldiers’, examining the role of the Sri Lankan army in civilian schools across the country. In it, we analyse two years’ worth of army press releases to reveal the staggering extent of the...
Last Tuesday, on 2 June, Sri Lanka entered a period of unconstitutional executive rule. Following its dissolution for elections on 2 March, the country’s Parliament has now been suspended for more than the three-month period specified by the Constitution. Although...
We’ve recently received worrying reports about the plight of several hundred (and possibly as many as a thousand) Sri Lankan garment workers in Jordan – many of whom have not been paid for over a month now, after factories began shutting down due to the Covid-19...
Just over a month ago, online activist Ramzy Razeek emailed Sri Lanka’s chief of police to complain about a flurry of death threats that he had been receiving on Facebook. But instead of investigating the threats against Ramzy, later that day the authorities showed up...
Two weeks ago, a senior Muslim lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested by members of the Sri Lankan intelligence agencies. Two weeks on, he has not been informed of any charges, has not been granted access to lawyers, and has not been able to challenge his...
Over the past few months, governments around the world have been responding to an unprecedented health crisis with unprecedented measures. In even the most open and free societies, tight restrictions on movement, extensive social surveillance, and sweeping police...
The past few weeks have seen many inches of column space taken up by Sri Lanka’s decision to withdraw from UN Human Rights Council resolution 30/1, a move which saw the government tear up its earlier promise to deal with legacy of the country’s bloody civil war...
Last week, Sri Lanka’s new government formally withdrew its support for UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution 30/1 – thereby pulling the plug on its long-standing pledge to establish a domestic accountability mechanism capable of investigating atrocity crimes...
