Rohingyas are an ethnic community from Myanmar’s Rakhine province. They have been facing severe persecution for decades, which continues until today. Myanmar’s government doesn’t accept them as citizens, so they are stateless….
Mullivaikkal is a remote coastal village in the Mullaitivu and its ethnic composition is predominantly Tamil. It is significant as it is where Sri Lanka’s 30 year civil war came to a…
January 6 this year is the 40 anniversary of the killing of Fr. Mary Bastian, a Catholic priest from the diocese of Mannar. It will be yet another anniversary to be celebrated without…
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Palestine, during a time of colonization and political and economic oppression by Roman imperialism. Those who dared to call for freedom and justice were brutally crushed….
November 13, 1993 will be 31 years since bombs were dropped by the Air Force over St. James Catholic Church in Gurunagar, Jaffna. Nine civilians were killed, several others injured and church…
November 10 will be the 37th anniversary of the killing of Fr. Michael Rodrigo, OMI, popularly known as Fr. Mike. He was killed while I was a student at St. Peter’s and…
In 2023, the number of refugees and asylum seekers (those with pending refugee applications) in the world increased about 8.75% from 45.9 million to 50.3 million, according to statistics of the UN…
Killings of civilians and other atrocities have been widespread during three decades of war, mostly in the North an East. Sri Lankan armed forces, police and the LTTE appear to be responsible…
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) and UN country team in Sri Lanka must do their utmost to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers don’t end up being stateless or compelled…
On December 14, 2023, the Supreme Court delivered a historic judgement, holding Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon personally responsible for torture. Before this judgement, there have been reports of…
On December 8, 2023, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) determined that the Navy had violated my right to freedom of movement by blocking me from traveling to the remote…
Nathasha Edirisooriya, a young female standup comedian, was arrested under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act no. 56 of 2007 on May 27, 2023 for comments during a…
In a report on Sri Lanka presented to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2023, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had stated, “lack of accountability at all levels remains…
On October 4 it is 5,000 days since disappearance of cartoonist, journalist and human rights defender Prageeth Ekneligoda. It is also nearly 5,000 days since I first met his wife Sandya Ekneligoda…
Many Sri Lankans engage in protests for a variety of grievances but protests by refugees and asylum seekers, one of the most marginalized communities in Sri Lanka, are rare. From my memory,…
