Since the end of the war, Sri Lanka’s economy is being transformed through a rapid process of financialisation. Such widespread financialisation facilitated infrastructure development, a real estate boom linked to urbanisation and expansion of credit leading to increasing indebtedness of the (...)
The present proposal also raises a fundamental question as to whether, more than nine years after the end of war, Sri Lanka requires anti-terror legislation especially in a context when a multitude of regular laws provide authorities with necessary powers.
Sri Lanka’s near three-decade ethnic (...)
Four weeks after a trade union raised concerns over proposed reforms in the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), on August 8th another group of unions urged the Sri Lankan government to conduct a referendum among workers on the new proposal.
“The undersigned unions strongly urge the Government to go (...)
Coalition government has failed on promise to repeal Prevention of Terrorism Act
Sri Lanka’s progress towards reform has “virtually ground to a halt” and brutal torture is used with impunity, the UN concludes in a scathing report on the country’s human rights record.
The report, which comes three (...)
The undersigned civil society activists and groups in Sri Lanka express our deep concern about the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers to take steps towards implementing the death penalty. The death penalty has not been implemented in Sri Lanka since 1976, though it continues to remain as a (...)
Thirty-seven civil society organisations and 170 individuals yesterday released a statement condemning the threats against Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Chairperson Dr. Deepika Udagama.
Given below is the full statement:
We are appalled at statements akin to death threats, violence and (...)
Unions, representing both workers and employers, are taking cautious approach to a proposal from an Asian Development Bank (ADB) to reform the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) by maximising its returns largely through investing in the stock market among other options.
The draft White paper on (...)
The Sri Lanka government is rushing into free trade deals at a time when it’s foreign mentors are struggling with the negative impact of such deals.
The yahapalana government came into power at a time when the wisdom of free trade arrangements was being questioned in the very citadels of (...)
The anniversary of the civil war’s end reveals the persisting ethnic division in Sri Lanka
Nine years is perhaps too short a time for deep wounds to heal, but it is enough time to begin to introspect. However, going by the polarised views around the anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s civil (...)
Sri Lankans either mourn or celebrate on the anniversary of the end of the civil depending on their narrative of the war. Many Tamils observe May 18 as ‘Remembrance Day’ to remember their dear ones who lost their lives, while the government commemorates May 19 as ‘Ranaviru (War Heroes) Day’ to (...)
Despite the stereotypical and misguided view that the youth in Jaffna, loaded with foreign remittances from relations abroad have become unproductive and lazy, the majority of the unemployed have taken to menial jobs to make ends meet due to dire economic situation.
Since the end of Sri (...)
The top professional bodies representing engineers, architects, town planners and quantity surveyors and other related professions this week charged that the government has rushed into signing the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA) without having proper legal frameworks in place (...)
After a nearly three-decade civil war those devastated by it had to rebuild their lives and finding employment was a challenge. The strategy adopted by the Government was to expand credit and promote self-employment. But then things took a turn for the worse when their livelihoods did not (...)
The local government election for 337 local government bodies in Sri Lanka (except Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha) was held on 10 February 2018. This election and its results captured special attention due to two main reasons:
• This was the first election held under the new electoral system (...)
In their paper, the authors explain through interviews with local activists struggling for the right to return to their confiscated land, how and why they chose to shift from associational politics to electoral politics. They argue that the ‘Citizen’s Forum’ promoted by external non-governmental (...)
R. Ramesh and A. R. Nanthakumar critically analyse the 2017 amendment Bill to the Pradeshiya Sabhas Act, advocated as a remedy to this problem, in the context of historical legal and structural discrimination of the people in the estate sector. They argue that the full inclusion of this (...)
MeeNilankco Theiventhran analyses the shortcomings of the pradeshiya sabhas as local democratic institutions in the Northern province. His paper locates these institutions in the context of decades of conflict and post-war challenges to local residents. He also reminds us of the sidelining of (...)
B. Skanthakumar delves into the role and functions of local authorities, also arguing that the local administrative system of divisional and district secretariats is disabling of the former. He takes note of the existing opportunities for people’s participation in the pradeshiya sabhas, unlike (...)
Pradeep Peiris argues that there is apathy by most to the Citizen’s Forum and other participatory governance initiatives, as they choose or are compelled to utilise party-based and/or network-based loyalty systems instead; and equal disinterest among local politicians and bureaucrats in the (...)
The shock result of the February 2018 local government election, on a high turnout exceeding 75%, has triggered governmental instability and continuing turmoil within the ‘good governance’ touting coalition that rode to power in the presidential election of January 2015, and stabilised itself (...)
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