The government is gearing up for the visit of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, on , amidst widespread speculation that she is going to deliver a stern message regarding issues concerning human rights and accountability. Pillay's visit comes at a difficult time for the Rajapaksa administration with the recent Weliweriya incident and the impeachment of former Chief Justice, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, still fresh on the agenda.

As the Commonwealth Summit draws closer, the world is going to turn its attention to the situation in Sri Lanka. It is a major international event, and people will want to know what is happening in the host country. When Mahinda Rajapaksa stands up to welcome his fellow heads of government, talking about their shared values and vision, he will give them the perfect opportunity to ask questions – principally, do we really have anything in common with this administration?

Rathupaswala protest 410px Army Commander Lt. Gen. Daya Rathnayake says that the inquiry committee report on the Weliweriya shooting incident which killed the 3 civilians, will be handed over to him today (21).

The killings at Rathupaswela, Weliweriya have brought into sharp focus the crisis of the rule of law in Sri Lanka. The burden of proving the allegation of being killed or otherwise seriously injured by the actions of the military has now been shifted to the people. Meanwhile the people live in fear of reprisals due to being witnesses to these assaults by the military.

It is one of the basic principles that all crimes are crimes against the state. Whether these are crimes by civilians against civilians or state agents such as t

With two crucial events in its political calendar, the government is trying to put on its best face to the world. It has vouched to retrain itself as it braces for more troubles.

The two events are the forthcoming visit by the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navi Pillay, later this month and the Commonwealth Heads of the Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled for November this year.

Prosterman in 1976 estimated that some perished from all forms of deliberate human violence from 1820 to 1970. Zimmerman in 2013 found that if the victims of state violence suffering from pogroms, brutal repression, and other forms of state coercion were added, the figure would be more than double this.

India must raise serious concerns with Sri Lanka over human rights violations during and after the end of the nearly three decades long civil war, a leading rights group said today.

India must raise serious concerns with the Sri Lankan Minister for External Affairs G L Pieris, on his scheduled visit to New Delhi this week, about the crackdown on dissent, repression, thousands of cases of disappearances and extra-judicial killings during and after the war ended in 2009, Amnesty International said in a statement.

A comfortable two thirds majority in Parliament, a modernised armed forces and a heavily politicised Police Department at its beck and call notwithstanding, the UPFA Government went into panic mode this week.

At least two main events, among others, foretold the story of its knee jerk reactions. One was Wednesday’s protest headed by the country’s largest opposition group, the United National Party (UNP). Hours ahead of the event six police officers, from the seniormost to the inspectorate, went to the Chief Magistra