An opinion piece by Mathuri Thamilmaran, National Legal Advisor – Sri Lanka at the International Commission of Jurists Recently, the Mauritius Supreme Court ruled that a 185-year-old law criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct was unconstitutional. This latest ruling adds Mauritius to the growing number of States where, in the past few years, consensual same-sex sexual […]
The ICJ is concerned that the newly proposed Online Safety legislation, if adopted in its present form, would serve to crush free expression and further contract an already shrinking civic space in Sri Lanka. On 18 September 2023, the Ministry of Public Security gazetted a bill titled “Online Safety” intended to dramatically regulate the content […]
The ICJ considers that revisions made to the draft of proposed anti-terrorism legislation, while positive, fail to sufficiently correct the deficiencies of the earlier draft and, if adopted, would risk serious human rights violations. The revised bill, in its clause 3 continues to define acts of terrorism in a vague and overbroad matter and undercuts […]
The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) convened today in Geneva for the start of its 54th session. The ICJ actively participated in this first day delivering statements on three situations in which gross and systematic violations of human rights are committed: Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. These situations require a sustained attention by the international […]
We, nine international human rights organizations, have grave reservations about the Sri Lankan government’s proposed National Unity and Reconciliation Commission. Our concerns echo many of those already raised by victims of conflict-related abuses and their families. Sri Lanka has a long history of convening similar bodies, none of which has provided justice, truth or reparation […]
The ICJ today expressed concern about attacks on the independence of the judiciary in Sri Lanka under cover of parliamentary privilege. (more…)
