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By Philip Dissanayake “We were waiting near the Ganegama Cooperative shop together with a few others to go to a funeral ceremony. A group of people who came in a cab belonging to Kirindiwela police checked the people who were at that place. After some time, we saw a person got out of the cab. […]

The Supreme Court decided on July 19, 2022, to dismiss the fundamental rights petition filed by Mr. Philip Dissanayake, Executive Director of the Right to Life Human Rights Center, and Mr. Prasanga Fernando of the same organization against Mr. Deshabandu Tennakoon, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, other responsible police chiefs, the Minister of Public

  – Right to Life Human Rights Center According to the website of the Welfare Benefits Board, Sri Lanka currently has 31 proposed welfare benefit schemes. Among them, five are targeted in the present welfare benefits scheme. They are, Samurdhi, Elderly Assistance, Kidney Disease Scheme, Disability Assistance Scheme, and Public Assistance. A recent nationally representative

  By Philip Dissanayake A young man named Dinesh Madhusankha Liyanage, a resident of the Yagirala Ittepana, works at the Agrarian Service Centre in Ittepana. On November 30, 2022, while he was on his way to work, a group of police officers of Ittepana police station took him to a deserted area in a three-wheeler,

In June 2023, Sri Lanka witnessed a shocking increase in child abuse incidents, highlighting the urgent need for collective action to protect vulnerable children. According to reports, a total of 78 incidents were documented, affecting a heartbreaking 80 child victims. Among them, 58% were female and 37% were male, with sexual abuse accounting for 35%

In the face of a devastating catastrophe, Sri Lanka relies heavily on its women working in the Middle East as vital contributors to the country’s foreign exchange, with their remittances bolstering the struggling economy. However, the dreams of a better life for their families often transform into nightmares as many of these women find themselves

Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe recently disclosed a distressing truth regarding the backlog of cases in Magistrates’ courts throughout Sri Lanka. Shockingly, nearly one-third of these cases involve child abuse and rape, tarnishing the nation’s reputation and necessitating immediate action. Out of the 29,723 pending lawsuits, an alarming 5,550 cases are related to child abuse, while

Right to Life, a prominent human rights advocacy centre, has issued a strong statement on the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, calling for urgent action to prevent torture and promote a civilized society. The organization highlights the need for Sri Lanka, a member state of the United Nations and

By Dulan Dasanayaka, Attorney at Law  “The term ‘torture’ means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed

Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe I have been a torture victim. It was not for hours or days. Not for months too. It can even be counted in years. It started in May 1989, worsened by the end of the year, and began to be slightly better in mid-1990, but continued until late 1992, the time I

An individual was injured in a shooting by Akmeemana traffic police on Saturday (10). The police say that the incident had occurred following a routine inspection where a motorcycle with two individuals was told to halt on a side road on the Walahanduwa to Nugaduwa road last night. Following the Police Officers attempting to approach