By Niran AnketellDanuska Medawatte's provocatively titled post published earlier today on RS casts a critical eye on the decision of the General Court of the European Union, formerly known as the Court of First Instance, in the matter of LTTE vs Council of the Europe Union . There is a common misconception, that Medawatte echoes, in assuming that the decision ...
By Danushka MedawatteDoes International Humanitarian Law Apply? In a world full of armed conflicts where a mass of laws have been enacted for the purpose of dealing with such problems, it seems almost uncivilized to pay no heed to what the relevant law of war states in relation to armed conflict and terrorism. For this reason and due to ...
By Lakshan Dias The right to seek asylum and the principle of non refoulement (the prohibition on returning a victim of persecution to their persecutor) is enshrined in the United Nations Convention Against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all of which Sri Lanka is party to. Since June 2014 ...
By Vishakha Wijenayake Small Island states such as Sri Lanka are inextricably intertwined with their global landscape when it comes to effects of climate change. In 2011 Sri Lanka was one of the ten countries worst affected by natural disasters due to adverse consequences of global-warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that as sea levels continue to rise, ...
By Niran Anketell With all the recent attention to the upcoming Uva Provincial Council Election accompanied by Sri Lanka’s peculiar brand of political theatre, another important election related issue has failed to gain adequate attention. In 2012, Parliament enacted the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act in a rare display of cross party consensus, thereby introducing a mixed system of representation ...
By R. SiriwardenaUnited Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants François Crépeau visited Sri Lanka in May 2014 at the invitation of the Government. Although his full report is not due for another year, he made some preliminary recommendations at the end of his visit, referring specifically to malpractice of local recruitment agencies. This post discusses the issues ...
By Gehan Gunatilleke* It is not enough that a society be effectively regulated by a conception of basic justice and equal dignity: what is important is that citizens have a public assurance that this is so, and that public assurance is provided not just by the government and the laws, but by citizens assuring one another of their willingness to ...
The Law and Society Trust (LST) is pleased to introduce a new legal blog titled ‘Respectfully Submitted’, which will be dedicated to covering legal issues of public and general importance in Sri Lanka. Its purpose will be to generate original legal insights and commentary in a way that will provide lawyers and laymen alike an entry point into the legal ...