Country Profile
There was continued impunity for violations committed during the internal armed conflict, and the government failed to uphold commitments to the UN Human Rights Council around justice and reconciliation. As such, justice stalled and impunity prevailed, including in cases of killings and other...
News
Africa
Arms Trade
The horrific misuse of tear gas by security forces during brutal crackdowns on protests in Iran, Peru and Sri Lanka last year are among many new incidents detailed in Amnesty International’s updated Tear Gas: An Investigation. The interactive website now includes details of 30 new incidents in 13...
May 30, 2023
News
Asia and the Pacific
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
The G20 includes Sri Lanka’s top lenders and powers with influence. It must do more than just say sweet nothings. In February, the finance ministers of G20 countries met to discuss the challenges facing the global economy. It was a missed opportunity to help a country on the front line of the debt...
March 9, 2023
News
Asia and the Pacific
Censorship and Freedom of Expression
Responding to the ban imposed on ‘assemblies, gatherings, sit-ins, rallies, processions, demonstrations, protests and such like other activities across the district of Lahore’ by the Home Ministry of Pakistan today, Harindrini Corea, regional researcher on the right to protest at Amnesty...
March 8, 2023
News
Asia and the Pacific
Protests and Demonstrations
Responding to the news that one protester had been killed and dozens injured as a result of the unlawful use of water cannons and tear gas by the police in Colombo in Sri Lanka on Sunday, Harindrini Corea, Regional Researcher for the Right to Protest at Amnesty International said, “It is worrying...
February 27, 2023
News
Sri Lanka
Disappearances
13 years of a struggle for justice Imagine being detained or abducted by security forces. Now imagine they detain you, yet nobody has any idea where you are, or even if you are dead or alive. The authorities refuse to acknowledge your detention and keep your whereabouts a secret. You have no...
January 24, 2023
News
Afghanistan
Amid the doom and gloom of human rights work in the region, a few success stories this year give me hope. by Yamini Mishra, South Asia Regional Director at Amnesty International A cursory look at the human rights situation in South Asia can make one feel that the arc of the moral universe in the...
December 10, 2022
News
Asia and the Pacific
Detention
In response to the detention for over 90 days of student leaders Wasantha Mudalige and Galwewa Siridhamma Thero, under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, Amnesty International’s South Asia Regional Researcher, said: “The continued targeted persecution of student...
November 16, 2022
News
Asia and the Pacific
UN
Responding to the resolution on Sri Lanka adopted today at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which strengthens and extends the accountability mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director...
October 6, 2022
News
Asia and the Pacific
Censorship and Freedom of Expression
Responding to reports that Wasantha Mudalige, the convener of Inter University Students’ Federation, Galwewa Siridhamma Thero, the convener of Inter University Bhikku Federation, and Hashantha Jawantha Gunathilake, member of the Kelaniya University Students’ Union, who were arrested on 18 and 19...
August 22, 2022
News
Asia and the Pacific
Censorship and Freedom of Expression
The new Sri Lankan President must immediately stop the shameful, brutal assault on peaceful protestors, Amnesty International said today after the military carried out a pre-dawn attack on the peaceful protest site outside the Presidential Secretariat, ‘GotaGoGama’, hours before the protestors were...
July 22, 2022