Publications Type

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace — Overcoming Barriers to Justice

This report provides a legal gap analysis on sexual harassment through a non-discriminative lens of gender and sexual construct, which compares Sri Lanka’s international obligations against the national laws on sexual harassment at the workplace. International legislative  practices as identified from the International Labour Organisation in a global report on the 190 Convention (sexual harassment at work) have been used to inform our recommendations for reform, particularly focusing on employer liability.  

Sri Lanka: Resolution 30/1 Implementation Monitor — March 2023

This is Verité Research’s study on the Sri Lankan government’s progress in fulfilling the commitments on reconciliation and accountability in UNHRC Resolution 30/1. At the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in September and October 2022, Resolution 51/1 was adopted. The Sri Lankan government rejected Resolution 51/1. The vote on Resolution A/HRC/51/L.1 on Sri Lanka was taken on 6 October 2022. The 52nd session of the UNHRC began on 27 February 2023. However, the update on Sri Lanka will be at the 53rd session slated to be held in June 2023.  This report analyses the government’s progress in fulfilling all 36 commitments made in UNHRC Resolution 30/1 from March 2022 to February 2023.

Online Proactive Disclosure under the RTI Act in Sri Lanka: Ranking Public Authorities

Verité Research developed the methodology for this assessment in 2017 with the support of the World Bank and assessed the compliance of 55 public authorities with their online proactive disclosure requirements under the RTI Act. The same methodology was adopted in relation to the 29 cabinet ministries and the Offices of the President and Prime Minister as of July 2022, for the period 01 December 2022 to 31 December 2022.

Foregoing Competition to Secure Funding for Public Infrastructure

In 2010, Sri Lanka established a unique framework, overseen by the Standing Cabinet Appointed Review Committee (SCARC), to handle unsolicited proposals (USPs) for public infrastructure funding. These USPs inherently bypass traditional competitive bidding in procurement. The report, ‘Foregoing Competition to Secure Funding for Public Infrastructure: One-Third of Funding Secured was Non-Concessional’, scrutinizes this framework. It reveals a significant discrepancy between the framework’s intended purpose of improving USP evaluation and the actual outcomes, with a substantial portion of the funding secured through SCARC being non-concessional in nature. The report identifies two vulnerabilities in the existing procurement framework that need urgent attention: the Cabinet’s unchecked power to modify procurement guidelines, and SCARC’s ability to approve projects non-compliant with even the minimum criteria outlined without repercussions.

Regulating social media in Sri Lanka: An Analysis of the Legal and Non-Legal Regulatory Frameworks in the Context of Hate Speech and Disinformation

Regulation of social media in Sri Lanka encompasses both a formal and alternative non-legal framework. The study explores the existing legal and non-legal frameworks to regulate the spread of disinformation and hate speech on social media. Thereby, it presents potential implications of the spread of disinformation and hate speech on social media in the specific context of ethno-religious violence in Sri Lanka. 

Sri Lanka: Resolution 30/1 Implementation Monitor — August 2023

This is Verité Research’s latest study on the Sri Lankan government’s progress in fulfilling the commitments on reconciliation and accountability in UNHRC Resolution 30/1. At the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in September and October 2022, Resolution 51/1 was adopted. The Sri Lankan government rejected Resolution 51/1. A written update on Sri Lanka was scheduled at the 54th session on 11 September 2023. This report analyses the government’s progress in fulfilling all 36 commitments made in UNHRC Resolution 30/1 from March 2023 to August 2023.    

Sri Lanka: Resolution 30/1 Implementation Monitor 2022

This is Verité Research’s latest study on the Sri Lankan government’s progress in fulfilling the commitments on reconciliation and accountability in UNHRC Resolution 30/1. At the 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Resolution 46/1 on Sri Lanka was adopted on 23 March 2021. The 49th UNHRC session began on 28 February 2022 and Sri Lanka’s progress in implementing Resolution 46/1 and the preceding Resolution 30/1 was taken up on 4 March and 7 March 2022. This report analyses the government’s progress in fulfilling all 36 commitments made in UNHRC Resolution 30/1 from February 2021 to March 2022.

Sri Lanka: Resolution 30/1 Implementation Monitor 2021

This is Verité Research’s latest study on the Sri Lanka government’s progress in fulfilling the commitments on reconciliation and accountability in UNHRC Resolution 30/1. At the 43rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in February 2020, Sri Lanka informed of its decision to withdraw from co-sponsoring Resolution 40/1 of 2019, and its preceding Resolutions 34/1 of March 2017, and 30/1 of October 2015. The 46th UNHRC session began in February 2021. The vote on Resolution A/HRC/46/L.1 on Sri Lanka was taken on 23 March 2021. This report analyses the government’s progress in fulfilling all 36 commitments made in UNHRC Resolution 30/1 from February 2020 to February 2021.

Religious violence against Christians: Disruptions and Distractions

Ethno-religious violence is an enduring feature in Sri Lanka irrespective of the changes to the country’s socio-political and economic landscapes. This study offers insights into key patterns of violence directed against Christians between November 2021 and October 2022.  A total of 75 incidents of anti-Christian violence were recorded during this period.

CSO Sustainability Index 2021: Asia Region Report

The CSO Sustainability Index assesses the sustainability of the CSO sector across several countries in different regions around the world. The various regional editions of the 2021 CSO Sustainability Index assess the civil society sectors in seventy-three countries, including thirty-two in Sub-Saharan Africa, twenty-four in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, eight in the Middle East and North Africa, and Mexico. The CSO Sustainability Index for Asia region, reports on the state of CSO sectors in eight countries in the region: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal,  Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Timor-Leste.