February 2018

    Had Mahinda Rajapaksa run for president on 10 Feb, he would have lost
    by |13 February 2018|Interviews & Articles
    Few would have predicted the results of Sri Lanka’s local government elections in 2018. With the benefit of hindsight, we must now try to understand what happened and why. There are three lessons to be learnt from the results –...
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    STF brutality against Muslims in Digana: March 5
    by |13 February 2018|Verité in the News
    This story is based on visits to both sites and testimonies of at least 10 survivors and about 5 eyewitnesses present As Sinhalese – Buddhist mobs were escalating violence against Muslims around Digana on March 5, the Hijrapura mosque in...
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    Sri Lanka’s strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa is back
    by |12 February 2018|Verité in the News
    Sri Lankas starker Mann Mahinda Rajapakse ist wieder da   Altpräsident Rajapakse hat seinen Machtanspruch nie aufgegeben. Nun hat der ehemalige Autokrat ein oppositionelles Bündnis um sich geschart und damit die Lokalwahlen in Sri Lanka haushoch gewonnen. Volker Pabst, Delhi...
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    Women’s quota in local authority elections: Outcomes will fail the promise
    by |09 February 2018|Interviews & Articles
    In August 2017, an amendment to the Local Authorities Elections Ordinance announced a 25% quota for women in local authorities. However, the drafting of the law undermines its stated intention. The quota for women is designed to fallshort of the...
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    Sri Lanka’s economic competitiveness: A microcosm of its politics?
    by |08 February 2018|Interviews & Articles
    In 2017, Sri Lanka’s country score in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) declined to 4.09 out of 7. This is the lowest score Sri Lanka has received since 2010. Sri Lanka’s ranking in 2017 also declined to 85th out of...
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    Ceylon Chamber of Commerce to hold seminar on February 16
    by |08 February 2018|Verité in the News
    In light of the new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed last month, which is the first FTA Sri Lanka has signed in over a decade, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) will hold a seminar titled “Expand your Business Opportunities...
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    Ceylon Chamber organizes seminar on SL-S’pore FTA
    by |08 February 2018|Verité in the News
    In light of the new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed last month, which is the first FTA Sri Lanka has signed in over a decade, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce will hold a seminar titled ‘Expand your business opportunities through...
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    Sri Lanka – Singapore FTA Seminar organized by CCC on Feb. 16
    by |06 February 2018|Verité in the News
    In light of the new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed last month, which is the first FTA Sri Lanka has signed in over a decade, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce will hold a seminar titled, ‘Expand your Business Opportunities Through...
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    Low ranking for SL in global assessment of budget transparency
    by |05 February 2018|Verité in the News
    Sri Lanka has been ranked 60 among 115 counties in the world on the recent assessment of the 2013/2014 and 2016/2017 budget transparency processes. The ranking was released on the Open Budget Survey, the world’s only independent assessment of information...
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    Restricting the sale of liquor to women: Is the public debate misinformed?
    by |04 February 2018|Verité in the News
    On 10 January 2018, the Minister of Finance and Mass Media amended Excise Notification No.666 of 31 December 1979. It is widely believed that by this act the Minister revoked a prohibition on the sale of liquor to women. The...
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