March 2018

The Political Culture, Not Facebook, is the Problem

by |16 March 201801 August 2018|Interviews & Articles

Featured image courtesy AP Photo/Rukmal Gamage Organized mob violence against minorities has been a feature of the political landscape in Sri Lanka for several decades. In fact, one could say that it has become part of our political culture. Thus blaming...

Lower rank Lankan officials complicit in perpetuating communalism, says Verite Research

by |10 March 201819 June 2018|Verité in the News

Colombo, March 10 (DailyFT): Religious violence in Sri Lanka is widely considered a post-war phenomenon that emerged during the former Government's tenure. Yet recent reports of over a dozen incidents of ethno-religious violence across the country in the past month...

On Kandy: How Myths about Minorities Underlie Violence

by |09 March 201801 August 2018|Interviews & Articles

Featured image from Colombo Gazette A man belonging to the majority ethnic group was attacked by a youth from the minority ethnic group. Two days later, the mortally wounded man succumbed to his injuries and dies. Within hours, angry mobs physically...

Sri Lanka made minimal progress on UNHRC resolution: Verité Research

by |09 March 201819 June 2018|Verité in the News

Mar 09, 2018 (LBO) – Sri Lankan government has made minimal progress towards the fulfillment of its commitments in UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka, a research firm said. Verité said in a research report that only two out of 36...

Smart Phones and Stupid Governments: Blocking Social Media as Sri Lanka Burns

by |08 March 201828 May 2018|Verité in the News

Struggling to contain a spate of Buddhist-led attacks on minority muslims, Sri Lanka’s government imposed temporary blocking of social media and chat applications on March 7. This followed the reintroduction of Emergency Regulations, for the first time since 2011. The...

Destructive and unsustainable practice of bottom trawling resurfacing in Sri Lanka?

by |04 March 201801 August 2018|Interviews & Articles

In July 2017, Sri Lanka became the first country in Asia to completely ban bottom trawling and the use of destructive trawl nets. Six months later, the Department of Fisheries proposed to weaken this ban by allowing ‘less destructive’ trawling...