Search Results for: sri lanka

I. Introduction The world’s attention is focused on Ukraine and the vicious war ravaging the country, forcing millions of people to flee. But is this Russian invasion different than other invasions by a major world power in terms of violations of international law? It is and it is not. On the one hand, the Russian [...]

Myanmar’s military junta Saturday pardoned more than 800 prisoners on Myanmar’s 75th Union Day, a day which marks the country’s independence from British rule. State news agency Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM) reported that the State Administration Council Chairman has withdrawn criminal proceedings against Arakan Army members and 46 subordinates in accordance with Section [...]

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the EU on Thursday to increase pressure on the Sri Lankan government to reform its controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and ensure its compliance with international standards. The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry (“the Ministry”) announced a proposed amendment to the PTA on Monday, which it hailed as the [...]

Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) is becoming a buzzword globally and within India, among debates centering around AI ethics and high-tech surveillance. FRT is a collective nomenclature for any system that conducts 1:1 verification functions, or 1:n monitoring and identification functions of individuals, using facial mapping and/or sensitive biometric data. While the technology conceptually can have [...]

The Sri Lanka Cabinet of Ministers has approved the drafting of two bills to promote cybersecurity as proposed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in his capacity as the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Technology. The first of these, the Defense Cyber Commands Act, shall cover all sectors related to electronic communication to protect national [...]

Sri Lankan prosecutors on Monday indicted 24 suspects along with the “mastermind” of the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombing in the Colombo Permanent High Court. The indictment concerns three attacks on April 21, 2019 which killed 269 people, including local and foreign nationals. The attacks were on churches and hotels, targeting the Christian community in [...]

The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) on Wednesday released a report detailing incidents of torture by Sri Lankan police and military against political prisoners, just days ahead of a UN summit on human rights. The ITJP took statements from 15 ethnic Tamilians who were illegally detained and tortured since the government of former defense [...]

The Supreme Court of India on Thursday rejected Facebook’s plea to quash the summons issued by the Delhi Legislative Assembly’s Committee on Peace and Harmony for inquiry related to the Delhi riots in February 2020. The Committee on Peace and Harmony was created in March 2020 to consider the factors and situations which have the [...]

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced on Thursday that 130 nations have agreed to a plan to reform taxation rules regarding multinational corporations. The plan involves two pillars. The first pillar would reallocate some taxing rights over multinational enterprises (MNEs) from their home countries to regions where they operate and earn profits [...]

Sri Lanka’s cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposal to ban all kinds of face veils, including burqas, in public places due to threats to “national security.” The approval comes a month after the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution “to promote reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.” Based on a UN report [...]