Throughout the past three decades, successive governments have stressed the importance of constitutional reform. This has been either as a means of addressing minority grievances which in turn would form part of a solution to the ethnic conflict or as a means of restructuring various contentious aspects within the 1978 Constitution (i.e. the executive presidential system […]
The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and its Executive Director, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, filed papers challenging some of the Regulations included in the Emergency (Miscellaneous Provisions and Powers) Regulation No. 1 of 2019. It must be noted that this is not a challenge of the Declaration of a State of Emergency, but rather some of […]
The Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka were the worst incidence of terrorism since the end of the war a decade ago. Four days after the main events, the aftershocks of the attack have still not subsided and the country has not returned to normalcy. In order to deal with the situation, the President proclaimed […]
21st April 2019, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) vehemently condemns today’s attacks on three churches, three hotels and other locations across Sri Lanka that resulted in over 200 deaths and left over 450 injured. This shocking and senseless attack is the largest witnessed in post-war Sri Lanka. CPA extends its deep […]
The proposed Counter-Terrorism Act (CTA) was approved by Cabinet on 11 September 2018 and tabled in Parliament on 9 October 2018. This short document prepared by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) attempts to address frequently asked questions on the CTA and compliments previous documents on the same issue. Initial statement made by CPA on […]
13 December 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) warmly welcomes the judgment by the Supreme Court today holding unanimously that the Proclamation issued by the President on November 9 to dissolve Parliament and call for a General Election is ultra vires and unconstitutional. The Court’s judgment is historic, coming at a highly […]
12th November 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and its Executive Director, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, filed papers challenging the proclamation (Gazette Extraordinary 2096/70) issued by President Sirisena purportedly dissolving the Eighth Parliament. CPA’s position is firm that Article 70(1) of the Constitution read with Articles 33(2)(c) make it crystal clear that the […]