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Gender and Criminal Justice Reform

In this series of papers, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) looks at legal and policy reform needed to address Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).  CPA identifies several areas in which the statute books need to be updated in order to ensure that the safety and dignity of women are protected, but also it is […]

Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka: Moving Beyond Promises

Sri Lanka has accumulated a terrible legacy of human rights violations with successive governments making numerous promises in the area of transitional justice. Years on, however, the legitimate demands of victims for truth and justice have not gone away. The publication ‘Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka: Moving Beyond Promises’ edited by Bhavani Fonseka includes several […]

Rethinking the Attorney General’s Department in Sri Lanka: Ideas for Reform

The Attorney General of Sri Lanka is the Chief Law Officer of the State and is considered to be the Head of the legal profession. The Attorney General is accorded a unique constitutional position with regards to his duties, privileges and responsibilities, which are defined by both constitutional and statutory provisions, as well as, through […]

Technocratic Populism and the Pandemic State

This paper examines the ways in which the Sri Lankan Government has been able to employ a counterintuitive and underexamined type of populist rhetoric, that of technocratic populism. It looks at the ways in which both technocratic and populist narratives are combined, creating an ideological framework which serves to sanitize increasingly authoritarian actions. It focuses […]

Q and A on Regulations Issued under the Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance & how this impacts the COVID-19 response in Sri Lanka

Following the detection of a spate of new COVID-19 cases in Sri Lanka, regulations were made by the Minister of Health under Sections 2 and 3 of the Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance (the Ordinance) by Gazette Extraordinary No. 2197/25 of Thursday, October 15, 2020. This guide briefly examines the legal framework relating to […]

Written Submissions by the CPA on the Case re the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution

On 23 September 2020, The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and its Executive Director, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu filed a Petition in the Supreme Court challenging the proposed Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution. A Brief overview of the Petition filed on behalf of CPA and its Executive Director is available here. The CPA’s basic position was […]

The Centre for Policy Alternatives vs. The Attorney General [SC. SD. 03 /2020] in re the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution [2020]

23rd September 2020, A Bill titled ‘The Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution’ (the Bill) was placed on the Order Paper of Parliament on 22nd of September 2020. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and its Executive Director, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu filed a Petition in the Supreme Court today (23rd September 2020) in terms of Articles 120 and […]