The political transition of January 2015 promised ambitious reforms and raised expectations accordingly. Two years on, serious concerns have emerged with regard to the National Unity Government’s reform project. Despite some successes, the current public perception is of a slow pace or even stagnation. This in turn has resulted in disillusionment and disappointment, with questions posed […]
1 February 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka: CPA’s latest report ‘The Making of a World Class City: Displacement and Land Acquisition in Colombo’ explores the process of making Colombo a world class city, begun post-war under the Rajapaksa regime and its continuity under the yahapalanaya government. The previous government’s Urban Regeneration Programme (URP), which is being […]
27 January 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives is pleased to launch two reports on post-war urban development in Colombo. The first report (available online) ‘Living it down: Life after relocation in Colombo’s high rises’ is based on findings of a survey conducted with 1,222 households in Colombo forcibly relocated by the Rajapaksa regime while […]
The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is pleased publish the fourteenth Working Paper in its series on constitutional reform, by Dr Asanga Welikala, on ‘The Idea of Constitutional Incrementalism.’ Exactly two years after the remarkable regime change that made it possible, the reform process is admittedly looking threadbare, with what seems like the normal culture […]
6 January 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka: CPA is pleased to publish the thirteenth Working Paper on constitutional reform, ‘Establishing a Constitutional Court: The Impediments’ by Dr Nihal Jayawickrama. In this paper Dr Jayawickrama discusses the current proposal to introduce a Constitutional Court in its historical context, and critically examines the serious issues that would have to […]
6 January 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is pleased to publish two more Working Papers in its series on constitutional reform. Working Paper No.11, by Daniel Garcia, adopts an unequivocally left-wing ideological standpoint in arguing against the inclusion of socioeconomic rights in any future constitutional document, from the perspective of the […]
Human Rights Day (December 10th) gives us an opportunity to reflect on the successes and more importantly, the failures in addressing human rights-related issues in Sri Lanka, and to hopefully use this evaluation as a guideline for the years ahead. This is not an exhaustive overview but provides an insight into issues that have been […]
Centre for Policy Alternatives on 2 February, 2017