Sri Lanka: Reconciliation, HRDs and the international community

5 years after the end of the war, root causes of the war and the accountability for war time abuses remain unaddressed, and the Sri Lankan government has rejected the ongoing UN investigation. Human rights defenders (HRDs) who criticize and challenge the government continue to face serious risks. Ruki Fernando will discuss the current environment HRDs work under in Sri Lanka, and whether any changes are visible on the horizon.

 

Ruki Fernando is an Advisor at the INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre in Sri Lanka. He is a former visiting fellow under the Protective Fellowship Scheme for Human Rights Defenders at Risk (2012-13) at the Centre for Applied Human Rights. Ruki has been involved in protecting and supporting HRDs at risk for several years in Sri Lanka and in Asia at large. He has been arrested due to his work, was subsequently released but is still under investigation.