This week Just Asia focuses on the changes in Sri Lanka’s government and human rights situation since 2015, through an exclusive interview with Dr. Clifford Perera and Mr. Basil Fernando. Dr. Clifford Perera is Senior Lecturer & Medico-legal specialist, Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, while Basil Fernando is the Director for Policy and Programme Development at the Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong.
Several issues are discussed in the interview, beginning with the enforced disappearances and overall state of fear in Sri Lanka that led to the significant changes in the country’s 2015 presidential and parliamentary elections. What has happened after the elections and in terms of the protection of individual liberties and improving the country’s much damaged justice administration institutions is also discussed.
Dr. Perera has also been involved in the Chemmani mass grave investigation, and discusses its progress within the overall lack of policy framework to improve the criminal justice system under the former Rajapaksa regime.
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