Public Interest Litigation (PIL) Promotes Social Activism in Resolving Human Rights Issues

Public interest litigation is a legal way of finding justice for incidence of violence, crimes, and issues rampant in society. PIL has generated much enthusiasm among the legal profession and the civil society groups.
“Public Interest Litigation” is a litigation filed by persons or groups that are not directly affected by the act, order or inaction that is sought to be challenged; and litigation filed by persons whose own rights are affected, but where the outcome of the case will also affect a much larger section of the public. Even one individual representing a marginalized group on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) case can lead to vast changes for the whole group.

5 Methods Used to Document Human Rights Data by Sri Lankan Organizations

There are many human rights documentation methods used by human rights organizations to document human rights. In this article, 5 sucsessful methods used by Sri Lankan human rights organizations are discussed. The human rights documentation methods discussed in this article are, HURIDOCS, Early Warning System, Newspaper Clippings on Killings, Monitoring Reporting of Violations of Human Rights in the Print Media and Recording Past Violations of Human Rights.

‘Rakma’ a Software to Record and Analyze Human Rights Data

Rakma is a specialized Software to record and analyze human right data. This is a Sri Lankan invention by University of Colombo School of Computing with the funding of Asia Foundation.

Protecing Human Rights Effectively and Efficiently by Documenting Violations

Documenting human rights violations and acting on documented human rights violations is an effective way of protecting human rights.  This article discusses about what is human rights violations, why we should document human rights violations and give recommendations for effectively documenting and acting on human rights violations

Human Rights are Moral Entitlements of All Human Beings

Human rights can be defined as ‘the moral entitlements of all human beings to dignified living, full development of personality and social justice.’(Fernando, L: 2002) Human rights focus mainly on the individual. They are rights one has simply as a human being. Human rights are equal , inalienable and universal. (Donnelly, J. 2003: 10)In cases where a collective of people’s rights are suppressed or denied, group rights have articulated to protect individual rights collectively.

Introduction to Child Protection Work

Child protection means, creating a suitable and optimal environment where children can live without any physical and mental abuse and/or pain, by eliminating or reducing the factors that harm children.

Holistic protection and development of the child, (which includes, physical, mental, social and cultural aspects) are focused in child protection work.

Why should we work on protecting rights of street children?

A child take onto streets as he or she has no other option. Street children are one of the most vulnerable and oppressed segments of the society. It is the fault of the social system that had made the child so vulnerable. Street children are the most visible result of the increasing gap between the rich and the poor both in the North and the South. (Beers, V.H. 1996)

The vulnerabilities and problems experienced by street children are immense. These include separation from family, homelessness, lack of identification papers, lack of education, poverty, exploitation, the worst forms of labour, abuse, health issues, coercion, control by adult gangs and conflict with the law.

Who are Street Children?

A street child is defined as “any girl or boy who has not reached adulthood, for whom the street (in the broadest sense of the word, including unoccupied dwellings, wasteland, etc.) has become her or his habitual abode and/or sources of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised or directed by responsible adults” by the Inter NGO Programme for Street Children and Street Youth. (Inter-NGO, 1985).

Policy Recommendation for the Government and the Civil Society to Protect Displaced Persons More Effectively and Efficiently

These recommendations were developed based on my field experience; knowledge gathered in participating at grassroots level, district level, national level and international level workshops, conferences and working groups; and the understanding obtained regarding the shortcomings of instruments and mechanisms adopted to protect post-Tsunami displaced when analyzing the information gathered for my MHR thesis. All the given recommendations are practical and could be adopted by the Policy Makers, Government Authorities and Civil Society in order to react efficiently and effectively in a future disaster situation.

Juvenile Justice System in Sri Lanka

Juvenile justice is the criminal law applicable to children and young people, who are determined as not old enough to be held responsible for criminal acts.  Juvenile justice system in Sri Lanka as in any other country try to rehabilitate children who are under the perview of juvanile justice law rather than punishing them.

National Laws to Protect Rights of Children in Sri Lanka

National law in Sri Lanka has moved away from a position of exclusive faith in criminal processes to protect children to a more direct child- or victim-focused protective approach at the legislative and conceptual level (GOSL, 2008). National laws in Sri Lanka that cover child rights are as follows-

Human Rights are Based on Human Needs

Human needs are the needs we must have in order to lead a full life. (South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre. 2000: 10) When discussing human needs, it is important to distinguish between human needs and human wants. Our wants are the things which we desire in our lives, but are not essential to our existence. Human Rights do not encompass all our wants, but the needs that are recognized internationally and locally as essential for existence.