Sri Lanka

Start date: 2017
Areas of expertise: Constitutional Law, Public International Law, Law of the Sea,Fundamental Principles of Governance, Independence of the Judiciary, Human Rights, Transitional Justice
Highlights: 6 projects, 5 publications, 6 workshops, 11 Research Papers, 4 legal consultations and 2 roundtables

Overview

It has been a decade since the end of civil war in Sri Lanka that lasted almost 30 years. The aftermath of the war saw a period during which economic development was prioritised. With the election of a new Government in 2015, the focus has been reconciliation, accountability and good governance. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was applauded, and the possibility of adopting a new constitution looms on the horizon. The foreign policy priorities of post-2015 Sri Lanka also seems to have shifted, with the country seemingly positioning itself as a hub of the Indian Ocean region.

The Foundation has been active in Sri Lanka since 2017 and it has supported the Sri Lankan constitutional reform process by providing in-depth comparative research and identifying best practices and lessons learnt from global experiences. This effort culminated in the publication of a collection of essays on constitutional law, in English and the national languages of Sri Lanka, Sinhalese and Tamil. The Foundation also supported Sri Lanka’s ambitions to pioneer maritime governance efforts in the Indian Ocean region. To this end, a series of consultations were held in Sri Lanka with government officials, which included the participation of Professor Rüdiger Wolfrum, former Judge and President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, an internationally acclaimed expert in his field.

Legal analysts and researchers at the Foundation have supported Sri Lanka’s public institutions by providing legal research and analysis which identify best practices and lessons learnt from global experiences, and provide in-depth comparative research.