By Herman Kumara| Chairperson, Praja Abilasha Land Rights Network Hunger, starvation, poverty, water and electricity scarcity, oppression, occupation, and violation of fundamental human rights are common to both Sri Lankan and Palestinian peoples. It has been 75 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), yet, both countries continue to… Read more »
March 10, 2024
Sri Lankans and Palestinians in common struggle for human rights
By Herman Kumara| Chairperson, Praja Abilasha Land Rights Network Hunger, starvation, poverty, water and electricity scarcity, oppression, occupation, and violation of fundamental human rights are common to both Sri Lankan and Palestinian peoples. It has been 75 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), yet, both countries continue to… Read more »
By Herman Kumara | Praja Abhilasha, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka was known worldwide as the pearl of the Indian Ocean, but that pearl has shattered into pieces thanks to almost 3 decades of civil war followed by the current food, fuel, energy, and finance crises. And the crises culminated in the April 2022 declaration of… 
By Eileen Schuhmann | Presbyterian Hunger Program Staff Debt is a root cause of hunger and poverty. Global debt (which includes borrowing by governments, businesses and people) surpassed $300 trillion in 2021, a record $77 trillion increase from 2020, which the International Monetary Fund cautions is at dangerously high levels.[i] This extraordinary borrowing has stemmed… 
By Herman Kumara | Chairperson, Praja Abhilasha, Sri Lanka The Sri Lankan Civil War ended in 2009 and by 2010 country rulers declared that Sri Lanka was on its way to becoming a middle-income country with the scaling back of military spending. However, by the end of the 2019, Sri Lanka’s budget deficit had ballooned… 
Joining Hands Sri Lanka continues to make gains in the fight for land rights as tourism grows By Herman Kumara | Praja Abhilasha “Building Back Better” continues to be the World Bank’s motto for “rebuilding stronger, faster, and more inclusively” after natural disasters. The motto was first introduced during the post 2004 tsunami development process…. 
The Millennium Challenge Corporation compact could lead to more privatization and marginalization By Herman Kumara | Chairperson Praja Abhilasha, Joining Hands Sri Lanka Sri Lanka is in the midst of a debt crisis. In 2016, 95.4% of all government revenues were going directly into debt repayment. According to the Minister of Finance (2018), the country’s… 
Praja Abhilasha network has been fighting alongside communities to regain lands taken during wartime and after the tsunami By Raajan Francis | Praja Abhilasha On December 26, 2004, a powerful tsunami waves devastated the Sri Lankan coastal areas around the country destroying fishing villages, flooding rice fields and plantations and sowing grief among rural and… 
Sri Lanka builds a man-made island and fisherfolk lose everything to coastal erosion By Herman Kumara and Prasad Purnimal Jayamanna | Praja Abhilasha, Joining Hands Network Sri Lanka The Sri Lankan Government’s Port City project is well underway. The project, carried out in partnership with the China Communication Construction Company (CCCC), extends the city of… 
Eight years after the end of civil war in Sri Lanka, internally displaced persons continue to struggle to return home By Raajan Francis | Coordinator of Praja Abhilasha, Joining Hands Sri Lanka In 2009, in the final stages of the nearly three-decades civil war between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the militant group Liberation…