‘There is no basis for her accusations’- HRCSL

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Permanent employee of Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) Ayanthini Shiromini yesterday (10) protested outside its main office at No 14, R.A. de Mel Mawatha, formerly Duplication road, in a bid to draw the attention of the Presidential Secretariat to her plight.

At the protest site, Shiromini told The Island that she had been relentlessly targeted since 2018 and the situation took a turn for worse in 2023 over her protest against the appointment of a particular member to an internal interview board and an incident pertaining to a complaint lodged against the then IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon.

Responding to a query regarding the 2018 developments, Shiromini said that she met with a near fatal accident in 2014 while engaged in official duty and depended on crutches for eight years and was recommended by a medical board to grant the opportunity for suitable work. Mother of two and post graduate social science in Kelaniya University and human rights at the Colombo University alleged that the HRCSL changed her status regardless of the recommendation made by the medical board.

Having failed to convince the top HRCSL administration to treat her fairly, Shiromi said that she sought the intervention of the Presidential Secretariat in late July 2025 to rectify the problems experienced by her.

She alleged that the Presidential Secretariat sided with the HRCSL and did absolutely nothing. “Instead of taking remedial measures, the Presidential Secretariat sent the file submitted by me against the HRCSL top management back to them. They shouldn’t have done that,” Shiromini said.

Shiromini staged a protest opposite HRCSL main office on the world human rights day on Dec 10, last year to highlight what she called injustice done to her by the HRCSL and the Presidential Secretariat. Shiromi said that she called off the protest after receiving an assurance from the Presidential Secretariat that two committees would be appointed to inquire into issues raised by her. “I had no option but to protest again as the Presidential Secretariat did nothing to address her grievances.”

A top spokesperson for HRCSL said that her allegations didn’t hold legal weight. The Parliamentary Ombudsman inquired into her accusations and the HRCSL fully explained the developments since the 2014 accident that took place in the Balangoda area.

The official said that after the accident she was granted the opportunity to work from home and other relief. “But we couldn’t have continued with the same indefinitely and she reacted angrily after a decision was made to treat her like a normal employee after the recovery,” the official said.

Shiromini has served the HRCSL since 2005. The official strongly denied allegations that Shiromini had been mistreated and harassed by a section of the HRCSL staff. “Of course, there had been a series of clashes with other employees and incidents provoked by the disgruntled worker but the HRCSL tried to address the issues in a systematic way,” the official said.

The official alleged that Shiromini exploited the post-Aragalaya situation for her advantage.

Shiromini said that she intended to continue the protest until the Presidential Secretariat ordered an investigation into the conduct of HRCSL top management. In a lengthy letter addressed to members of parliament, Shiromini named the Presidential Secretariat personnel who mishandled her case.

The HRCSL official said that in spite of her being a long-standing employee of the institution she seemed to be unaware that the President couldn’t appoint a committee to inquire into the HRCSL. “We do not have anything to hide,” the official said, calling the lone protester a quarrelsome employee.

Sri Lanka and the European Union (EU) will hold the 27th Session of the EU-Sri Lanka Joint Commission in Colombo tomorrow (12). This high-level meeting will bring together senior officials from both sides to review and strengthen partnership across several areas, including governance, human rights, trade, development cooperation, and other bilateral and regional priorities.

The Joint Commission will be co-chaired by Ms. Aruni Ranaraja, Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism of Sri Lanka, and Ms. Paola Pampaloni, Acting Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific of the European External Action Service (EEAS).

The visiting EU delegation will also meet senior Sri Lankan dignitaries to discuss collaborative approaches and concrete next steps to strengthen the ongoing partnership.

Sri Lanka’s ranking has improved on the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), released by Transparency International yesterday.

Sri Lanka has moved up 14 places in the index, which ranks more than 180 countries and territories on perceived levels of public sector corruption.

In the 2024 CPI, the country recorded a score of 32, was placed at 121st globally. However, the 2025 index show an increase in the score to 35, lifting Sri Lanka to 107th place in the global rankings.

The CPI is measured on a scale from 0, which represents “highly corrupt,” to 100, which denotes “very clean.”

Despite the improvement, Sri Lanka’s current score of 35 remains below the global average of 43, indicating that significant challenges in governance and accountability persist.

For the eighth consecutive year, Denmark topped the index with a score of 89, closely followed by Finland (88) and Singapore (84), while countries such as South Sudan and Somalia ranked at the bottom, each scoring 9.