News
UN Resident Rep addresses Justice Ministry Consultative Committee

Govt. efforts to transform Criminal Justice system appreciated
UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Ms. Hanaa Singer-Hamdy has appreciated the ongoing efforts by the Justice Ministry to transform the Criminal Justice System.
Addressing the Justice Ministry Consultative Committee recently the UN official has said that the community based correction system can avoid exposing offenders to the conditions of the prison which can sometimes be violent and unsafe creating a cycle of coming in and going out of prison.
Earlier, Justice Minister M.U.M Ali Sabry, PC directed the “Draft – Report on Community based Correction System in Sri Lanka” to be circulated among all Parliamentarians and to obtain their suggestions and observations for the purpose of being further developed. He further instructed to obtain public views regarding the report. The instructions were issued on Thursday (7) as the initial step towards the transformation of the Criminal Justice System in Sri Lanka.
Hanaa Singer-Hamdy and Robert Juhkam, Resident Representative of UNDP were also in attendance at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Justice chaired by Minister Sabry.
The Justice Minister was of the view that there was no point of sending people behind bars without reforming them and therefore, community-based correction system would be a more effective method. Accordingly, possibilities of correcting those who were sentenced for less than two years within the community without imprisoning them was taken into consideration.
The discussion on Community based correction was set in motion following the presentation by the Assistant Secretary General of Parliament and former Justice Official. Tikiri K. Jayathilake. The Assistant Secretary General addressing the committee, said that Criminal Law and the notion of justice were entwined and it was important to extricate an individual into society as a responsible citizen rather than labelling them as criminals.
He said that the said objective could be done by the Ministerial Consultative Committee via two tiers. One being the political tier inclusive of the political leadership in stirring towards the requisite reforms. The second tier included officials and professionals representing various fields contributing their expertise towards the creation and development of relevant reforms.
The Assistant Secretary General of Parliament also emphasised that suggestions of Members of Parliament and various stakeholders were imperative in order to develop that system.
Members of Parliament Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Sagara Kariyawasam, Madhura Withanage, Diana Gamage, Gamini Waleboda, S. Kajendran, Ajith Rajapakse, and Akila Ellawala marked their presence at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Justice chaired by Minister of Justice Ali Sabry.
News
Unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation plague most schools, say Principals

By Pradeep Prasanna Samarakkone and Chaminda Silva
Around 500 schools across the country lack access to safe drinking water for students, Piyasiri Fernando, Secretary of the Sri Lanka Principals’ Association, has said.
Fernando told The Island that a significant number of schools did not have facilities to store water properly. He said many schools lacked sanitary facilities.
Fernando also noted that in some schools in the Eastern, North Central, Uva, North Western, and Central provinces, as well as in approximately 20% of schools located near coastal areas, there are no proper toilet facilities. Despite the issuance of circulars specifying the number of toilets to be built, based on the number of students, some schools still did not have sanitary facilities as per those guidelines, the Secretary of the Principals’ Association said.
According to the School Census -2023 (2024) conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics there were 3,882,688 schoolchildren, 830,021 in National Schools and 3,052,667 in Provincial Schools.
Out of 10,096 schools, 1,506 have 1-50 students, 1,638 have 51-100 students and 2,128 have 101-200 students. Only 67 schools have 3,001-4,000 students, while only 33 have more than 4,000 students. 3,117 or 30.9 percent schools have fewer than 10 teachers.
News
Julie meets Namal at SLPP HQ

US Ambassador, Julie Chung, visited the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) office on Friday (14) for discussions with party representatives.
Ambassador Chung arrived at the SLPP Headquarters around 10:00 a.m. and engaged in talks for over an hour and a half. Her visit followed a request by the SLPP to meet her.
During the meeting, she held discussions with SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam, former Members of Parliament Sanjeewa Edirimanne, C.B. Ratnayake, and Jayantha Ketagoda, as well as current MP D.V. Chanaka. Milinda Rajapaksha, an advisor to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was also present.
The visit comes amid calls from SLPP MP Namal Rajapaksa for an investigation into USAID fund recipients in Sri Lanka.
News
Speaker agrees to probe allegations of ‘unethical funding’ by USAID

By Saman Indrajith
Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne informed Parliament on Friday (14) that he intended to take necessary action regarding requests made by MPs concerning allegations over USAID funding in Sri Lanka.
He made this statement in response to a question raised by Opposition MP Dayasiri Jayasekara, who sought a clarification on the matter.
Jayasekara noted that SLPP MP Namal Rajapaksa had sent a letter to the Speaker calling for the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to investigate reports about unethical USAID funding in the country. He questioned whether such a committee would be formed and the matter formally examined.
In response, Speaker Wickramaratne confirmed that he was planning to take appropriate action on the issue.
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