Sri Lanka, Human Rights and the United Nations

Dr. Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan is currently teaching international law at Griffith College Dublin, Ireland.  He studied law in Bonn and Marburg, and following several years in the policy and research sector (e.g. for the German Labour Party, Friedrich-Ebert Foundation), he went on to work as a junior lawyer for the German Tenants’ Association. Subsequently, he resumed his law studies, which were supported by the German Tenant’s Association and the Scholarship “Deutschlandstiftung Integration”, and completed his postgraduate degree at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands, in 2013. He went on to pursue a doctoral degree from the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway, funded by the Irish Centre for Human Rights. His research interests include: Third World Approaches to International Law, International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, Critical Legal Theory, and Socio-political Approaches toInternational Law.

• Introduction.- Sri Lanka’s History: Colonialism, Independence and Conflict.- Sri Lanka’s human rights infrastructure.- The United Nations Treaty-based Bodies and their Engagement with Sri Lanka.- The United Nations Charter-based bodies and their Engagement with Sri Lanka.- Conclusion.

“It is not an exaggeration to describe this work more as a socio-legal analysis … . Ananthavinayagan’s contribution deserves to be admired as a compelling work written on Sri Lanka’s engagement with international human rights since its independence.” (Punsara Amarasinghe, Israel Law Review, Vol. 54 (3), 2021)