Capital : Colombo

Land Area : 65,610 sq km

Head of Government : President HE Mrs Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (since 12 November 1994)

Population : 20,064,776 (July 2005 est.)

Major Languages : "Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8%
Note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population"

Major Religion(s) : Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data)

Date of Joining : 1948

Map

Letter to the Speaker of Parliament regarding the Constitutional Council - 13th April 2006.

CHRI Submission to CMAG :
February 1998

Articles from CHRI Newsletter :

• Lawyers vs. Law, Naomi Gunasekara, Journalist, BBC World Service, CHRI Newsletter, Volume 12, Number 1, Spring 2005.
• A Paradigm Shift in the Sri Lankan Peace Process, Jehan Perera, Media Director, National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, CHRI Newsletter, Volume 10, Number 1, Spring 2003.
• Sri Lanka puts International Delegations on hold, CHRI Newsletter, Volume 8, Number 2, Summer 2001.

Articles from E-Magazine:

• Did you know?, CHRI, Commonwealth Police Watch E-Magazine, Vol. 1, December 2004.
• Government urged to conduct investigations on police officers accused of torture, CHRI, Commonwealth Police Watch E-Magazine, Vol. 2, April 2005.

Bills/Laws/Acts from RTI:

• Draft Freedom of Information Bill, developed by a small committee of civil society representatives and government officials, 2004.
• A critique of the draft Freedom of Access to Official Information Bill 2003 (Sri Lanka), Submitted by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2004.