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Sri Lanka, Human Rights and the United Nations

A Scrutiny into the International Human Rights Engagement with a Third World State

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan

    1. Griffith College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

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  • Introduces readers to the underlying reasons why a country from the Global South, Sri Lanka, engages with the international human rights machinery and furnishes explanations for post-colonial states’ behaviour
  • Provides an explanation for the limited impact of this international human rights engagement on the Sri Lankan human rights infrastructure, despite intensive engagement and interaction
  • Highlights what needs to be changed within the United Nations and Sri Lanka so as to open the door for a more fruitful human rights discourse

Part of the book series: International Law and the Global South (ILGS)

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
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  2. Introduction

    • Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan
    Pages 1-16

  3. Sri Lanka’s History: Colonialism, Independence and Conflict

    • Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan
    Pages 17-67

  4. Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Infrastructure

    • Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan
    Pages 69-122

  5. The United Nations Treaty-Based Bodies and Their Engagement with Sri Lanka

    • Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan
    Pages 123-162

  6. The United Nations Charter-Based Bodies and Their Engagement with Sri Lanka

    • Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan
    Pages 163-217

  7. Conclusion

    • Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan
    Pages 219-254

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 255-266
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Keywords

About this book

This book examines the engagement between the United Nations’ human rights machinery and the respective governments since Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) joined the United Nations.


Sri Lanka has a long and rich history of engagement with international human rights instruments. However, despite its active membership in the UN, the country’s post-colonial trials and tribulations are emblematic of the limited influence the international organisation has exerted on this country in the Global South.


Assessing the impact of this international engagement on the country’s human rights infrastructure and situation, the book outlines Sri Lanka’s colonial and post-colonial development. It then considers the development of a domestic human rights infrastructure in the country. It also examines and analyzes Sri Lanka’s engagement with the UN’s treaty-based and charter-based human rights bodies, before offering conclusions concerning the impact of saidengagement. 


The book offers an innovative approach to gauging the impact of international human rights engagement, while also taking into account the colonial and post-colonial imperatives that have partly dictated governmental behaviour. By doing so, the book seeks to combine and analyse international human rights law, post-colonial critique, studies on biopower, and critical approaches to international law. It will be a useful resource not only for scholars of international law, but also for practitioners and activists working in this area.

Reviews

“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)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Griffith College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan

About the author

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.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Sri Lanka, Human Rights and the United Nations

  • Book Subtitle: A Scrutiny into the International Human Rights Engagement with a Third World State

  • Authors: Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan

  • Series Title: International Law and the Global South

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7350-3

  • Publisher: Springer Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-13-7349-7Published: 15 May 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-13-7350-3Published: 30 April 2019

  • Series ISSN: 2510-1420

  • Series E-ISSN: 2510-1439

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIX, 266

  • Number of Illustrations: 7 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Public International Law , Human Rights and Crime , Social Justice, Equality and Human Rights

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