Centre for Policy Alternatives unveils study on COVID governance in Sri Lanka  

COVID19 is not a great equaliser. In Sri Lanka as in a number of shaky third world democracies, COVID19 led to a human rights crisis that was unnoticed by most, silently accepted and easily forgotten. This could be particularly so because of the overall cultural stigma attached locally to Human Rights as an alien concept.  

“Is the Cure Worse than the Disease, Reflections on COVID Governance in Sri Lanka” is the latest release by Social Indicator, the polling arm of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. 

It recounts incidents from 2020-2021 following a survey on Socio-economic indices in the face of the COVID pandemic. It is a research study but is also simply written, stylish and easily accessible to the non-expert reader as a record of some of the chaos and inequality of the official handling of the pandemic in Sri Lanka. Strategically placed political cartoons of the time provide instant recall of experiences that would otherwise be soon forgotten by those not directly affected.  

The study is also great reading for an intellectually alert layman looking to understand how democracy can be transformed in a situation where fear allows citizens to normalise totalitarian excesses that would otherwise not be tolerated. Experiences from a cross section of Sri Lankan society have been collated, analysed and presented in the context of the events unfolding from March 2020 onwards.  

‘Reflections on COVID Governance in Sri Lanka’ will retain on record some of the cruelty, indifference and sheer negligence of both Sri Lankan authorities and society towards less privileged victims of the disease and details the warped governance that resulted during this national and global emergency. It is an important, readable, and suitably disturbing chronicle of the effects of the COVID19 pandemic on the more vulnerable segments of Sri Lankan society.  

Contributors include Bhavani Fonseka (CPA), Kaushani Dammalage (SSA), Hasini Lecamwasam (Peradeniya Uni.), Nipuni Lecamwasam (Royal Thimphu College) and the study editor is University of Colombo senior lecturer Dr Pradeep Peiris. Interested parties can download the study from the link below or contact [email protected] for a hard copy.  

Study link: https://www.cpalanka.org/is-the-cure-worse-than-the-disease-reflection-on-COVID-governance-in-sri-lanka/