ABOUT INFORM

WHO WE ARE

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INFORM was established in 1990 to monitor and document the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, especially in the context of the ethnic conflict and civil war. We work by reporting on the situation through written and oral interventions at the local, national and international level. INFORM also conducts rights advocacy and awareness building work, including work on policy change.

While a strong focus of our work has been on the conflict, INFORM has also focused on working with other communities whose rights have been frequently and systematically violated. These groups include those such as women; Tamils working in Tea Estates in the hill country; people living with HIV/aids; LGBT Communities; sex workers; and refugee and asylum seekers. This work has been carried out in close collaboration with other human rights groups who focus and specialise in these areas.

INFORM also conducts trainings and have served as resource persons / facilitators for number of local, national, regional (Asian / South Asian) and international human rights trainings. INFORM also participate in national, regional and international campaigns, conferences and was often invited as speakers to make presentations. Presently, INFORM has focused on freedom expression and human rights defenders. INFORM is based in Colombo Sri Lanka, and works closely with local activists, groups and networks as well as regional (Asian) and international human rights networks.

In predominantly Sinhalese areas, INFORM has been working primarily with NGOs and HRD networks in Moneragela, Horowpathana, Anuradhapura, Kurunegela and Puttalam. INFORM has also been collaborating with HRDs in the pre-dominantly Tamil North and East of Sri Lanka. INFORM has been a key constituent in election monitoring and media freedom work at the national level. INFORM is involved with the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), and the Free Media Movement (FMM). INFORM has been working closely on campaigns and advocacy with Colombo based organizations such as Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), Rights Now Collective for Democracy, Law & Society Trust (LST) etc. INFORM has also been working with organizations focusing on rights of specific groups such as with families of enforced disappearances, women’s rights, rights of lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, media organizations, trade unions, academics etc. INFORM is one of the two member organizations from Sri Lanka of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and been closely associated with its activities, and has also served on its Executive Committee. It has also maintained close links with HRDs and national level human rights organizations in Asian countries. INFORM has also been associated with several regional women’s rights organizations. INFORM has been associated for a number of years with international women’s rights movement on global campaigns and advocacy on women’s rights. It was a founding member of the International coalition on Women HRDs and was the primary host of the first International Consultation on Women HRDs in 2005. INFORM has also worked closely with leading international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, International Service for Human Rights, Frontline Defenders and FORUM Asia.

INFORM was founded by Charles Abeysekara; Sunila Abeysekara; Jayadeya Uyanjoda; Sunil Bastian; Kumudini Samuel; and R. Cheran. Since its inception, it has been governed by a Board of Directors, with the day to day work led by the Executive Director and full time and part time staff. INFORM is registered as a “Guarantee Limited” company, under the Companies Act.

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