Legal experts speaking at the Jaffna International Law Conference (JILC) 2025, titled ‘Law as Gentle Civiliser of Change’ held on the 25^th and 26^th of January at the Hoover Auditorium, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna, expressed strong concerns regarding the deterioration of constitutional values and democratic norms in Sri Lanka along with several other countries in Asia.   

The opening day of the JILC academic sessions 2025 was graced by Justice Preethi Padmana Surasena, Judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka as Chief Guest and Ms Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, Commissioner, Right to Information Commission as the Guest of Honour.

Justice Surasena observed that the event was significant as the sessions held outside the capital city acknowledged the diversity of voices in deliberating on contemporary challenges faced by the law, continuing the rich tradition of the Department of Law and the University of Jaffna in bridging gaps in legal discourse. Addressing the sessions, Ms Pinto-Jayawardena highlighted examples where the judiciary had interpreted Sri Lanka’s Right to Information Act to shift power from the political authority to the citizen. However, she observed that the political undermining of the Constitution has most impacted on the powerless in both the majority and the minority communities, remarking that as long as oppressive laws remain in force, no Government can label itself as a ‘system change-maker.’

Ms Pinto-Jayawardena also pointed to a global retreat of constitutional democracy where citizens have come to view concepts such as the Rule of Law with deep cynicism due to the failure of legal systems to respond to the felt needs of the people. Speaking on the same theme, Professor Dian Shah of the National University of Singapore examined the rise of authoritarianism in Asia in her keynote address, emphasizing that while there is progressive constitutional change throughout the region, this has been challenged by assaults on constitutional institutions in the very countries which ushered in democratic political change.

The way in which constitutional norms have progressed and regressed highlight the consolidation of political authority, the undermining of constitutional democracy and the suppression of political competition, she said.

A highlight of the opening day sessions was a special discussion on the topic of the People’s Constitution’ with speakers being former Professor of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, V.T. Tamilmaran, President’s Counsel Dr Jayantha de Almeida Gunaratne and Head of the Law Department, University of Peradeniya, Dr. Kalana Senaratne with Senior Researcher of the Center for Policy Alternatives, Bhavani Fonseka as the moderator.

The sessions on the second day was attended by Supreme Court Justice Janak de Silva as the Chief Guest and President’s Counsel Ms Chamantha Unamboowe as the Guest of Honour.

Organized by the Law Department of the University of Jaffna, the conference co-chairs were the Head of the Law Department of the University of Jaffna, Ms Kosaali Madan and Dean of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Jaffna, Professor C. Raghuram. An academic manual edited by senior lecturers Sujatha Samaradiwakara and Sanjayan Rajasingham containing papers presented by the students of the Law Department at technical sessions of the conference was also released.

The proceedings were presided over by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna, Professor S. Srisatkunarajah and attended by the Governor of the Northern Province, Mr N Vedanayagam, former parliamentarian M Sumanthiran, Judges of the Northern Province, lawyers, lecturers, students and senior law academics of the Universities of Jaffna, Colombo and Peradeniya.