land garbbing in Srilanka

Land acquisition by the State has been a serious and contentious issue dominating the human rights and legal fields for decades. This report looks at the acquisition of land by the State for a public purpose from May 2008 - December 2018. The report finds that land acquisition for a public purpose over the last ten years shows that the definition of ‘public purpose’ used by the State is extremely broad. The public purposes for which land (both private and land held by various Government institutions) was acquired have ranged from military camps to military run resorts to luxury condominiums o roads and infrastructure projects to police stations. This report discusses in depth select cases where land was acquired for luxury development projects, reservoirs and for military purposes.