Research Publications

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Violation of Human Dignity through Online Harassment: A Case for Stronger Protection of Privacy in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2022-09-15) Harasgama, K; Jayamaha, S
Human dignity, a concept widely discussed philosophical, political and legal spheres, has gained importance with its recognition under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as a foundation of human rights. Dignity is understood to be inherent in humans. Scholars observe dignity to be twofold; firstly, dignity by reason of humans having the capacity to rationalize and secondly humans as social animals having a sense of self-worth and social standing. Human Dignity, therefore, is universally recognized so as human rights in general. On the contrary, Privacy is just another right and does not command a wide and equal standing in every society. Privacy relates to the personal space; be it bodily, informational, territorial or communicational within which a person expects to be free from scrutiny. Privacy refers to the limit to which one desires to expose himself to others. It is understood that privacy is one element which contributes to the notion of dignity. Privacy violations will therefore lead to the degradation of human dignity. This is illustrated in cases of online harassment as publication of intimate, sexually explicit video/images of individuals, impersonating victims, and defaming or insulting victims in public categorically invade the privacy of individuals thus violating their human dignity. Sri Lanka has a piecemeal approach to protecting privacy, which is scattered around various statutes and case law, and is of limited scope. Upholding dignity, therefore, is challenged although the Sri Lankan Constitution and case law identify dignity as foundational. Hence, it is argued that a state which is concerned with upholding the dignity of its citizens should be equally concerned about protecting the privacy of those citizens.
Open Access
Online Harassment in Sri Lanka: A Thematic Analysis
(MDPI, 2023-03-15) Harasgama, K.S; Jayamaha, S
: Online harassment has become a growing menace worldwide for which every nation is trying to find a solution. Existing literature demonstrates that online harassment is widespread in diverse forms and so is its impact on the victims. Despite the lack of any comprehensive studies in this area, there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate the prevalence of online harassment in Sri Lanka and the need to find effective solutions to it. In such circumstances, this study aims to understand the nature of online harassment in the Sri Lankan context using qualitative research methodology. To that end, the study uses thematic analysis for analysing the data collected through semi-structured interviews. The thematic analysis was employed for the study as it assists in classifying complex qualitative data into different and simplified themes for better understanding and interpretation of such data. Among other findings, the analysis revealed three global themes, namely the motives of the perpetrators, the impact on victims, and remedies. Under each global theme, the study revealed various organising and basic themes, also indicating that the motives of the perpetrators and the impact on the victims are closely connected. It further reveals that impacts could be extremely serious, ranging from helplessness to suicidal thoughts, humiliation to broken relationships, and even having adverse impacts on the careers of victims. The study also found that the available remedies are not systematic or strong enough to meet the expectations of the victims. Thus, we conclude that the threat from online harassment in Sri Lanka is similar to that in any other country, requiring immediate and well-planned legal and policy responses, as exposed by the key themes identified in the study.

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