The CSHR was established in 1991 as a result of the violence in the late 1980s. The aim of the Centre was to provide the public with Human Rights awareness and remedies to the violation of rights. Since then, the CSHR has expanded its reach both within the university community and the wider community in Human Rights education and training. The need for awareness, education and training in the field of Human Rights, as well as for ongoing research in this area has been identified by the CSHR. The Centre therefore, continues in its efforts towards establishing a culture of respect for Human Rights in Sri Lanka.

Throughout its existence, the CSHR has focused on reaching many segments within Sri Lanka in informing them of rights and responsibilities. These groups consist of secondary school students, the rural community, the plantation population, the military, police and prison officers and prison inmates, pre service teachers, the university community, the differently abled and the media.

The CSHR sees its role in contributing to the secondary school curriculum, through the introduction of where Human Rights components. In this effort, the CSHR collaborated with the National Institute of Education (NIE) and The Asia Foundation (TAF), which supported this initiative, incorporating Human Rights into the secondary school curriculum at the Advanced Level (A Level). The CSHR in collaboration with continued to work with the NIE also train the teachers who would teach Human Rights, which was supported by TAF.

The Centre continued to work with the NIE to incorporate Human Rights into the subject of Civics and Governance for school students, where a Teacher Guide was also prepared after consultations with the NIE and the Ministry of Education (MoE) with support from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the Equal Access to Justice Project (EA2J) of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The EA2J Project further supported the development of a Supplementary Book on Human Rights for students offering the subject of Civics and Governance. Expert knowledge for this initiative was obtained from the Faculties of Law and Arts of the University of Colombo, in addition to the CSHR , which collaborated with the MoE.

In its three year Strategic Plan, prepared in 2006, the CSHR identified its core areas of focus in Human Rights. They are Human Rights Education, Research, Capacity Building, Knowledge Services and Institutional Development.

In the area of Human Rights Education, the CSHR placed importance in making Human Rights courses available to specific groups as well as to the wider community to impart much needed knowledge on certain aspects of Human Rights, both theoretically and practically.

CSHR being a university based organisation, views Human Rights Research as the second most important area of focus. The CSHR has identified the importance of research that is both current as well as practical in terms of responding to issues faced in society at present.

The third area of focus is Capacity Building, where the CSHR continues to empower the diverse groups that works with towards building a society that will respect the rights of others. In this regard, the CSHR has identified a wide range of persons among the State sector and civil society with which it continues to work.

The fourth area that CSHR focuses on is Knowledge Services. This is primarily in terms of strengthening the CSHR’s information provision to the university community and the general public through new and updated publications, and the electronic media.

The final area of focus is Institutional Development, where the CSHR envisages an effective and efficient system of operation to enable programmes of high quality to be delivered to all groups that the CSHR works with. The CSHR, therefore will ensure that its staff continues with the organisation and will provide necessary training and skill development as well as the environment, so that the CSHR can achieve its goal of being ” a centre of excellence in Human Rights Education and Research that contributes significantly to the creation of a human rights consciousness in the nation resulting in respect for the Human Rights of all”.

The CSHR, therefore continues to recognise its role as a Centre that contributes towards changing attitudes in people it works with, where focus is on Human Rights responsibilities and that will enable to bring about a “responsible” society.