The Sri Lanka News Desk is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital and largest city. Sri Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean, located off the coast of India. It established its independence as Ceylon in 1948, then changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972. After a 26-year conflict between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil separatists, the government announced in 2009 that it had finally defeated the separatists. Sri Lanka has been undergoing reconstruction and is transitioning to a middle-income country. Still, natural disasters are frequent and noncommunicable diseases are on the rise.

The Sri Lanka News Desk is new in 2011. Its seven reporters have received specialty training to cover their unique post-conflict environment.