International Criminal Court (ICC) President Judge
Sang-Hyun Song (left) with Commonwealth
Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma
on 13 July 2011.
13 July 2011
ICC praises Secretariat for sterling work in promoting implementation of international criminal law
International Criminal Court (ICC) President Judge Sang-Hyun Song and Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Wednesday, 13 July 2011 to strengthen and develop co-operation between their organisations to jointly support states implementing international criminal law. The signing took place at the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting in Sydney, Australia, and was witnessed by law ministers, attorneys-general and senior officials from the 54-member Commonwealth.
The ICC President commended the Commonwealth Secretariat for its sterling work in promoting the development and implementation of international criminal law. More news...
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Sri Lankan nationalists doubt legality of 13th amendment
15/07/2011Colombo, Jul 15 (PTI)The 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, which incorporates devolution plan for the Tamils in the country''s north and east, needs to be probed by Parliament to examine its legality, a nationalist pressure group has said.
"The 13th amendment was never a demand by either the Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims. Even at this late stage the amendment needs to be rejected," Elle Gunawansa, a pro-government Buddhist monk who leads the ''National Organisations Collective'', said.
The amendment was adopted in 1987 as a result of the Indo-Lanka accord between then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and ex-President JR Jayawardene.
The JVP and the rest of the opposition led a vicious campaign against the amendment and the system of provincial councils that came with it. However, the provincial councils later came to be accepted by the very forces who opposed it.
The Tamil parties have been pressing for the conferring of full powers to the councils despite the LTTE''s violent opposition to the system.
Omare Kassapa, another monk, said the provinces should never be given police and land powers. "We know the President''s thinking on this. He is opposed to these powers being given."
Gunadasa Amarasekera, a leading activist of the movement, said "the 13th amendment was illegal. If any more action is to be taken on it, such action needed to be subject to public approval."
The amendment needs to be probed by Parliament to examine its legality, leaders of the pressure group said.
The debate on the amendment has been revived in the country since the visit of a high-power Indian delegation last month.
The government had informed Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon that police and land powers could not be vested in the provincial councils and that Rajapaksa intends to formulate a solution to the problems of the Tamil minority through a Parliamentary select committee process, officials here said.
