Events: What Can Be Done To Address Sri Lanka’s Suicide Epidemic?
March 12, 2013
Following a decade of decline, Sri Lanka’s suicide rate – once amongst the highest in the world – is reported to be on the rise once more. It’s too early to tell whether this is a temporary blip or the beginnings of something more serious. But what is known is that the fall in the suicide rate was the result of sales restrictions placed on the most toxic pesticides, and not the result of falling levels of suicide attempts per se. In fact, the evidence suggests that the number of suicide attempts has actually increased in the same period, with suicidal behaviour remaining a leading cause of serious injury and death in youth and older persons in Sri Lanka.
The main aims of the symposium are to share the results of new research, discuss effective intervention strategies, and debate the ‘cultural challenge’ of suicide prevention in Sri Lanka. ‘More and more, suicide experts are recognising that the causes of suicide are culturally rooted, and so prevention methods designed in and for western contexts are likely to be only partially effective in different cultural contexts,’ says Dr Widger. Global suicidology organisations like the International Association of Suicide Prevention (IASP) are now exploring the link between suicide and culture, placing the issue on national-level research agenda.
The symposium will begin with presentations on recent trends in Sri Lanka’s suicide rate. Then there will be presentations reporting the results of qualitative studies of suicide from across Sri Lanka, including an analysis of suicide and war in the conflict-affected areas. The third session will include a range of papers discussing the success of recent intervention strategies, including the restriction of pesticides and life-skills training. The final session will take the form of a roundtable debate on the theme of the symposium: ‘can we meet the cultural challenge of suicide prevention in Sri Lanka?’
It is hoped that the symposium will produce informative and lively discussions. As well as publishing papers presented, the organisers will use the results of the symposium to develop suicide prevention materials for use in Sri Lanka.
Further information about the symposium can be obtained by emailing Dr Widger and Ms Udalagama atsuicideinsrilanka@gmail.com.
“I’m Sinhala. Please don’t kill me” –Vinitha had cried
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Eye witnesses say that an LTTE leader Nadesan and others who tried to surrender to the security forces carrying white flags were killed after assaulting them with poles. Eye witnesses have added that Nadesan’s wife was shot and killed while she said, “I’m Sinhala, please don’t kill me.”
Several LTTE members and a civilian who was present at the time of the assassination are currently in London and are revealing all the gory details of the murders.
Former BBC correspondent Frances Harrison referring to their eye witness accounts has said that Vineetha had shouted in Sinhala when the soldiers had tried to kill her and that a third eye witness had said that she had shouted to the soldiers asking them not to kill her since she was Sinhala.
The eyewitnesses have said that a Special Forces major had killed Vinitha after shouting at her in filth asking if she remembered her Sinhala heritage only now. Nadesan was killed after being assaulted with poles.
The eye witness is now coming out with the entire incident and had said he could identify the security forces personnel if he saw them.
