Government’s Pro-Poor Education Policy Yet To Be Implemented
Wednesday, October 24, 2012www.thesundayleader

By Dinidu de Alwis, Nirmala Kannangara and Chrishanthi Christopher

The Appropriations Bill for the year 2013 was presented to parliament by Leader of the House, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. During the coming weeks, The Sunday Leader will take a detailed look at spending patterns on key subject areas, and attempt to set them in a historical context. This week, we focus on how the spending would work for primary and secondary education.

THE STATE AND ITS TRENDS

The Appropriations Bill for 2013 was presented to the parliament by Leader of the house Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva

Sri Lanka has an adult literacy rate of 91.9%. Primary school attendance is mandatory, but the last census data shows that 7.9% of the population had no formal education, including primary. Around 3% of consumer expenditure was spent on education during the last census, showing an upward trend.
A total 3.9 million students currently attend state funded schools, slightly down from five years ago. The number of teachers has gone up, increasing the student-teacher ratio. What has also gone up is the number of private schools, which now stands at 97, and the number of students who attend private schools, which now stands at 120,000.
Despite the drop in the number of state funded schools, the number of Pirivenas has grown compared from five years back. Sri Lanka now has 716, up from 653 in 2005, which accommodates a total of 63,000 students – a near 15% rise of the student population.

POLICY DIRECTION

and Ordinary Level and Advanced Level failures depend on the ability of the students and the availability of teachers.

The key document which sets out policy for the government is the Mahinda Chinthanaya – the presidential manifesto by Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005, which was subsequently updated in 2010. During its update prior to his second election campaign, it said that the plan for the current government – and the vision of the President – is to go beyond the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals and ensure universal secondary education for all by 2016.

In his 2005 manifesto, the then would-be President declared that he “will not deprive our children of their right to free education. All Maha Vidyalayas and Central Colleges will be fully developed with all modern facilities. Science laboratories for advanced level students, language centres with facilities to teach Sinhala, Tamil and English, Computer laboratories, library and sports centres will be among such facilities.”
Even though emphasis grew on the “bigger” National schools, the smaller, more rural schools have suffered. Their number dropped from 9,399 in 2005 to 9,662 in 2009, bringing the total number of state-funded schools to 9,714 by the end of last year.
There are several other ambitious plans that the current government has fallen short of. The target of raising adult literacy rates to 97% by 2010 from 94% in 2000 has fallen short: it still stood at 91.9% in 2011, going by the government’s own reports. The policy document says that all spending on education – and all state spending, for that matter – are to be pro-poor, but it also forecasts private sector investments in the education sector to surpass state-sector spending, by 2013.

SPENDING PLAN FOR 2013                                                                              Read More »

The Loss Of Our Collective Memory

By Sajeeva Samaranayake -October 24, 2012

Sajeeva Samaranayake

[This is a sequel to the essay Is this also  a Buddhist response? published last week. Readers are invited to read that as an introduction to this]

It is spiritual energy that brings all kinds of polarities (right and wrong, male and female, earth and sky, humans and animals etc) together. Perhaps, some of us know that this quality is in short supply in our society. Spirituality is the essence of all religions. However both narrow religion and popular religion can operate to subvert spirituality. This is the common experience of all cultures and societies.

Every generation is mandated with the task of re-creating its own spiritual domain as source energy to answer its own unique problems. The mere repetition of ancient verbal formulas – unaccompanied by the requisite personal commitment will simply not do. However spiritual values cannot take root and grow without an enabling and supportive social environment. An open and convivial atmosphere is needed for communication to take place across social and cultural boundaries. This is quite different to the familiar languages of Buddhists preaching to fellow Buddhists, Christians sermonizing to fellow Christians and Muslims praying all by themselves. In particular there is a need for environments that are not polluted by politics of any kind.

Today the social domain is all but extinguished by politics of patronage – a subjective and emotional throwback to our feudal era. Human rights have failed to get even a foothold in this society due to the all pervading legitimacy of patronage. Social values are either dying or dead. There is a need to re-learn our own social values. However a look back at the past provides a broad perspective on our current predicament and helps in the identification of root causes.

Destruction of social systems                                                                            Read More

Teachers’ & Principals march with University Dons

WEDNESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2012

The protest march organized by teachers’ and principals’ trade unions demanding solutions for six demands that affect the education sector commenced from Rajagiriya Roundabout and marched through Battaramulla to Isurupaya.

A large number of people representing teachers’ and principals’ trade unions participated in the march.

Among the participants were Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri President of FUTA and its Vice- President Ven. Ddhambara Amila Thera and a large number of university teachers.

The police had to close down the Kottawa – Borella road until the marchers reached Isurupaya.

The marchers held a meeting opposite Isurupaya, the Ministry of education. The General Secretary of Lanka Teacher Services Union (LTSU) Mahinda Jayasinghe, the General Secretary of Ceylon Teachers’ Union Joseph Stalin and the spokesman for FUTA Dr. Maheem Mendis addressed the participants.

The trade union leaders emphasized that authorities should take measures to find solutions for their issues within two weeks or they would close down all schools and carry out a continuous strike.

Heavy police contingents were deployed around the Ministry of Education say reports.

Letter to UN Gen. Secretary requesting to send a UN team to find Prageeth
Wednesday 24 of October 2012
(Lanka-e-News -24.Oct.2012, 5.00PM 22nd October 2012 marked the completion of 1000 days since Lanka e news journalist Prageeth Ekneliyagoda went missing in 2010. A satyagraha was staged in front of the UN office in Colombo and a letter in this connection was handed over on the 22nd . The contents of the letter are as follows :

1. Facilitate a visit by the UN Working Group on Disappearances to Sri Lanka; 
2. Ratify the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced 
Disappearance 
3. Implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission 
(LLRC) by appointing an independent commission to investigate disappearances in Sri 
Lanka; 
4. Ensure accountability for disappearances by identifying and prosecuting those responsible 
and providing information about all persons held in government detention and 
rehabilitation centres and granting them access to their families. 
5. Provide support and livelihood assistance to families of the disappeared, particularly their 
children. 

Sandya Ekneliyagoda, the wife of Prageeth Ekneliyagoda in distress and deep despair stated that she and her children had been roaming the streets in search of Prageeth without avail . Unlike those bereaved families of the persons who had been announced dead , those families of the persons who had gone missing , are facing immense sufferings and grief forever searching for their beloved ones in the hope their disappeared ones can be found somehow , she said in a voice charged with emotion.

Nimalka Fernando who participated in the Satyagraha, regretted , the UN too could not search and find Prageeth even though a thousand days had elapsed. What is the next step that can be taken by this destitute family who is facing untold hardships ?, she inquired 

Message From Tokyo
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
www.thesundayleader
Four key messages came out from the IMF-World Bank (WB) annual meetings which concluded in Tokyo last Sunday.
They were that the global economy though still fragile, was however on the road to recovery; the importance of jobs and growth; the importance also of growth with equity, while the fourth was the interconnectivity of global economies, ipso facto from an economic perspective.
The main pivot of the world’s economic recovery hinged over the health of the euro zone economies, with at least four of those countries going through sovereign debt crises and high fiscal deficits, with the possibility of cascading effects to the rest of the region as well, leading to catastrophic results, if those ills were left unattended to. With gradual fiscal consolidation being addressed to by the governments of those troubled euro zone economies, namely Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain (PIIGS), which, ipso facto also naturally leads to a reduction in their debt levels; complemented by the infusion of fresh capital by the IMF and the European Central Bank  in order to also act as a fillip for markets to regain confidence in those economies by boosting their liquidity levels, not least their under capitalized banks, coupled with those countries to be subjected to structural reforms in a quid pro quo arrangement, and the move towards a European banking union for  better supervision of those banks in the region as the stability of some of those being threatened due to their unwise investments, including in sovereign bonds of those troubled economies, thereby posing a systemic risk in the event of sovereign default.
There however is a tradeoff between fiscal consolidation and growth, with the former impinging on the latter, and possible destabilizing effects on those economies as a result, which are also burdened by high unemployment levels running into double digit figures, especially among its youth, with the risk of spawning social and political instability as well in those countries as a consequence.
The message therefore given by the IMF at these meetings which echoed what the Fund said six months earlier at its spring meetings in Washington, D.C.,  was to adopt the “Goldilocks”  approach of not going too “fast,” nor too “slow,” when implementing those reforms.
As to what “speed” those economies should go when undertaking such reforms was however not spelt out, but what was said was a “commitment” to a 1% GDP cut annually by the governments of those countries in the path to fiscal consolidation, as the way to go.
And the response from the governments of those economies is that they are willing to take that plunge.
What is of particular importance to Sri Lanka regarding the recovery of the euro zone which comprises 17 economies, and the EU as a whole which comprises a total of 27 economies in the region including those 17 countries plus the UK (Sri Lanka’s second largest export market led by garments) is that from a regional perspective the EU is also Sri Lanka’s single biggest export market as well as its single biggest tourism market.
Garments after remittances are the island’s second largest foreign exchange earner, while tourism is its fourth (with tea being the third).
With the end of Sri Lanka’s 26 year old terrorist conflict three years ago in 2009, the Government of Sri Lanka is once more banking heavily on tourism to take the country’s economy forward.
So, the ability of those euro zone economies to come out of their sovereign debt crises successfully may also be the key to the survival and growth of Sri Lanka’s very own economy as well, resonating the fourth message from Tokyo, that no country is an island in this 21st century, emphasizing the global economic interconnectivity of nations as being a fact. This message however may not be something new.
If one looks at history and considers the Great Depression that hit the world 83 years ago in 1929, then too tiny Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was then known) was not spared from its ill effects, with the price of coconuts which before the Depression fetched Rs. 75 for 1,000 nuts; falling rapidly to Rs. 5 per 1,000 nuts after the Depression, making many landowners who had had invested in coconut plantations at that time, destitute as a result, due to those steep price falls. Prior to the opening up of the economy in 1977, tea, rubber and coconut were Sri Lanka’s three largest foreign exchange earners. The story from Tokyo was also that economic recovery was however fragile, with much of the recovery hinging on the shoulders of the people living in those countries. Whether they have the patience and the strength to go through with those steep austerity measures which may once more help to put those economies  to get back on track, or whether they will rebel against such measures, thereby causing those countries to once more backslide economically, with catastrophic consequences as a result, is the unanswered question. With those austerity measures taking root, even fissiparous noises are being heard from the euro zone’s fourth largest economy, Spain.
So the road to global economic recovery is far from being smooth, with several narrow turns yet remaining to be manoeuvred through, before seeing the light at the end of the tunnel or before coming out from the tunnel of darkness in to light.
The local economy is also already feeling the ill effects of the euro zone crisis, with exports plunging and foreign direct investments being reduced to a trickle despite the war end and the attendant ramifications that go with thus.
Another country which is of economic importance to Sri Lanka and which also figured in the meetings in Tokyo was the fiscal cliff that was threatening the world’s largest economy the USA which is also Sri Lanka’s single biggest export market, led by garments.
USA too runs high public debt levels and budget deficits and there is a danger that if there is no consensus between the White House and the Republican dominated Congress, the USA’s debt ceiling will come into effect after January 1 of next year, giving rise to automatic spending cuts and tax increases, thereby resulting in growth being cut by 4% of GDP and plunging the USA which has an 8% unemployment figure, into recession.
Factors that however may prevent such a scenario from taking place by the politicians of the USA are the possible economic and political instability that such an action or inaction may cause to the world’s largest economy. Meanwhile Japan, Sri Lanka’s largest provider of concessional aid too figured in those discussions in Tokyo.
Like the USA and several economies in the euro zone/EU, the world’s third largest economy too runs high public debt levels and fiscal deficits.
But the IMF hailed the steps taken by Japan to raise consumption taxes gradually to 100% by 2015 as a step in the right direction.What however didn’t figure in those talks were the increased political tensions, almost spilling over to being that of military tensions by nature, due to claims being made by both Japan and China over some disputed islands located on the East China Sea.
Both the IMF and the WB however are mainly economic animals and not political, so such tensions, though they may have economic repercussions, may however have to be taken up at a different forum, possibly the UN. Nevertheless the 5th message that came out from Tokyo, though not articulated unlike the other four previous messages is that not only are the global economies interconnected merely from an economic perspective, but that this interconnectedness also takes the form of a political dimension as well. Economics cannot be separated from politics, not only from a country position, but also from a global perspective, that was the 5th, albeit unsaid message, that also emanated from Tokyo, earlier this month.

SL, Indian sex workers face police/military harassment: UN

Sex Work and the Law in Asia and the Pacific The report is intended to provide an evidence-base for: policy makers working in government, regional and multilateral organizations; parliamentarians; members of the judiciary; civil society organizations; donor agencies; and sex workers and their organizations engaged in advocacy to improve the legal and policy enabling environment for HIV responses. The study focuses on 48 countries of the Asia-Pacific region, with an emphasis on low and middle-income countries. Unit: HIV, Health and Development Year: 2012 Category: Research and Policy Series Printed version available? Yes File: HIV-2012-SexWorkAndLaw.pdf SL, Indian sex workers face police/military harassment: UN WEDNESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2012 The United Nations said Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh were among countries where sex workers were often the target of police or military harassment. “Incidents involving sexual assaults by police or military have been reported from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Fiji, India, Kiribati, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka,” the United Nations Development Programme and the UN Population Fund, in partnership with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and non-governmental organisations across Asia stated in a 210-page report, "Sex Work and the Law in Asia and the Pacific,”. It said that across almost all of Asia; laws, policies and practices put in place to regulate prostitution do more harm than good, driving sex workers underground and increasing their vulnerability to HIV and a long string of other socially transmissible diseases. “Sex workers are often targeted by police for harassment and arrest under public order offences and offences relating to beggars or vagrants. This may lead to arrest and detention in special ‘rehabilitation’ facilities (e.g., Sri Lanka and India).” The report also said that confiscation of condoms by police as evidence of illegal conduct or to justify harassment and extortion was a widespread problem. “Countries where sex workers report condom confiscation or police harassment for possessing condoms include China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam.” “In Sri Lanka, most sex workers are street-based or operate from shanty dwellings. In addition to street work, some clandestine brothels operate in Sri Lanka and many sex workers work from karaoke clubs or as escorts.” "Compulsory detention of sex workers, for the purpose of 'rehabilitation' or 're-education' is a highly punitive approach used in China, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, also known as Burma. In some countries, centres are used as a source of free or cheap labour," it further said. “There are networks of ‘middle men/women’ who can arrange sex with foreign sex workers who come to the Maldives on visa runs from their usual location of work in Sri Lanka and India. There are women from Sri Lanka, India, Southeast Asian countries, Russia, and Eastern Europe,” it added.

Romance Of Personal And Political In Contemporary Art In Sri Lanka

By Dev N Pathak -October 24, 2012 

Dr.Dev N Pathak

Lecture delivered at the launch of the book, Artists Remember; Artists Narrate: Memory and Representation in Sri Lankan Visual Arts (Colombo Institute and Theertha, Colombo 2012; ISBN 978 955 4501-00-3) at the Post Graduate Institute of Archeology, Colombo, 28^thSeptember 2012.

As to why art is created, there could possibly be an inexorable series of answers. Some could be mystical-conjectural alluding to the relation between artistic creativity and the divine; some other could refer to the political economy of imagination, creation and consumption. In addition to this, there has been already an unresolved tension between ‘art for the world’ and ‘art for the sake of art’; and indeed it is also possible to say today that art is primarily for artists’ sake. Sasanka Perera takes an intellectual plunge into the visual art from Sri Lanka and ferrets out a few novel answers by far untold. Thereby he deftly breathes new lease of life into the enterprise of social anthropology by studying art history at the juncture in history which some anthropologists have elsewhere termed ‘critical moments’. In very much a modern society, with deceitfully advanced capitalism at its best, and an intriguingly desperate state struggling to assert its supremacy at its worst, social anthropology is enjoined with the daunting task of locating human history in the middle of situations of crises; and of course thereby a harmony between the intellectually separated disciplines of sociology and history, politics and economics, are pushed for a much needed alliance.  Doing the same, with erudition of scholarship and sophistication of his craft, and yet in the linguistic register of the ordinary, Sasanka Perera reaffirms the slogan that originated in feminist scholarship- personal is political. It however is not all that his monograph titled Artists Remember; Artists Narrate: Memory and Representation in Sri Lankan Visual Arts eloquently promises and efficiently delivers. Perera enriches the feminist slogan by adroitly reversing the order- the political is personal too. The dialectic of personal and political underpins the art scene in Sri Lanka. It is this phenomenon, a philosophic-theoretical premium of this monograph, that renders it distinguishable from the attempts at doing art history in the region. While art historians’ incestuous intimacy with the ‘good-old days’ is never ending, especially due to the vested interest of ideological state apparatus, this book confirms a possibility of liberation from the prison of formulaic scholarship. Without compromising the aesthetic appeals of the visual art, this monograph underscores the social history in the backdrop of each creation. Without ignoring the details of creating and exhibiting, this monograph maintains its focus on the relationship between the biographical and the historical. It echoes the classical dictum of C. Wright Mills, the American sociologist who propounded the idea of sociological imagination at the dusk of Second World War, ‘when wars happen, an insurance salesman becomes a rocket launcher; a store clerk, a radar man; a wife lives alone; a child grows up without a father. Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both’. Needless to say, it summons utmost conviction and courage to present knowledge without discriminating between what is pleasant and what is unpleasant.Sasanka Perera accomplishes the feat nearly in entirety.

 Read More

UPDATE 1-S.Lanka's Ceypetco may close refinery on supply delay

Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:33am EDT

* Ceypetco struggling to bring in Iranian crude after U.S. sanctions

* Seeking alternative crude to replace Iranian oil

* Ships having difficulty getting insurance (Adds details)

SINGAPORE/COLOMBO, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Ceylon Petroleum Corp (Ceypetco) may be forced to shut Sri Lanka's sole 50,000 barrels-per-day oil refinery from Thursday for up to two weeks if efforts to secure alternative supplies to Iranian crude fail, the company's general manager said.

The Sri Lankan refinery is configured to run solely on Iranian crude. Authorities have been trying to adjust it to run on other crude varieties since the United States imposed sanctions on Iranian exports.

Susantha Silva told Reuters Ceypetco was scrambling to fill a shortfall after it was unable to bring in Iranian crude because of U.S. sanctions, but the refinery might not need to be shut if a crude order could be confirmed by Monday evening.

"At the moment, we are having problems with getting the required Irancrude," Silva said.

"We are still trying, even right now. If it is not, then we have no choice, but to shut down for two weeks ... maybe by the 25th, if we (do not get) the confirmation today."

Exports from Iran, which is grappling with tough Western sanctions targeting its energy and petrochemical sectors, have fallen sharply as consumers struggle both to pay for the oil and to secure insurance cover for tankers to ship the crude.

"We used Arabian light (crude) and we had problems but we have adjusted it now, (though) we are still unable to run at the full capacity," Silva said. "Arabian light will not give the proper yield so it is virtually not profitable also."

Sri Lanka, which is dependent on Iranian crude oil, has taken steps to cut purchases of Iranian crude to eight cargoes each year from 13 earlier, buying four cargoes from Oman and one from Saudi Aramco.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in June the U.S. would exempt Sri Lanka, among other nations, from financial sanctions because they have significantly cut purchases of Iranian oil.

"The refinery needs Iranian crude but we have no choice now. We have in fact lined up crude from Arabian light and also Omanian blend in the month of November," Silva said.

"We have no choice but to try out any other crude. That's the situation at the moment but at the same time we are not allowing the country to dry out."

The tough sanctions have so far defeated three attempts by Sri Lanka to get an Iranian crude cargo, Silva added.

"I sent a ship and the ship was almost there and they could not get the insurance. (It) has come back and then anyway we were trying (to get a crude cargo) without payment because we can't open a (letter of credit)."

Ceypetco's Sapugaskanda refinery, on the outskirts of the capital, Colombo, was last shut early in September after damage to a floating pipeline at the Colombo port.

Iran's oil exports have remained steady in recent months, it OPEC governor has said. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal in Sri Lanka and Jessica Jaganathan in Singapore; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Video: Life After Menik Farm

The Government opened the 700-hectare Menik Farm in Northern Sri Lanka’s Vavuniya district as an IDP site in 2009, and at its peak, later that year, it held 225,000 people. Over the past few weeks despite restrictions imposed-journalists and civil society activists have been reporting on the living conditions of the most recent batch of displaced persons from Menik Farm.

By Young Asia Televsion -October 23, 2012

Sri Lanka: Public Threats and Harassment Against Human Rights Defender Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu

William Gomes asks Sri Lanka's President to aid longtime human rights activist.

Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu

(SALEM) - Posters showed up in Colombo around the 15th of this month containing threats toward Human Rights Defender, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu.

It isn't the first time. These latest threats are only the most recent incidents targetting Dr. Saravanamuttu; part of a long pattern of harassment not unlike what other humanitarian activists have faced over the constant abuse of Tamils in the post war era.

In March 2012, a smear campaign by state-affiliated newspapers, TV and radio stations and news websites was launched against this human rights advocate and three others.

The beef is that Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu is one of those who attended the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to speak out over human rights abuses committed in Sri Lanka.

The government of Sri Lanka has had the Tamil minority population of this island nation in its sites and under duress since the country achieved liberation from British colonial occupation in 1948.

During the civil war countless people were killed and in the end more than 160,000 Tamils ceased to exist; either dead or hidden away in secret prison camps.

“

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Office of the President Republic Square, Colombo 01, Sri Lanka Your Excellency, I am William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com. I came to know about the situation from Front Line Defenders. On 15 October 2012, posters containing a threat to human rights defender Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu appeared in Colombo and surrounding areas. Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu is the executive director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a non-governmental organisation which carries out research and advocacy for public policy that promotes non-violent conflict resolution and strengthens democratic governance. On the morning of 15 October 2012, posters appeared in the environs of Colombo containing a message in Sinhala. Translated, the message reads: “Let us save the pro-people Divineguma Act, which builds the lives of fifteen lakhs [1,500,000] of low income families, from the Paikiasothy gang that aids and abets the separation of the country.” The poster refers to a bill currently in the process of being enacted. Dr Saravanamuttu and CPA have filed petitions to challenge the bill, as they are concerned that in a number of areas its provisions could be unconstitutional. As a result, the bill is currently pending before the Supreme Court. On the same morning the posters appeared, the CPA offices in Colombo were visited by military personnel. The military personnel reportedly offered a vague pretext of having been informed the CPA’s address was linked to the Elections Department, which was being investigated by these military persons. In a statement, the CPA has said they are as yet unsure whether the two events are linked, or why the military would be involved in such inquiries at all. These threats are the latest incident in a long pattern of harassment and threats directed at Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu. In March 2012, a smear campaign by state-affiliated newspapers, TV and radio stations and news websites was launched against him and three other human rights defenders when they attended the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where they spoke of human rights abuses committed in Sri Lanka. These media outlets repeatedly accused the human rights defenders of treason, affiliation with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and of receiving money from abroad to work against the interests of the country. This smear campaign included one event during a public rally on 23 March 2012 where a member of the national government, Minister of Public Relations Mr Meryn Silva, threatened the human rights defenders with physical harm if they set foot in Sri Lanka, reportedly saying: “I will publicly break the limbs of people like Sunanda Deshapriya, Nimalka Fernando and Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu who lobbied against their own country”. I am seriously concerned about this latest incident against Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu and the CPA, especially in the light of the official or state-sanctioned nature of some of these threats. The CPA has identified an increasingly menacing climate of open hostility and stigmatisation on the part of the government toward critical voices in civil society. I urge the authorities in Sri Lanka to: 1. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the threat against human rights defender Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards; 2. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of the abovementioned human rights defender and his family, as well as that of all members of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA); 3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Sri Lanka are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including harassment and intimidation by state officials and state-affiliated media. Yours Sincerely, William Nicholas Gomes Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com www.williamnicholasgomes.com Yours Sincerely, William Nicholas Gomes Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com www.williamnicholasgomes.com

”

http://williamnicholasgomes.com/2012/10/21/sri-lanka-public-threats-and-harassment-against-human-rights-defender-dr-paikiasothy-saravanamuttu/

The Myth of Blanket Immunity Of The President

By Elmore Perera -October 23, 2012

Elmore Perera

Article 3 of the much maligned 1978 Constitution unambiguously sets out that “In the Republic of Sri Lanka Sovereignty is in the People and is inalienable. Sovereignty includes the powers of Government,fundamental rights and the franchise”. Article 4 clearly defines how the Sovereign People shall exercise and “enjoy” their inalienable Sovereignty through its creatures – the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary.

Vested with the sole and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any question relating to the interpretation of the Constitution, the Supreme Court headed by the President’s hand-picked  Chief Justice Hon. Neville Samarakoon Q.C., withstood covert and even overt attempts (such as stoning of Judge’s bungalows and rewarding those found guilty of violating fundamental rights) by the Executive to intimidate the Judiciary into submission. A despicable attempt to subvert the Independence of the Judiciary was described by the Chief Justice in these words.

“Here is a classic example of the uncertainties of litigation and the vicissitudes of human affairs. The annals of the Supreme Court do not record such a unique event and I venture to hope, there never will be such an event in the years to come. It behoves me therefore to set out in detail the events that occurred in their chronological order …… On Monday the 12th (September 1983) I was informed that the Courts of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal and the Chambers of all Judges had been locked and barred and armed police guards had been placed on the premises to prevent access to them. The Judges had been effectively locked out. I therefore cautioned some of my bother Judges who had made ready to attend Chambers that day not to do so. I referred to this fact in my conversation with the Minister of Justice on the morning of Monday the 12th and he, while deprecating it, assured me that he had not given instructions to the police to take such action. I was made aware on Tuesday that the guards had been withdrawn. This matter was referred to in the  course of the argument (in SC Application No. 47/83 (Visuvalingam v Liyanage) and the Deputy Solicitor General informed the Court that it was the act of a blundering enthusiastic bureaucrat. He apologized on behalf of the official and unofficial Bar. On the last day of hearing the Deputy Solicitor General withdrew the apology and substituted instead an expression of regret. The identity of the blundering bureaucrat was not disclosed to us. However his object was clear – that was to prevent the Judges from asserting their rights ……On the15th September all Judges of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court received fresh letters of appointment, commencing 15th September ….. Counsel for the Petitioners vehemently objected to proceedings de novo and contended that proceedings must continue from where it stopped on the 9^th September as the Judges had not ceased to hold office. I considered this a matter of the greatest importance and therefore referred all points in dispute to this Full Bench of nine Judges. The following issues were raised for decision……  ‘Is the President’s act of making a fresh appointment of the Judges an executive act not questionable in a Court of Law?’….. The Deputy Solicitor General contended that the oaths taken by the Judges before their fellow Judges are not legally binding or valid even though Judges of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court are ex-officio JPs….. He added that the requirement to take the oath before the President is mandatory. His reason for stating this needs to be quoted verbatim:  ‘The reason for this is not far to seek. The Head of State as repository of certain aspects of the People’s Sovereignty has a constitutional obligation to obtain from the Judges their allegiance. The personal allegiance which the Judges owed to the sovereign in the days of the Monarchy is continued to the present day where the allegiance is owed to the Head of the State as representing the State. The Head of the State is entitled to ensure that the allegiance is manifested openly and in his presence?’ This is a startling proposition. Sovereignty of the People under the 1978 Constitution is one and indivisible. It remains with the People. It is only the exercise of certain powers of the Sovereign that are delegated under Article 4 as follows:-

(a)           Legislative power to Parliament

(b)           Executive power to the President

(c)           Judicial power through Parliament to the Courts

Fundamental Rights (Article 4(d)) and Franchise (Article 4(e)) remain with the People and the Supreme Court has been constituted the guardian of such rights. I do not agree with the Deputy Solicitor General that the President has inherited the mantle of a Monarch and that allegiance is owed to him….. There is no doubt that Judges had been denied access to the Courts and Chambers by a show of force. There is also no gainsaying that this Act had polluted the hallowed portals of these Courts and that stain can never be erased.”

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Jaffna protests Sri Lanka’s oppression of Tamil civic bodies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 12:51 GMT]
13 elected civic bodies in the Jaffna Peninsula organized parallel agitations in their respective offices on Monday, protesting against occupying Sri Lanka’s violent intimidation and machinations blocking the mandated functions of the elected bodies. The protestors condemned the recent brutal attack on the Nalloor divisional council (Predeasa Sapai) chairperson Vasanthakumar, allegedly by SL military intelligence operatives, while he was attending legal procedures for recovering a civic body land occupied by the SL military. When even the grassroot institutions are treated in this way, Sri Lanka has nothing at all in its agenda to offer as solutions to Tamils, accused TNA parliamentarian Maavai Senadhiraja, addressing the demonstration that took place in front of the divisional secretariat at Nalloor. 



The Nalloor demonstration was also attended by Mr MVK Sivagnanam, chairperson of the federation of NGOs in Jaffna.



Except the Jaffna Municipal Council and three civic bodies in the islands, all the TNA-run civic bodies throughout the peninsula carried out demonstrations for one hour between 10 and 11 AM on Monday. This a token move to begin with, the members of the civic bodies said. 

There was heavy presence of SL military, SL military intelligence personnel in plain clothes and SL police at the venue of the demonstrations, spying on everyone of the public and taking record of the participants in an intimidating way. 

The protest of civic body members in front of Nallor Piratheasa Chapai (PS)