Secret filming inside the Scottish Police academy, and a Freedom of Information request to Police Scotland, has exposed a disturbing relationship between the UK government and Sri Lankan security forces linked to war crimes. The SNP-run Scottish government is also implicated in the scheme. The filming also revealed that scheme uses money from Britain's aid budget.
In a covertly filmed interview, a manager of Police Scotland's international training unit said, "We know there are issues. We know the previous President was being taken for war crimes. Yeah. The choices are we do nothing or we go in. UK government's position was we want to go in and do something."
Sri Lanka's Special Task Force (STF) is a paramilitary unit with a long history of war crimes. Its members undergo special forces training and wear camouflage uniforms. In July, they opened fire on two unarmed Tamil teenagers for stealing sand from a beach. The pair were so terrified of the STF that they jumped into a lagoon to escape. One drowned, aged 17.
So, when we saw a small photo of what looked like Sri Lanka's Special Task Force on Police Scotland's website, VICE made a Freedom of Information request to find out more. Scottish police confirmed that they trained the unit this year "at strategic, tactical and operational levels to manage public gatherings and protests". They also confirmed that British diplomats had backed an "in-depth study" of the Special Task Force's "capability, training and tactics".
Police Scotland refused to tell us anything more in writing. They invited us to their academy at Tulliallan Castle in Fife to discuss their international strategy face-to-face, claiming they "recognised that there is a general public interest in transparency by public authorities".
Only weeks before our meeting, they denied us permission to record the interview. As a result of this refusal of permission to record the interview we were conscious that Police Scotland were likely to reveal information off camera that they would otherwise refuse to reveal while being recorded. As the interview would cover matters of international importance we decided to secretly film our visit so that the actual position of Police Scotland could not be mistaken.
Watch: Undercover footage shows para-military riot cops in Sri Lanka The manager, who we are not naming, was extremely cagey about the Special Task Force project. He tried to distance himself, saying, "We've trained individuals who are trainers. What we're doing is training their trainers, how to train." This might have been reassuring, had he not then described their approach as including "da, da, da, human rights stuff".
The training does not seem to have improved the STF's conduct. The day we visited Tulliallan Castle, the Special Task Force was filmed beating and crushing protesters in the north of Sri Lanka. One officer was seen holding his baton the wrong way around, and plunging it like a spear into civilians. In the footage, the unit's military appearance is striking. But the manager was completely unconcerned by the STF's camouflage uniform. "It's not about what people look like... What colour the uniform is – is not the issue," he insisted.
There is a constant stream of local media reports about STF misconduct. In June of 2017, around 90 medical students, including 20 women, were hospitalised after the Special Task Force violently evicted them from Sri Lanka's Health Ministry during a protest. When we tried to show Police Scotland a video of the incident, the manager refused to even watch it.
Amid the screams of trainee doctors trapped in a corridor being bludgeoned by the STF, the manager said: "No, no ... there's no point in showing me it, I'm not a public order specialist one way or the other." He added that, "I'm not commenting on what's right or wrong from a public order perspective, and I can't comment on whether we have trained those individuals or not otherwise."
Police Scotland has another training site south of Glasgow, complete with a model village for practising riot control. The manager appeared to confirm that Sri Lankan police had visited both facilities. He said that the model village had false walls, "because literally if you think of a riot and a crowd, there's quite a lot of bodies bouncing off walls in a crush. So you need something that is going to be robust enough, but at the same time people aren't going to get hurt, in the training exercise." The site has a network of alleyways to replicate real life riots, where protesters might be "running down the wee alleyway and coming behind you", he said.
Our meeting took place in the academy's international unit – a room lined with bookshelves, foreign police hats and trophies. When asked about awards from Sri Lanka on display in his office, the manager downplayed their importance and compared them to "sweeties" foisted upon him by grateful locals. In fact, documents show that one of these "sweeties" was given to Scotland's Deputy Chief Constable "as a token of appreciation" for training a senior Sri Lankan officer.
However, these awards do not mean that the human rights situation is improving in Sri Lanka. Scottish police started work there way back in 2007, initially focusing on "community policing". Throughout this decade of Scottish assistance, the UN has repeatedly accused Sri Lanka's police of torture. In 2007, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Torture warned that there was "overwhelming evidence that torture is routine" among Sri Lankan police.
"The Foreign Office continues to pay Police Scotland for this work, in spite of the UN's warnings about ongoing torture. The project will cost over a million pounds of taxpayer's money this year."
Ten years later, in July of 2017, a UN expert said, "Sri Lanka continues to use torture against people detained on national security grounds, and its progress on human rights, reforms and justice remain woefully slow." The expert said that the minority Tamil community has "borne the brunt of the State's well-oiled torture apparatus", and that, "The use of torture is deeply ingrained in the security sector." In case there was any doubt about what the UN means by torture, the expert listed: "Beatings with sticks, stress positions, asphyxiation using plastic bags drenched in kerosene, pulling out of fingernails, insertion of needles beneath the fingernails, various forms of water torture, suspension for several hours by the thumbs, and mutilation of the genitals."
While we have spoken to several Tamil people who allege that the Special Task Force tortured them within the last decade, the most notorious Sri Lankan units for torture are the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Terrorism Investigation Division (TID). Importantly, a senior Sri Lankan police officer told the UN that Police Scotland trained these units. "Training programmes are conducted in collaboration with the Scottish Police College," he said, adding that "about 600 police officers of the inspector rate and the above ranks, including CID, TID and other investigative bureaus of Sri Lanka Police, have attended the programme".
Police Scotland did not have a problem with training these units. "We didn't teach them in that [torture], we taught, erm..." the manager mused, before saying, "So we taught them through an international vocational award in community policing."
Secret documents revealed by VICE last year showed that British diplomats were concerned about "a veneer of community based policing being used to cover less palatable behaviour".
The Foreign Office continues to pay Police Scotland for this work, in spite of the UN's warnings about ongoing torture. The project will cost over a million pounds of taxpayer's money this year.
The manager refused to discuss any figures, and said, "It's the appropriate grant amount for the work that we do." He explained that this money came from the overseas aid budget.
"There's kind of three or four pools of thought out there," he acknowledged. "There's one which is – do nae engage, don't go, we shouldn't be spending 0.7 percent of GDP of the UK's money, we should keep all that in the UK. That's a view people have, understandably. There's another spectrum of the view that's: we know there are issues, that's why we are there in the first place, to do something about it."
Nicola Sturgeon on the way to First Minister's Questions in the Scottish Parliament (Ken Jack/ Alamy Stock Photo)
It seems like this approach allows Police Scotland to train almost anyone. They are required to ask permission from police chiefs, but the manager said he had never had a project refused. Still, there are some limits.
North Korea was laughed off, for now. But their work in Sri Lanka is firmly supported by the UK government, and surprisingly, the Scottish government. The manager said that, "Police officers in Scotland cannot deploy overseas without approval through the Scottish Government." The SNP's leader, Nicola Sturgeon, who is fond of criticising Downing Street for its repressive Gulf allies, seems to be allowing this project with Sri Lanka to carry on.
Responding to VICE's revelations, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "The UK has made a long-term commitment to improving human rights in Sri Lanka and is dedicated to helping the country to rebuild and move on from three decades of civil conflict. Encouraging and supporting the Sri Lankan Police Service to improve their policing approach is a key part of that work.
"We have been providing technical support to the Sri Lankan Police Service and its National Police Academy, to strengthen professional standards including a gender sensitive and human rights compliant approach – in line with Sri Lanka's UN Human Rights Council commitments.
"This has focused on minimising the risk of ill treatment or excessive use of force, enhancing investigation skills to reduce reliance on confessions, and on respecting human rights while managing public gatherings and protests."
Superintendent Shaun McKillop, who leads Police Scotland's International Development Unit, said: "Police Scotland, and its legacy forces, is viewed as a worldwide exemplar of law enforcement training and has been providing international assistance and police training since 1993.
"All the training we do supports both the UK and Scottish Government international development policies and objectives, contributes to tackling international crime at source and tackles human rights abuse, while at the same time promoting equality and diversity."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "The Scottish Government condemns human rights abuses wherever they occur. We use our international engagement activity to help increase respect for, and understanding of human rights, and we are committed to raising concern if and where appropriate.
"Police Scotland's work is one part of a UK aid programme that has been ongoing over the last decade, with officers delivering a number of different training packages. Sri Lanka has only recently emerged from a long and terrible civil war, requiring the support of the international community to build a strong and functioning criminal justice system, based on human rights and ethics." @pmillerinfo
The undercover footage was provided by Follow Yardstick Films. Follow them on Twitter and Instagram
Unemployed graduates in Batticaloa marched in protest at the Sri Lankan government's failure to appoint the promised number of graduate teachers.
Several graduates who passed a graduate scheme entrance exam set by the Eastern Provincial Council have not been given the promised employment, the protestors said.
Five representatives from the protest met with the Government Agent and stressed the graduates' demand that all those who passed the criteria should be appointed by the end of the year.
Another festive season is closing in – Christmas and the New Year.Organisers of the new year eve dinner dances lure the party animals by making offers of a variety of alcoholic drinks.Sometimes the bacchanals at these do’s, in their inebriated bliss, are not even aware that the new year had dawned. In worst cases, the new year had dawned to some while they were in a state of unconsciousness in hospitals.So much for the revellers who gulped several drinks, just the last year,
Each year the ‘Sinhala and Demela Avurudu dawasa’ (Sinhala/Tamil New Year day) unmistakingly revives in me memories of my late dear friend Tissa.During our youthful years, he once poured the contents of a glass of beer on my head for declining to drink it.He threatened me that he would do it but I did not take him seriously.I was a guest at his house that day.The moment he did it, I saw his mum rushing towards me and berating Tissa. Only then I realised his mum had been watching the drama.His mother knew very well, as much as Tissa himself, that as a Muslim I do not imbibe alcoholic drinks.For Tissa, it was Sinhala ‘avurudda davasa’ so to have a drink was part of the celebration.All in good spirits.His mother washed my head while continuously blaming Tissa and apologising to me.Tissa’s mother was like my mother.For her I was like her son.Tissa for me was like my brother and for him too the same.
Tissa’s house was near a mosque.Whenever I was in his house and the ‘Azan’, the Muslim call for prayer was heard, he would remind me, ‘palliyata yanna welawa hari’, time is up to go to the mosque.On some days, Tissa would accompany me to the mosque and wait outside until I finish my prayer.Those were the beautiful days compared to the hate, hostility and enmity with which we live today.
Ascending Graphs
Immediately, following the festive season in April comes the May Day rally. After a brief lull the year end festivities kick in.Each of these events push the graphs in various charts to move upwards – the sale of alcohol, the related tax revenue, the number of deaths and injuries due to fights and road traffic accidents, the amount of alcohol in the blood, the indebtedness in some people, domestic violence, penal code violations.All in the name of Bacchus, the god of wine.
Examining the road accident statistics, focussing only on the festive seasons, for two consecutive years gives a perspective of the issue at hand.On April 14th of 2015, 605 persons who drove under the influence of alcohol were arrested.On April 13th alone of the same year, two hundred and eighty-three (283) persons had been booked for this offense.Among them were 141 motorcyclists and 115 three-wheeler drivers.
In 2016, a total of six hundred and eighty-eight (688) drunk drivers were arrested by Police just within the two days of 12th and 13 of April.During the 24-hour period from 6 am Tuesday (April 12) to 6 am Wednesday (April 13), a staggering two-hundred and fifteen (215) drunk drivers had been arrested.
The off season countrywide special Police crackdown in November 2017 led to the arrests of 5,807 errant motorists and according to the Police Spokesman the number of drunk driving offenders arrested were 999.
National tragedy
Liquor ironically, is consumed when one is happy and, also, when one is sad.A classic instance is a wedding celebration or a funeral house.Besides these, there are several other occasions when liquor is served like at alms-giving, social gatherings, birthday parties etc.This habit or ‘culture’ has become so enslaving that without the ‘bottle’ no event is complete.An additional dimension to this is the Poya Day.A day on which the sale of liquor is prohibited.This day which occurs every month has been declared a holiday and is a day dedicated for Buddhist religious observances.Interestingly, on the day prior to the Poya Day the wine stores are all crowded.The merchants record their highest sales figures on that day.A clear indication of paying homage to Bacchus on a Poya day.
The National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol Act (NATA), No. 27 of 2006, in Section 31 (1), states:
“A person shall not sell, offer for sale, or permit or promote the sale of any tobacco product or alcohol product to any person under twenty-one years of age.”
A law which borders on absurdity and self deception.What is bad for the 21-year-old cannot be good for the 22-year-old.An independent study in 2013 by two organisations Healthy Lanka Alliance for Development (HLAD) and Foundation for Innovative Social Development (FISD), to assess the impact of the NATA Act and its implementation revealed some frightening numbers in relation to this Section 31 (1).
The FISD research indicated that 98.7 % of the merchants sell alcohol to persons below 21 years of age. HLAD figures show that 93.3 % of the merchants sells alcohol to persons below 21 years of age.
The evolutionary path of drinking begins with that first drink for ‘a kick’.It then matures into social drinking which gradually progresses towards heavy drinking.This graduation process over the course of time becomes a burden on the purse.Therefore, one may resort to alternative ways of generating revenue for e.g. forcing himself to work beyond office hours or by gambling to earn quick money or take bribes, banks overdrafts, loans or resort to white collar frauds etc.For him the boss in office becomes a problem.At home, the wife a constant source of irritation and the children a nuisance. Effectively, his family, friends and relations become the collateral damage of his bad habit.The drink he had for kicks in the beginning is now shadowing him making him a social outcast.Empirical observations reveal the common occurrence of a broken family, unhappy wife and disoriented children. Though the above is not the norm, to a greater degree, it certainly represents a staggered resemblance of a serious social problem within the country.
On November 8, 2017 news began to spread that website Lankaenews had been blocked across all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Sri Lanka. The website itself has continually been mired in controversy – in 2016, a lawyer filed 14 contempt of court charges against its editor, for making defamatory statements towards judges. Yet the blocking of the site is also chillingly reminiscent of 2010, when the site was blocked before the release of the results of the Presidential election. Following this, the website was blocked again in 2011, along with several others, including Groundviews and Transparency International – a move which drew condemnation from the Committee to Protect Journalists. At the time, the TRC denied that the sites were blocked. The Pugoda Magistrates Court also ordered the police to arrest the LankaeNews editor in 2011, for publishing a false report on an ongoing issue pending in court. More recently, President’s Counsel Hemantha Warnakulasuriya implicitly admitted that LankaeNews had been blocked, commenting in his capacity as a member of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC).
UNESCO has over the decades contributed very much in establishing social acceptance for “the free flow of ideas by word and image” and thus works to foster free, independent and pluralistic media in print, broadcast and online, across the globe. Their work, though accepted as necessary and given much prominence by Member States, we live in a world where the media map is coloured ‘Black’ and ‘Red’ in more places than it was the previous year.
Releasing its findings at the ‘World Press Freedom Day’ in May 2017, the global indicator by RSF classifies 21 countries as ‘very bad,’ and 51 (two more than last year) as ‘bad’. In all, the situation has worsened in nearly two thirds (62.2%) of the 180 countries in the Index. On the World Map, Sri Lanka is painted ‘Red’ along with its SAARC Members, termed ‘difficult situation’. The question is how difficult? The answer is wholly dependent on who answers that question and from where.
This week on Monday 04 December, delivering the keynote address at the UNESCO initiated Seminar in Colombo on ‘Reinforcing Regional Co-operation to Promote Freedom of Expression and the Rule of Law in Asia through Ending Impunity for Crimes Against the Journalists’, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe told the distinguished gathering, since his government took office in 2015 January, crimes against media and abductions, murder, attacks or intimidation against journalists have come to a complete stop. Speaking in Sinhala he also said, “The present task now is to ensure that crimes committed against media are investigated. There was a time under Rajapaksa,when nothing was moving.” Following up with his usual verbal attacks on media and rusty political remarks about some media working overtime to topple his government, to bring back Rajapaksa, he nevertheless raised the important question, how serious the editors and journalists are about crimes committed against media and fellow journalists during the previous regime.
On this same day, the “Tamil Guardian” reported Shanmuganathan Manoharan, a news anchor working with “Yarl” FM was attacked on Saturday by 3 men on a trishaw who blocked his vehicle at Chavakachcheri. This remains an incident the Colombo mainstream Sinhala and English media and the web media have not carried thus far. There were numerous attacks and threats on Tamil media personnel in the North even after 2015 January, the Colombo media activists pay no attention to.
That apart, there are continuous intimidations through surveillance by State security agencies on what the North-East journalists cover on their daily routine. And that goes without being questioned by any media activist in Colombo. This cold and silent intimidation has made it extremely difficult to recruit youth as journalists. Parents don’t want their children to take to a profession that is “risky”. That part of Sri Lanka has never been in the media map drawn in Colombo.
With that Southern fixation, there are serious issues the Colombo media “pundits” keep ignoring. First is the issue of investigations into at least the few attacks on media, abductions and murder of journalists, the Colombo human rights champions hyped during the anti Rajapaksa campaign. Truth is that, not only is this government not serious about any of those atrocities but is also inefficient in getting relevant agencies act right and soon. This government has not acted in any way to prove it is serious about these investigations to win over trust and confidence of the public. It is also a fact that editors and journalists don’t use the media they work in, for continuous follow up and don’t campaign to pressurise the government and hold it responsible for independent and efficient investigations.
These together, the lethargy and inefficiency of the government and the awful lack of interest in media over follow up work have allowed many spanners to be thrown in and cogwheels to grind to a halt. There is also no legal provision here in Sri Lanka for third party intervention to challenge such obstructions in the due process of law. In some Western countries and in particular the USA, law is such not even the US President could intervene in any investigation that could be seen as obstructing the due process of the law taking place. Any intervention, even requesting the “consent” of the President or the PM in making an arrest would be a criminal offence in the USA. The racist and behaviour of Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera in open Court would have not only amount to contempt of court, but would have also been a criminal act of obstructing due process of the law taking place, if such a law was in place here in Sri Lanka.
While it is the glaring lack of media interest in attacks against the media and journalists that allowed the PM to hold editors and journalists guilty of giving into such atrocities, it is also media negligence that has to date denied serious discussion on what media freedom is and how freedom of expression can be exercised and enjoyed in media. This in turn has left both media freedom and professionalism badly compromised. Most media personnel except in State owned and traditional leading print media go without any guarantee of employment. In most electronic and in newly organised print media that mushroomed in recent past,the editorial staff can hardly call themselves “journalists” while they are taken care of not for their professionalism, but for their willingness to serve the “Master”. This unfortunately has left media personnel outside collective engagement in ensuring and improving their own careers as professional journalists and independent to ensure “freedom of expression”.
That absence of collective engagement by editors and journalists in ensuring independence in their own professional careers cannot be substituted by few ‘pundits’ and ‘member less’ associations and organisations in Colombo who believe they can impress upon the government with their funded training projects on media freedom, theorising on freedom of expression to their own comfort.
The racist and behaviour of Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera in open Court would have not only amount to contempt of court, but would have also been a criminal act of obstructing due process of the law taking place, if such a law was in place here in Sri Lanka
We thus have impunity being condemned and talked about but continuing unabatedly, no different to the Rajapaksa era. In between every year an international day comes round when invitee participants would gather and talk about “media freedom and freedom of expression” to find excuses for long delays over investigations, blame the previous regime and promise the past would not be allowed to recur again in the future. That comfort was ruffled and disturbed last Monday by an accidental last minute invitee to the Seminar at the Taj Samudra.
Coming from the forgotten North, Devanayagam Premanand, the Executive Editor of the Jaffna based “Uthayan” newspaper, the worst affected of all media and publishing houses in the country, handed to the Minister of Law and Order, Sagala Ratnayake, a detailed list amounting to 35 cases of attacks on Uthayan and its media personnel. After handing over the long list, Premanand said the same was handed over one year ago to the PM, who like his Minister this time, promised to have them investigated. But one year gone, Uthayan has so far heard of no investigations into any of the cases. Impunity lies very much there.
PM said since 2015 January, crimes against media and abductions, against journalists have come to a complete stop
Impunity is also about the forgotten killings of journalists in the North-East that is not included in the list of attacks and killings detailed by the Uthayan Executive Editor. From the early morning January 2004 killing of Sudar Oli reporter S.S. Rajan in Trincomalee town and May 2004 broad day light murder of Veerakesari staffer Aiyathurai Nadesan in Batticoloa, there were 05 more recorded killings of journalists in North-East before the end of August 2007 that never became an issue for any human rights or media organisation in Colombo. The only exception was Mylvaganam Nimalarajan who was shot dead within the high security zone in Jaffna, 17 years ago in October 2000. That perhaps was due to him being the Correspondent for BBC Tamil and Sinhala Services and a frequent writer to the weekend Sinhala broadsheet “Ravaya”. Unbelievably, this yet to be concluded murder case in Courts, is now 16 years old since filing.
The Southern fixation on HR campaigns is due to petty Sinhala politics of the Colombo campaigners. All HR campaigns that include media freedom and freedom of expression, are by nature “anti government”. When Mahinda Rajapaksa campaigned against disappearances and killings in the South during the 88-90 JVP insurgency, that HR campaign targeted the UNP government and was a Sinhala HR campaign. It was proved as such when Mahinda with Mangala Samaraweera launched the Mothers’ Front (MF) in 1990. They capitalised on using Richard de Zoysa’s mother Dr. Manorani Saravanamuttu, a respected urban middle class figure as the Chair of the MF .But they refrained from going into a common platform with the very militant Jaffna MF that agitated against disappearances in the North from 1984 onwards.
The HR campaign against the Rajapaksa regime was also a Sinhala HR campaign. While the Colombo HR leaders went to Geneva to campaign against the Rajapaksa government using Colombo “white vans” and attacks on journalists in the South, the Tamil HR lobby in Geneva was only a parallel campaign that demanded answers for their grievances.Thus PrageethEkneligoda’s wife becomes an icon against abductions and disappearances in the South with a perfectly fitting Sinhala Buddhist image but not militant campaigners like Jeyakumari Jeyabalan and Ananthi Sasitharan. These Tamil names they believe would have hampered their positioning of the HR campaign as an anti Rajapaksa campaign in collecting Sinhala votes.
The present task now is to ensure that crimes committed against media are investigated. There was a time under Rajapaksa,when nothing was moving
The media campaigns in Colombo are no different. They not only lack any seriousness, but also are a part of the Sinhala HR campaign. Nothing more nor nothing better.
In light of the recent incidents of alleged sexual abuse of 18 children who were residing in the Darun Nusra Orphanage, situated at 39/7A, Peiris Road, Kalubowila, we the undersigned Organisations would like to issue a joint statement placing our concerns and demands to the Government and the State Authorities responsible for Child protection.
Without prejudice to the victims in the ongoing legal case at the Nugegoda Magistrates Court we observe with concern the inordinate delay in producing the relevant medico-legal reports and other relevant evidence on the part of State authorities.This also includes the footages of the CCTV cameras which were reported to have been placed within the premises of the Orphanage including the private rooms of the girls.Due to the social and economic vulnerability of the affected children in this case, we request that the State authorities responsible for child protection give their full attention to this case and assist the Court in expediting the legal proceedings.
We also note with concern that bail has been granted to the suspect in this case.We fear that the affected children might be intimidated and harassed by the suspect.Hence we demand that the responsible authorities including the Police and the National Child Protection Authority provide victim and witness protection to the affected children.
We further state that the State authorities including the National Child Protection Authority, FCID, CID, Women and Child Bureau and Crime Branch of Kohuwela Police should keep the welfare of the affected children at the center of any action taken with regards to this case.In this regard in order to protect the affected children, and to prevent possible intimidation and harassment of the witnesses and victims, we demand that the National Child Protection Authority take Official control of the management of the Darun Nusra Orphanage until suitable alternative arrangements can be made in terms of appointing a new management.
Furthermore this incident does not involve only the alleged suspect.It has been reported that both the management of the Darus Nusra Orphanage and the Probation Officers have been negligent in exercising their duties and have become complicit to the traumatic experience the children underwent while residing in the Orphanage.It is even more concerning that despite the occurrence of the alleged incident the children have been returned to the Orphanage which is still under the old management. Standing in solidarity with the affected children and their parents we strongly condemn this inhumane move by the probation officers.We request the National Child Protection Authority to take Official control of the management of the Darun Nusra Orphanage until suitable alternative arrangements can be made in terms of appointing a new management.We further demand an inquiry in to negligence of the Management of the Orphanage and the responsible Probation Officers and demand action against these persons if found guilty of being complicit to the alleged incident.
The undersigned Organizations strongly condemn this incident and demand justice, economic and social support including financial allocations for the wellbeing of the children, medical and counseling assistance and such other support and protection for the affected children and their parents of the Darun Nusra Orphanage.
More than 30 percent of Sri Lanka's population live in absolute poverty and private -public partnerships could help reduce this number to a great extent, Additional Secretary, Presidential Sustainable Development initiative Jayantha Wijeratne said.
" Sri Lanka has initiated several poverty eradication projects since independence and those projects have done a lot to reduce poverty levels but we have to do a lot more to reduce the poverty level overall because more than 30 percent of the total population lives in absolute poverty, he said at an event yesterday where Unilever Sri Lanka, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sri Lanka and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Sri Lanka announced the initiation of a strategic Public Private Partnership (PPP) around the country's key priorities related to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The project is supported by Aitken Spence, MAS Holdings, Commercial Bank and Dialog Axiaita. The event was held at Jetwing Colombo Seven.
Wijeratne said that President Maithripala Sirisena took the initiative to reduce the poverty level in Sri Lanka through various long term sustainable development projects targeting key areas. Out of 320 Divisional Secretariat divisions, 1000 Grama Niladari (GN) divisions were selected for the programme.
"Of the 1000 GN divisions, 700 are blow the poverty level, from Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Badulla and several other districts in the country, while the balance 300 have the potential for development as important economic centers, Wijeratne said.
He said while the government continues to work towards bringing about sustainable development the people have to understand that this cannot be done without the involvement and support of the private sector and all other stakeholders.
He stressed the importance of public- private partnerships to achieve economic growth to eradicate poverty in the country in the medium to long term perspectives.
UNDP Sri Lanka Country Director Jorn Sorensen said that this is the start of a new movement by connecting business with government and development partners.
" We can create an environment that unleashes the potential of the private sector because investing in sustainable development is a win-win, ' he said.
'The private sector is an important strategic partner for UNDP in achieving its vision to help countries eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities and exclusion within broader sustainable development, Sorensen said.
Corruption is defined as the “abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. The yet unresolved bond scam saga in which too many notables, including the prime minister, are alleged to have involved highlights the extent to which this abuse has taken place at high levels. There is an old saying in Tamil, “Arasan evvali kudikalum avvalip” meaning, the monarch’s way is the subjects’ way. In the case of Sri Lanka, it is not the ordinary subjects but the state functionaries that adopt their leaders’ way. If the allegation against the prime minister is proved then from the prime minister, ministers and their deputies to public executives and right down to the petty clerk corruption has become a way of life in the blessed country. Nothing moves upwards or downwards through public administration without bribing someone to get something done.The private sector on the other hand cannot survive without transacting with the public sector at some point and at that point corruption has its corrosive impact on the private sector too. Ultimately corruption becomes pandemic.
There may be a few honest politicians and officials but they are fast becoming an endangered species. If this state of things is called good governance or Yahapalanaya one shudders to think what would be the shape of bad governance.
Transparency International’s 2015 Corruption Perception Index lists 167 countries with their index ranging from 0 (utterly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Sri Lanka has an index of 37 in 2015 deteriorating from 40 in 2012 and holding 83rd position. One does not know how exactly this index is computed. Yet, it is not a pleasant rank. It is the greed of the have lots and poverty of the have nots that feed corruption. As Professor Ali Mazrui wrote in his Cultural Forces in World Politics, not only power but even powerlessness corrupts and “absolute powerlessness can corrupt absolutely”.
Economically, the greed for unceasing accumulation of the have lots naturally leads to an equally unceasing decumulation of the have nots, and beyond a point when honest means of accumulation exhausts itself dishonesty takes over.Even the have lots have to resort to dishonest means to prevent decumulation. This is what corruption has done to the Sri Lankan polity.
The question is how to stop this cancer. In the current political climate changing governments is not going to solve the problem because the so called alternative government has been proved at least equally if not more than corrupt as the present one.Corruption, in a sense, has become systemic and it is tolerated even by the international managers of globalization and free markets. The major political parties have committed themselves to operate within the parameters of this dominant global paradigm. As long as the ruling regime agrees to abide by the dictates of the IMF and World Bank corruption will be frowned upon by the managers but will be tolerated as a price to pay for the durability of the system. In an indirect way their toleration encourages corruption.
With corruption and specially political corruption continuing to spread like a cancer in Sri Lanka, tomorrow’s International Anti-Corruption Day needs to give important lessons to our politicians at all levels and from all parties.
According to the United Nations, every year US$ one trillion is paid in bribes while an estimated $2.6 trillion are stolen annually through corruption – a sum equivalent to more than 5 per cent of the global GDP. In developing countries, according to the United Nations Development Programme, funds lost to corruption are estimated at 10 times the amount of official development assistance.
The UNDP says corruption is a serious crime that can undermine social and economic development in all societies. No country, region or community is immune. This year the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and the UNDP have developed a joint global campaign, focusing on how corruption affects education, health, justice, democracy, prosperity and development. Corruption is a complex social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries. Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes to governmental instability. Corruption attacks the foundation of democratic institutions by distorting electoral processes, perverting the rule of law and creating bureaucratic quagmires. Economic development is stunted because foreign direct investment is discouraged and small businesses within the country often find it impossible to overcome the “start-up costs” required because of corruption, the UNDP adds. UNODC Executive Director, Yury Fedotov in a message to mark the event, says young people denied all-empowering education, women excluded from life-saving surgery and workers prevented from working, are just some of corruption’s unwitting victims.
Corruption has a catastrophic impact on societies; it stifles opportunities, denying vulnerable people access to infrastructure, and condemns them to lives of inequality and inequity. The victims of corruption are not from a single generation. This crime haunts successive generations impacting on countless numbers of people. If people are to be removed from poverty and economic growth promoted, the world must stand united against corruption. This means rejecting corruption and embracing accountability, transparency and good governance, the UNODC Executive Director says. In Sri Lanka, politicians who read about these catastrophic effects of corruption need to examine their conscience and come to an awareness how their tendency to accept commissions and kickbacks affects the whole economy and worst still, millions of impoverished people. During the past ten years specially, corruption among politicians, top officials, their lackeys, business leaders and others has reached devastating proportions largely because of the breakdown of the rule of law, lack of accountability and transparency and the dictatorial regime that prevailed after the 18th Amendment was approved. On January 8, 2015 President Maithripala Sirisena—backed by a rainbow coalition including most of the political parties and civic action groups—was elected to office with the crackdown on corruption being high on the agenda of the manifesto. But exactly 35 months later where do we stand on the corruption scoreboard. Significantly a report was scheduled to be issued today by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry which probed the alleged treasury bond scams in the Central Bank. But the President yesterday gave the commission time till December 31 to issue the report.
While the people await the report to find out as to who did what and how much was plundered, progress is still slow in prosecuting VIPs who allegedly plundered billions in public funds during the former regime. Last year Sri Lanka was ranked 95th among 175 countries probed in the Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International. In 2009 Sri Lanka ranked 97. Whatever the rank we hope the recent law to appoint special High Courts to probe corruption cases will be implemented fast, while tough action is taken against those found guilty in the alleged Treasury Bond scam. As President Sirisena has said, people who want to do business by fair means or foul would be well advised to keep out of politics where the priority is to serve and sacrifice for the people. Politicians need to ask what they could give to the country instead of finding ways of grabbing from the country.
UNICEF urges immediate action to reduce air pollution amid emerging evidence on how toxic air can affect brain development in young children.
NEW YORK, 6 December 2017 – Almost 17 million babies under the age of one live in areas where air pollution is at least six times higher than international limits, causing them to breathe toxic air and potentially putting their brain development at risk, according to a new UNICEF paper released today. More than three-quarters of these young children – 12 million – live in South Asia.
“Not only do pollutants harm babies’ developing lungs – they can permanently damage their developing brains – and, thus, their futures,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “Protecting children from air pollution not only benefits children. It is also benefits their societies – realized in reduced health care costs, increased productivity and a safer, cleaner environment for everyone.”
Satellite imagery reveals that South Asia has the largest proportion of babies living in the worst-affected areas, with 12.2 million babies residing where outdoor air pollution exceeds six times international limits set by the World Health Organization. The East Asia and Pacific region is home to some 4.3 million babies living in areas that exceed six times the limit.
The paper shows that air pollution, like inadequate nutrition and stimulation, and exposure to violence during the critical first 1,000 days of life, can impact children’s early childhood development by affecting their growing brains:
• Ultrafine pollution particles are so small that they can enter the blood stream, travel to the brain, and damage the blood-brain barrier, which can cause neuro-inflammation. • Some pollution particles, such as ultrafine magnetite, can enter the body through the olfactory nerve and the gut, and, due to their magnetic charge, create oxidative stress – which is known to cause neurodegenerative diseases. • Other types of pollution particles, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, can damage areas in the brain that are critical in helping neurons communicate, the foundation for children’s learning and development. • A young child’s brain is especially vulnerable because it can be damaged by a smaller dosage of toxic chemicals, compared to an adult’s brain. Children are also highly vulnerable to air pollution because they breathe more rapidly and also because their physical defences and immunities are not fully developed. The paper outlines urgent steps to reduce the impact of air pollution on babies’ growing brains, including immediate steps parents can take to reduce children’s exposure in the home to harmful fumes produced by tobacco products, cook stoves and heating fires: • Reduce air pollution by investing in cleaner, renewable sources of energy to replace fossil fuel combustion; provide affordable access to public transport; increase green spaces in urban areas; and provide better waste management options to prevent open burning of harmful chemicals. • Reduce children’s exposure to pollutants by making it feasible for children to travel during times of the day when air pollution is lower; provide appropriately fitting air filtration masks in extreme cases; and create smart urban planning so that major sources of pollution are not located near schools, clinics or hospitals. • Improve children’s overall health to improve their resilience. This includes the prevention and treatment of pneumonia, as well as the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding and good nutrition. • Improve knowledge and monitoring of air pollution. Reducing children’s exposure to pollutants and the sources of air pollution begins with understanding the quality of air they are breathing in the first place. “No child should have to breathe dangerously polluted air – and no society can afford to ignore air pollution,” said Lake.
A child is born of labour – from conception to delivery. Bringing them up is laborious. Don’t we all love to produce an Einstein or a Darwin? Maybe a Bill Gates or Zuckerburg or Steve Jobs. Success is a drive. A Discipline is chosen and rupees tend to lose sense.
by Reggie Ponnampalam-
( December 8, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Way back in 1965, I was in the GCE O/L Commerce section at St Benedict’s and Samson Mendis happened to be in my class. Dudley had just won elections and Samson’s brother, Wijepala was the elected MP for Katana. At class teacher’s request Samson, through his brother, arranged for our class to visit Parliament during sittings. It cost us five cents each to go by bus from Kotahena to Fort and our entire class went.
A few of us had heard about Sir Albert Peiris, the Speaker, but none of us were prepared for the ceremonial entrance. A piece of wood intrinsically carved and woven into a solemn and traditional ritual took me some time to understand. Maze I knew, but Mace was new. The symbolism, the Sergeant-at-Arms and the acquiescing of the MPs to procedure is something I will never forget. Pomp and pageantry in those days were something we saw pictures of in newspapers, or in movies (Pathe News clips); more often with ‘imperial’ and the ‘monarchial’ connotations. Decorum entered my vocabulary that day with a pointed Mace!
Today, on BBC, CNN, AL JAZEERA, I watch the proceedings of the British House of Commons, the US House Of Representatives and Senate and say to myself “Shit, we were there fifty years ago”! We have progressed – YES! Down the dengue-filled drain! Filled with burning of draft constitutions, fiery retorts that cannot be printed in any self-respecting newspaper and where loyalty is about party, with connotations and/or leanings subject to change without notice. And Opposition is about opposing and obstructing – everything! That’s just talking about our parliament. We now have devolution and Pradeshiya Sabhas, Nagara Sahbas; powers were devolved and a new breed evolved. Someone said he’d take the “man from the pavement to parliament”. Second Cross Street in Pettah is as noisy, but I have absolutely no compunction in saying that Pettah is safe for children.
A few years ago, my niece invited us to the US. Los Angeles to San Francisco was a nice drive – some 550 km compared with 520 odd from Dondra Head to Point Pedro. To take a break for a meal, we get off the highway, move to subways, byways and there’s a painted sign at almost every junction on the road STOP. Around 11:00 or 11:30 in the night and no vehicles in sight, my niece stops – a complete, total halt. Tired I was and I tell her there’s nothing either side of the roadway and she tells me, “Uncle, this is the law”. Similar laws exist in Sri Lanka – abiding in its abdication is of interest.
Go to a supermarket, pick your requirements and come to check out. Seven times out of ten, you’ll find someone trying to ‘jump-the-queue’. A mother with a child or a person with a handicap, we care and give way. Ego is not a handicap. Come out and you find you have another ten to fifteen minutes twiddling your thumbs until a couple of vehicles make way for you to drive out. Driving back home, you’re overtaken left, right and center – right of way or right is beyond comprehension.
Getting back to the pavement – grammatically, theoretically it is “a raised, paved or asphalted path for pedestrians at the side of the road”. Hawking favours is what politics is all about. Win some who can handle the whining of the losers. Pedestrian is what we end up being.
I’m not a regular church-goer. A couple of months back, we stopped at the side entrance our local church. (By the way, we are mainstream, Main Door Catholic and this was about convenience). There was a motorbike parked right along this three foot entrance and I waited for the owner to come back. He did come kissing a Rosary and I asked him if he prayed. Faithfully, he said yes. And declares that he also lit candles. I told him that, waiting for him I cursed. When he got objective, I got subjective. “Love thy neighbour” is script, inscription of morals takes more than a Holy Book.
I was crossing the street on a Yellow Line (the lines were drawn but they were White). An SLTB bus stops and I walk, poking my nose to see what is approaching behind this colossus. Bang! Something hits my head and I see a motorcycle and rider sliding horizontally. Bruised and bleeding from his knees, elbows and I don’t know where else. He berates me in raw filth demanding I take him to hospital and repair his bike. A policeman happened to make an appearance. The guy apologizes.
Try getting in or out of a train, it takes some effort – the footboard is monopolized by a few ‘regulars’. Squeeze your way through and there’s sometimes enough to park a Nano. The next ‘community’ you encounter are the ‘back-packers’ – those with knapsacks slung over their shoulder and protruding a mile and a half behind their backs. I got to wearing plastic lenses for my glasses after one of these ‘back-packers’ ‘turned’ and his bag hit me and splinters of my spectacles cut my face. In passing, I got a “Sorry”. Two sutures and follow-up dressing was not included in the “Sorry”. Neither were the plastic lenses.
Get into a bus and there are stickers that say “travelling without a ticket is a punishable offense”. You pay your fare, how often do you get a ticket? At some halts they stop for 5, 10 or more minutes with the conductor hailing would-be commuters. You do get ticked off. Complaining entitles you to another ticking off.
A child is born of labour – from conception to delivery. Bringing them up is laborious. Don’t we all love to produce an Einstein or a Darwin? Maybe a Bill Gates or Zuckerburg or Steve Jobs. Success is a drive. A Discipline is chosen and rupees tend to lose sense. We send them to universities that are traditionally institutes of learning. Learning education is a lot more than books. Reading Dhammapada or the Bible, or the Quran, or the Torah or the Bhagwat Geetha is educative. Learning is the practice of understanding values. The book costs rupees. Common sense is a derivation. Deviation occurs.
Phil Miller-Dec 7 2017, 10:34am
work, though accepted as necessary and given much prominence by Member States, we live in a world where the media map is coloured ‘Black’ and ‘Red’ in more places than it was the previous year. 
