Zuma impeachment calls grow after court rules on home upgrade scandal

 Jacob Zuma has faced widespread public demands to step down before the 2019 general election. Photograph: Cornell Tukiri/EPA

Ruth Maclean-Fri 29 Dec ‘17 15.18 GMT

South Africa’s constitutional court says parliament failed to hold the country’s president to account over state-funded upgrades to rural residence

South Africa’s highest court has ruled that the parliament failed to hold President Jacob Zuma to account in a scandal over state-funded upgrades to his country residence, fuelling opposition calls for him to be impeached.

The constitutional court ordered the national assembly to make rules that allow the president to be impeached, adding to Zuma’s difficulties after he was replacedlast week by Cyril Ramaphosa as leader of the ruling African National Congress.

Frustrated by setbacks in the national assembly, the leftwing Economic Freedom Fighters and other small opposition parties went to court as part of their campaign to impeach Zuma before a general election in 2019.

Last year, the court found that Zuma had violated the constitution when he refused to pay back public money spent on multimillion-pound upgrades to his rural home at Nkandla, in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Improvements to the homestead cost £11m and included a swimming pool, which the former police minister Nkosinathi Nhleko claimed was a “fire pool” for extinguishing fires; an amphitheatre, which Nhleko said could serve as an emergency assembly point, as well as a chicken run and cattle enclosure.

The court cited section 89 of South Africa’s constitution, which allows for the president to be removed for serious misconduct, or violation of the constitution or law, if two thirds of the members of the national assembly are in agreement.

“We conclude that the assembly did not hold the president to account … The assembly must put in place a mechanism that could be used for the removal of the president from office,” judge Chris Jafta said, handing down the judgment, which was supported by a majority of the court.

“Properly interpreted, section 89 implicitly imposes an obligation on the assembly to make rules specially tailored for the removal of the president from office. By omitting to include such rules, the assembly has failed to fulfil this obligation.”

Despite a damning 2014 report into the upgrades by the then public protector, Thuli Madonsela, Zuma managed to avoid paying anything until 2016, when he refunded 7.8m of the 100m rand spent on Nkandla.

Opposition parties blamed Baleka Mbete, the speaker of the national assembly, for parliament’s failures on Nkandla. Mbete was accused of personally trying to protect Zuma over the upgrades after she said: “In the African tradition, you don’t interfere with a man’s kraal (cattle enclosure).”

The court’s chief justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, disagreed with his colleagues over the ruling, but it was not enough to change it.

After Mogoeng passed him a note, Jafta said: “The chief justice characterises the majority judgement as a textbook case of judicial overreach, a constitutionally impermissible intrusion by the judiciary into the exclusive domain of parliament.”

The ruling will probably trigger an investigation into the grounds for impeaching Zuma, who has faced many calls for his resignation in the past few years, particularly over his relationship with the Guptas, a powerful family of wealthy businessmen alleged to have influenced his decision-making. The president and the Guptas both deny any wrongdoing.

The ANC said it would “study the judgment and discuss its full implications” on 10 January, while a parliamentary spokesman said that its rules committee “had already initiated a process” that would lead to the relevant rules being made. “In this regard, parliament will ensure finalisation of the process, in line with the court’s order,” Moloto Mothapo said.

Although Zuma has survived six motions of no confidence in parliament, including one in August involving a secret ballot, his power was diminished last week when the ANC chose Ramaphosa as its new leader, rather than Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the president’s ex-wife and his chosen successor.

It was well known that Nelson Mandela wanted Ramaphosa, a powerful union leader, to succeed him, but when Thabo Mbeki became president in 1999, Ramaphosa withdrew from political life, focusing instead on building a vast business empire.

In his maiden speech as ANC leader Ramaphosa vowed to “act fearlessly against alleged corruption and abuse of office within our (the ANC’s) ranks”, though his victory in the leadership race was marred by the failure of key allies to win roles on the party’s decision-making body.

Opposition politicians were quick to claim vindication after the ruling on Zuma. Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the Democratic Alliance, tweeted: “We must begin impeachment process against a president who has looted the state’s resources.”

Another of the opposition parties that took the matter to court, Congress of the People, said the ruling had left Zuma exposed and put the ANC under pressure to act against him.

“He has reached a point at which he is like Saddam Hussein in a hole and there is no other chamber to go except to come out. He’s got to come out now,” said COPE leader, Mosiuoa Lekota.

Ex-soccer star 'King George' Weah wins Liberia's presidency

Edward McAllister-DECEMBER 28, 2017


MONROVIA (Reuters) - Former soccer star George Weah has won Liberia’s presidential run-off election and will succeed incumbent Ellen Johnson Sirleaf next month, the country’s first democratic transition in over 70 years.

With 98.1 percent of the vote counted, Weah led with 61.5 percent to Vice President Joseph Boakai’s 38.5 percent, National Elections Commission Chairman Jerome Korkoyah told reporters in the capital Monrovia on Thursday.

At his party headquarters outside Monrovia, tears streamed down Weah’s face as he greeted supporters from a balcony. Below, hundreds of young people sang and danced to a live performance of Hipco, Liberian hip hop music popular with the country’s impoverished youth.

“Success for George Weah is victory for the whole country,” a 47-year-old engineer named Randall Zarkpah said as he walked home with his young son through streets ringing with honking car horns and loud cheers as dusk fell.

“When you feel sick for some time and you receive proper medication - that is how I feel now. He will be good for our country. He is King George!”

Weah grew up in Clara Town slum in Monrovia and went on to become the only African to win FIFA World Player of the Year, starring for AC Milan, Paris St Germain and Chelsea.

His popularity at home fueled a previous run for president, in 2005. He won the first round then but lost the second round to Johnson Sirleaf, whom he will now succeed.

His rags-to-riches story helped him tap into dissatisfaction with Johnson Sirleaf’s 12-year tenure. She drew a line under years of civil war but drew criticism for failing to root out corruption or persistent poverty.

George Weah, former soccer player and presidential candidate of Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), reacts while a speech during the party's presidential campaign rally at Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Monrovia, Liberia, December 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thierry Gouegnon

“My fellow Liberians, I deeply feel the emotion of all the nation,” Weah wrote on Twitter after the results were announced. “I measure the importance and the responsibility of the immense task which I embrace today. Change is on.”

Weah’s critics, however, say he has offered few concrete policy proposals. His choice of running mate has also raised eyebrows: Jewel Howard-Taylor, the ex-wife of Charles Taylor, a former president of Liberia who is serving 50 years in a British prison for war crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone.

“I think Weah is not fit for the work. He will see it,” said Anthony Mason, 34, who had huddled around radios at the headquarters of Boakai’s Unity Party for the results.

Weah looked set to sweep 14 of Liberia’s 15 counties in the run-off. Turnout in Tuesday’s vote stood at 56 percent, the election commission said.

Earlier on Thursday, Boakai said he doubted that the vote was “free, fair and transparent”, without elaborating. He did not say whether he might challenge the eventual result.

The second round was delayed by more than a month after the third-place finisher in October’s first round, backed by Boakai, alleged fraud. The Supreme Court ultimately rejected the challenge.

The U.S.-based Carter Center and National Democratic Institute said on Thursday there were notable improvements in the handling of the run-off, echoing positive assessments from other international observers.

Founded by freed U.S. slaves in 1847, Liberia is Africa’s oldest modern republic. But the last democratic transfer of power occurred in 1944, a military coup took place in 1980 and a 14-year civil war ended only in 2003.

Martial law in southern Philippines could intensify ‘massive’ rights abuses – UN

Government troops with their belongings walk towards waiting vehicles during a send-off ceremony ending their combat duty against pro-Islamic State militant groups inside military headquarters in Marawi city, Philippines October 25, 2017. Source: Reuters/Romeo Ranoco

29th December 2017

UNITED NATIONS-appointed experts said a Muslim indigenous community in the southern Philippines has suffered widespread human right abuses that could intensify with President Rodrigo Duterte’s extension of martial law there.

Duterte has called the huge island of Mindanao a “flashpoint for trouble” and atrocities by Islamist and communist rebels. He placed it under martial law in May after Islamist militants took over the city of Marawi.

The five-month siege was the majority-Roman Catholic Philippines’ biggest security crisis in decades, killing more than 1,100 people, mostly militants.

Lawmakers this month overwhelmingly backed his plan to extend martial law there through 2018, which would be the country’s longest period of emergency rule since the 1970s era of strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

SEE ALSO: Philippines: Communist rebels vow fierce resistance to martial law in Mindanao  

The militarisation had displaced thousands of the indigenous Lumad people and some had been killed, said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples and internally displaced people.

“They are suffering massive abuses of their human rights, some of which are potentially irreversible,” the two said in a statement late on Wednesday.

“We fear the situation could deteriorate further if the extension of martial law until the end of 2018 results in even greater militarisation.”

Evacuees with their relief goods take a break, after fleeing to an evacuation centre to avoid the fighting in Marawi between the government troops and Islamic State-linked militants, in Saguiaran town, Lanao Del Sur, southern Philippines, on Sept 10, 2017. Source: Reuters/Romeo Ranoco

The Philippines was obliged by international law to protect indigenous people and ensure human rights abuses were halted and prosecuted. “This includes killings and attacks allegedly carried out by members of the armed forces,” they said.

The government fears that mountainous, jungle-clad Mindanao, a region the size of South Korea, could attract foreign militants.

The UN experts said they had information suggesting that 2,500 Lumads had been displaced since October, and that Lumad farmers had been killed by military forces on Dec 3 in the province of South Cotabao.

“We fear that some of these attacks are based on unfounded suspicions that Lumads are involved with militant groups or in view of their resistance to mining activities on their ancestral lands,” the pair said, without giving further details.

In Manila, opposition members of the House of Representatives filed a petition with the Supreme Court questioning the legality of extending martial law.

SEE ALSO: Philippines: Martial law extended in Mindanao for another year

They asked the court to declare the extension null and void “for having been requested and granted without sufficient factual basis on the existence of an actual invasion or rebellion as required by the constitution”.

“The issuance of injunctive relief will foreclose the further commission of human rights violations and derogation of the rule of law in Mindanao during the extended period, which violations occurred in the initial implementation of Proclamation No. 216 and its first extension,” the petition read, as quoted by the Philippine Star.

A spokesman for Duterte said the martial law extension was needed “to quell the remaining terrorists who brought destruction to Marawi and its neighbouring communities”.

Its legal and factual basis had been “clearly established based on the security assessment by our ground commanders”, Harry Roque added in a statement.

Since Duterte took power in June last year, the Philippines has also drawn international criticism for the killing of about 3,900 people in police anti-drugs operations. Police deny allegations by human rights advocates that many of the killings were executions.

Additional reporting by Reuters

2017: Year of Robots

2017 saw robots come out of comic books into the reality, adapting themselves in various fields

( December 28, 2017, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Robots are here to stay and the following examples certainly preview what’s to come next.

Not long ago, robots were only limited to comic books, sci-fi movies and an artist’s imagination. We assumed that we might only encounter one of these silicon puppets in the next century. However, we were taken aback when Saudi Arabia gave citizenship to a humanoid in 2017!

With the emergence of AI, robotics has been taken up unlike any other trend is seen in the world of technology. Prior to this, we had seen computerised arms working 24×7 in factories manufacturing cars, food products and even textiles. But robots have been showing up in the habitable world and most of them are smart enough to have good conversations with human beings.

This year, we have seen some great strides in the world of AI and robots. We don’t know whether you consider the future of artificial intelligence benefiting the mankind or acting against its existence. But one thing is for sure — robots are here to stay and the following examples certainly preview what’s to come next.

Sophia

Sophia has been in the news for all the right and wrong reasons in 2017. She was the one who clarified that she will kill humans if asked to do so. However, Sophia also has a lot of positives on her plate — she delivered a speech at the UN, she can talk to humans in a very ‘humanly’ way and she achieved citizenship from the government of Saudi Arabia.

Of course, her hair-less head may be scary to look at, the engineers working behind Sophia are constantly striving to improve the facial gestures and reactions, and her ability to give smart answers to people. It might not be long before you see Sophia assisting you in a store or doing presentations in your office in the near future.

Dubai Robot Cop

Artificial Intelligence has taken a major leap this and Dubai is already reaping the benefits with its first robot cop. The ‘Robocop’ can help identify wanted criminals, collect evidence and will patrol busy areas in the city. Its developers say that people will be able to report crimes, pay fines and get information by tapping a touchscreen on its chest, without needing an actual human cop. The data collected by the robot cop will be shared with the transport and traffic authorities.

Robot Bee

Robots are not always trying to be humans — they also have an affinity for other forms of life on our planet. Harvard’s robot bee has been around for some time, flying off and landing on its own. Over the time, its creators have been adding various unique abilities such swimming and sticking to surfaces.

This year, the 175-milligram robot bee has been given the ability to dive in and out of the water, using tiny rocket boosters to break the tension of the water’s surface. If the progress is this rapid, we might be looking at the bee pollinating flowers by the end of the next year.

Knightscape K5

The watchman of the robot world — the K5 has a 360-degree camera to see the world, sensitive microphones, air quality sensors, thermal imaging capabilities and more — a combination of all the high-tech features to report and even prevent untoward incidents. However, the K5 hasn’t had a very good start with the real world people.

Recently, a K5 patrolling the premises of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in California received a lot of flak from the nearby residents as well as homeless people using the footpath as their shelter. People even smeared faeces on its face to show its disapproval. This is why one of its brothers tried to commit a suicide by diving into a fountain in a mall.

Boston Dynamics’ Atlas

Atlas isn’t new to the world. It has been seeing doing weird stuff on YouTube videos for a while. However, AI helps these robots to learn stuff and Atlas has just proven the same with its new hobby — doing backflips. In a video that went viral, Atlas is carefully scanning the obstacles and jumping over them, managing the weight of his body just like a human.

The last part of the video sees it pulling off a successful backflip, amazing even the professional human gymnasts. Will this contest for the glory of its kind in the upcoming Olympics? Who knows!

Arrangemnet with the Deccan Chornicle

Why spending time outdoors could help your child's eyesight

By Katherine Sellgren-28 December 2017

Kids seem to spend endless hours on smartphones, games consoles, computers and tablets these days.

Playing on electronic devices certainly doesn't help their waistlines, but do you ever wonder what regular device use is doing to their eyesight?

While there isn't much research out there yet about the impact of screens on eyesight - after all the iPhone was first unveiled by Apple in only 2007 - experts are concerned about growing levels of short-sightedness in children.

And they suggest the best thing parents can do to prevent it is to encourage youngsters to spend more time outdoors in the sunlight.

How short-sightedness is on the rise

There has been a massive rise around the globe in short-sightedness - or myopia as it's officially known - over recent decades.

"We know that myopia or short-sightedness is becoming more common," says Chris Hammond, professor of ophthalmology at King's College London and consultant ophthalmic surgeon at St Thomas' Hospital.

"It has reached epidemic levels in East Asia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, where approaching 90% of 18-year-olds are now short-sighted.

"In Europe, it's potentially getting up to 40% to 50% of young adults in their mid-20s who are short-sighted now in Western Europe. It's been gradually rising over the decades of the 20th Century from around 20-30%."

Why has it become so much more common?

Annegret Dahlmann-Noor, consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London says lack of natural light seems to be the key issue.

"The main factor seems to be a lack of exposure to direct sunlight, because children who study a lot and who use computers or smartphones or tablet computers a lot have less opportunity to run around outside and are less exposed to sunshine and because of that seem to be at more risk of developing short-sightedness."

Prof Hammond says: "It may be that there's no coincidence that in East Asian countries, the most myopic ones all correlate with the maths league tables.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

"These kids are being pushed with very intensive education from a very young age and spend a lot of time indoors studying everything close up and very little time outdoors.

"Therefore the concern is that all close work - like playing with the iPad and iPhone - carries the potential that it could make them more short-sighted."

So should we stop or limit screen use?

Well that's much easier said than done! Any parent will know that youngsters are like dogs with bones when it comes to their beloved phones and trying to get them off their devices is pretty much impossible - certainly without a massive argument.

Dr Dahlmann-Noor, who is a mother of three, says trying to stop screen use is probably an unrealistic aspiration.

"You can only tell them that it might make their eyes uncomfortable, it might make them short-sighted and they should not use it as much as they like to.

"But, hand on heart, I don't think we can get away from this because they also have to do their school homework on laptops and iPads and they do their searches for background information on screens.

"If you're a teenager and you have got revision to do for GCSEs or A-levels then you can't really switch off, can you? So I don't think we will be reducing the screen use, really, in years to come."

Time outdoors is the key

The best thing to do, say the experts, is to get children playing outside as much as possible.

"Protective of myopia development is time outdoors - sport and leisure outdoors are protective of eyesight," says Prof Hammond.

"In a perfect world, probably on average across the week and the weekend, two hours a day outdoors is protective of becoming short-sighted in children."

• Game used to test children's eyesight
• What is the food that can really improve your eyesight?

He says myopia research done in Sydney, Australia showed that only 3% of Chinese-heritage children living in Sydney - who spent two hours a day outdoors - were short-sighted by the age of six, compared to nearly 30% of six-year-olds in Singapore.

"So again, suggestive that the outdoor lifestyle is good for our eyes."

And don't forget your veg

Dr Dahlmann-Noor says diet is also an area where families can help with eyesight.

"We always tell parents about omega-3 essential fatty acids, and vitamins A, C and E and nutrients that are good for the back of the eye.

"Healthy diet really is important - in terms of getting oily fish, avocados, green vegetables, green leafy vegetables as much as possible.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

"Or in children, all these supplements that you can buy over the counter that are good for the brain, also happen to be good for the eyes - they're just not marketed for that."

She also recommends regular annual eye checks.

How would I know if my child was becoming short-sighted?

According to NHS Choices, signs that your child may be short-sighted include:

• needing to sit near the front of the class at school because they find it difficult to read the whiteboard
• sitting close to the television
• complaining of headaches or tired eyes
• regularly rubbing their eyes

When someone's short-sighted, the eyes have grown slightly too long, which means light rays focus just in front of the retina, at the back of the eye, so distant objects to appear blurred, but close objects are seen clearly.

Hope for tomorrow's treatment

While levels of myopia are likely to continue to rise, the hope is that researchers will find ways to reduce its progression.

Dr Dahlmann-Noor says: "What we need to look at, in terms of research and development, is ways of modifying the impact that these activities have on their visual development."

Prof Hammond adds: "There are eye drops and other treatments to slow myopia progression. But in terms of preventing myopia itself, there isn't any data out there at the moment in terms of 'Could the drops we use to slow progression stop myopia developing at all?'

"I think it's going to be the logical next step of research studies, as in countries like urban China - where 10% of children in each class per year are becoming short-sighted from about the age of six - there's an argument for saying we should be trying to prevent it."

Meddling monks and an abusive governor's wife - tensions in Trinco as temple restoration halted 

27Dec 2017

The wife of the Eastern Province governor verbally abused Trincomalee villagers who requested her to remove her shoes before entering their temple.

The governor and his wife were visiting Soodaikuda to inquire about tensions following the halting of restoration work to a historic Hindu temple by a court order sought by Sampur police at the request of Buddhist monks.

Residents of Soodaikuda in Muthur East were told to halt restoration work on the Kuntrathur Mathalamalai Murugan temple after Buddhist monks who visited the site claimed that it was the site of an ancient Buddhist temple which the Tamils had destroyed.

The people of Soodaikuda displaced in 2006 along with most of Muthur and had been resettling from 2013. The temple, which has existed since at least 1905, was being rehabilitated gradually by the villagers and was officially re-registered in 2014, with prayers being regularly conducted. Locals had recently obtained permission to build a well to provide drinking water for the temple and its users.

A court order was issued on December 19 to suspend all rehabilitation work while police and divisional secretariat officials investigated the Buddhist monks’ claims.

Buddhist monks aggravated the villagers the following day by visiting the site and roaming around the temple premises with their shoes on, an act considered deeply offensive and disrespectful by Hindus. Police intervened as locals expressed their anger.

The dispute was escalated the following day with the visit of the governor and his wife, who attempted also the enter the premises with her shoes on.

The crowds beseeched her to remove her shoes or leave, upon which the governor’s wife used abusive language and allegedly said “you all are tigers, if you need Murugan go to Kathirgama” as police watched on.

As tensions simmer in the area, residents of Soodaikuda have been left fearing for the fate of their village as well as their temple, with many concerned that their ancestral lands will be seized to make way for a so-called Buddhist archaeological site.

Related Articles: 

21 December 2017 : Archaeology Dept pledges to investigate alleged vandalism of 'Buddhist site' in East

25 December 2017 : Buddhist monk cremated next to Tamil massacre memorial and Hindu temple despite widespread opposition

29 September 2017 : Thiruketheeswaram Kovil board urge Sri Lankan President to forgo vihara opening

Sri Lanka: Court Vacation System is Illegal

In 1973 Supreme Court Vacation Ordinance was repealed and never replaced

Has the Supreme Court in Sri Lanka violated the fundamental rights of the citizen?

(December 28, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “Further to a fact-finding study undertaken on the Court Vacation System presently in force in Sri Lanka, I consider it is proper and right to make this request on behalf of the fellow citizens, who suffer enormously due to law’s delay for which the court vacation system is clearly a contributory factor,” in his submission to the former Chief Justice K. Sripavan has noted while requesting to terminate the unlawful Court Vacation System in Sri Lanka by a well-known advocate and activist  Nagananda Kodutuiwakku.

“In 1973 by the Administration of Justice Law, No 44 of 1973 Supreme Court Vacation Ordinance was repealed and never replaced since then,” he added.

However, he has received no response so far from the authority, though new chief justice assumed the office a few months ago.

His submission has further elaborated as follows;

Nagananda Kodituwakku

The provision of law that enables suspension of sittings had been enacted in the Ordinance No 1 of 1906 read as Ordinance for the Establishment and Regulation of Vacations in the Supreme Court. This law proclaimed three vacations to be called respectively the Christmas vacation, the Easter vacation and the August vacation in each year to be observed by the Supreme Court.

This law was later revised in 1928 by the Supreme Courts Vacations Ordinance No 2 of 1928, which declared the duration of the holidays as follows (Section 4).

The Christmas vacation shall commence on the twenty-second day of December and terminate on the twelfth day of the next following January [Section 4 (1)].

The Easter vacation shall commence on ‘Maundy Thursday’ and shall continue for twenty three days [4 (2)].

The August vacation shall commence on such day in August as the Chief Justice shall appoint in each year for the purpose and shall continue for twelve days.

The repeal of the Supreme Court Vacation laws

In 1973 by the Administration of Justice Law, No 44 of 1973 Supreme Court Vacation Ordinance was repealed and never replaced since then. This means, now there is no law in force, permitting the current Court Vacation system, made under the Rules by the Supreme Court in terms of Article 136 of the Constitution (1978), which is illustrated below, operational.

The sittings of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal will be suspended for period of 3 weeks, 2 weeks and 3 weeks in each year commencing from such date in the month of April, August and December respectively as the Chief Justice may determine”.

“Judges in the Court of First Instance may suspend sitting of their courts on such dates as the Chief Justice may determine commencing in the month of April, August, and December for the period of 2 weeks, 1 week and 2 weeks respectively”

Rulemaking power vested in the Supreme Court by the 1978 Constitution

Subject to the provisions of the Constitution ( Article 136) and any law, the Chief Justice with any three judges of the Supreme Court nominated by him, may, from time to time , makes rules regulating generally the Practice and Procedure of the Court and sets out 12 grounds under which such rules may be made.

However, none of these provisions do authorize the Supreme Court to declare any vacations for suspension of the Court sittings. Therefore, the Court Vacation System declared under the powers vested in the Supreme Court by the Article 136 of the Constitution becomes ab initio void.

Supreme Court has a prime duty by the people

As illustrated above there is no provision of law justifying the current Court Vacation System. Therefore, the judiciary has no other alternative except nullifying it all together as a prime duty by the people.

Your Lordship is fully aware that as mentioned above, the law’s delay has become a major concern in this country making citizens suffer heavily in terms of money, time and energy, due to delays in the dispensing of justice, with the entire Court System has been burdened with heavy caseloads. It is common knowledge that the ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.

On the other hand the judiciary that exercises people’s judicial power on trust cannot itself betray the people violating the Constitution, as the citizens have no other forum to seek justice against this injustice.

Therefore, with due respect and regard, I request Your Lordship to seize this opportunity to pronounce that the existing court vacation system is void in law and has no legal effect, a great remedial act of which will eternally be respected by the citizens of this country.

Lord Naseby’s Number Game – III

By Karikalan S. Navaratnam –December 29 2017 

[Continued from 17 Dec. 2017]

“Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.” ― Mark Twain Casualty figure 146,679 – Evidentiary basis :

On 08 Jan. 2011 the Catholic Diocese of Mannar presented a comprehensive Submission to the LLRC. In their submission,  Bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, Rev. Fr. Victor  Soosai and Rev. Fr. Xavier Croos, had  focused , inter alia, on the Vanni carnage and the casualties. They have said :

 

Extrajudicial killings

“Based on eyewitness testimonies, we believe thousands of people would have been killed in the last five months of war between January – May 2009……….”. “Based on information from the Kachcheris of Mullativu and Killinochi about the population in Vanni in early October 2008 and number of people who came to government controlled areas after that, 146,679 people seem to be unaccounted  for. According to the Kachcheri, the population in Vanni was 429,059 in early part of October 2008……..According to UN- OCHA update as of 10th July 2009, the total number of people who came out of the Vanni to government controlled areas after this is estimated to be 282,380. ”Govt.  tactics:

The government had used all possible tactics, including coercion, cajolery and manipulation, to get UN agencies and foreign missions in Sri Lanka to cut down on the war casualty figures. All of them had, willy nilly, complied with the government bidding and cooperated with the regime. How could the Rajapaksa regime, which had the gall and temerity to intimidate UN and such other agencies, tolerate the nasty noise from the Tamil clergy? After all, they are not members of the privileged Buddhist clergy!

Bishop faced threats

Pursuant to LLRC submission and seeking clarification on the 146,679 unaccounted persons, the Rev. Bishop Rayappu Joseph was interrogated by the TID-CID police. It was an attempt to intimidate him and the clergy into silence. Also, the Rev. Bishop faced threats of harm and harassment from Minister Mervyn Silva, the JHU party and the Sinhala media which called him a  ‘Tiger’. During this time, Rajapaksas’ hitmen from the security sector were engaged in silencing voices of dissent with ghoulish relish.

 

Dr. Senewirante raised concerns

Dr. Brian Senewiratne of Australia, the doughty champion of the oppressed Tamils and other underdogs, had commended the Rev. Bishop’s LLRC presentation as “ the only document ever published that gives the actual number of people who areunaccounted for after the war – a staggering  146,679.”  In the same vein, Dr. Senewiratne had raised concerns about the safety of the Rev. Bishop Rayappu and other priests. (Colombo Telegraph, 11 June 2012 – “Why Bishop Joseph andhis Roman Catholic Clergy have been targeted”)

In the face of menacing threats to the Rev. Bishop, the Christian Solidarity Movement (CSM) comprising mostly of priests and nuns from the majority community had raised their voice in solidarity with the Rev. Bishop and defended his concerns for the Tamil people.  Indeed, their courage is exemplary ! ( Sunday Leader , 29 Dec. 2012 – “ Christian Organization Condemns Grilling Of Bishop “ )

Corroborative factors

In response to the UNSG’s (PoE) Report, which was critical of the UN’s acts of omission and commission during the war,  Ban Ki-moon appointed an ‘Internal Review Panel on UN Actions in Sri Lanka’.  The Review Panel’s Report dated Nov. 2012 impliedly validates the claim that 146,679 people had remained missing and unaccounted for.

“46. ……..And, determination of the numbers of people in the Wanni was central to all of this humanitarian action.  A Wanni local government official testified to the LLRC that during the final stages there had been 360,000 IDPs in her district alone. Others who submitted testimony to the Commission quoted estimates of local Government authorities that placed the total population number in October 2008 at 429,000. Yet national Government authorities in Colombo insisted that there were no more than about 70,000 people. The UN believed there were up to 350,000 civilians, ……………. and used an assistance-planning figure of 200,000. The reception and registration of almost 280,000 people in IDP internment camps when they left the Wanni is an indication of the scale of inaccuracy in the national Government’s figures. The Government’s denial of the real numbers buttressed arguments against increasing humanitarian convoys and was later used to rebut reports of high civilian casualties…..”(Vide – Para. 46 at Page 18 of the Review Panel’s Report)

Thus, the UN believed there were up to 350,000 civilians and yet used an assistance-planning figure of 200,000. What happened to the remaining 150,000 ? .

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A new perspective on human rights and democracy

By SANJA DE SILVA JAYATILLEKA-December 28, 2017, 12:00 pm 

Professor Richard Falk’s inspiring and reflective article on Human Rights, Democracy and International Liberalismin ‘The Island’of Dec 28th(originally titled ‘Democracy, Development, and Reputation: Vietnam, Turkey, and International Liberalism’)re-thinks human rights in a way that potentially introduces a whole new paradigm which will resonate with many developing countries including Sri Lanka. That it was written by an internationally eminent Professor of Law who has been involved with issues of Human Rights for decades including as Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, makes it all the more important.

For us Sri Lankans who have seen human rights extremism from Western countries as well as Western NGOs, this thoughtful and timely article comes as a relief. Instead of the hypocrisy that pervades Western hegemonic human rights discourse, Professor Falk questions the assumptions and the arrogance assumed by those who criticize non-Western regimes that have actually accomplished a great deal for the welfare of their people under difficult conditions.

The article observes that "it does raise serious questions about what is the real motivation for such excesses of criticism and calls attention to geopolitical considerations that may be more explanatory than a country’s human rights profile…In effect, bashing countries for their poor human rights records needs to be geopolitically decoded if it is ever to be properly understood."

Professor Falk does not advocate human rights relativism but deals with the question of the right balance between collective human rights and individual rights and arrives at a possible resolution.

He critiques the prioritization of certain human rights in the current liberal discourse: "…the liberal insistence on privileging political and civil rights should be superseded by adopting a more cosmopolitan agenda of human rights that is attentive to the collective, material wellbeing of a national population, and especially its lower 50% and minorities. In other words, the liberal exclusion of collective rights should be partially rejected, and the tendency to gloss over the existence of poverty and gross inequality in capitalist societies should be subjected to critical scrutiny."

He adds that "As well, the tendency of socialist or state-dominated societies to undervalue civil and political rights of individuals should be equally scrutinized." This is important, and was certainly an issue here in Sri Lanka. However he also points out that "normative backsliding with respect to fundamental civil and political rights should not be the occasion for overlooking how well or badly a government behaves in other spheres of activity bearing on human wellbeing."

This is a useful and timely intervention. Professor Falk draws attention to the fact that "rich countries in the West are at ease living with large pockets of extreme poverty in their own affluent societies as measured by homelessness and extreme poverty, including the absence of health care, educational opportunity, and even food and housing necessities."

After Hurricane Katrina, I remember a Washington Post headline which humorously stated that in its aftermath, America had discovered a new species: ‘The Poor’. While Sri Lanka dealt swiftly with the devastating Tsunami to bring things back to normal, it took years for the US to rebuild the areas affected by its own hurricane.

Professor Falk says that "the three richest Americans—Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffet—possess wealth that exceeds the earnings of the entire American working class."

He explains: "What I am objecting to is the invisibility of the suffering of the very poor (as in America) along with the refusals to acknowledge the public achievement of their improved circumstances elsewhere (as in Turkey or Vietnam)."

Prof Falk’s conceptual intervention helps to clarifymany issues that have troubled Sri Lankans. A timely question he poses, especially for Sri Lankans facing a choice in the upcoming elections is"… the question as to whether the market-oriented constitutionalism of the Euro-American governmental template is the exclusive foundation of legitimate governance as was the claim of the triumphalist West in the immediate aftermath of the Soviet collapse. With the rise of China and other Asian countries, there is a growing reluctance around the world to claim too much for self-satisfied Western styles of governance."

In some respects Professor Falk’s attention to collective rights coincides with the Beijing Declaration on Human Rights held earlier this month. On December 8th this year, at the first South-South Human Rights Forum held in Beijing, a text called the ‘Beijing Declaration’ on human rights was adopted. The Forum was attended by more than 300 delegates from 70 countries.

In a welcome contribution to the discourse on human rights which has been dominated by the developed countries of the West, the South-South Forum offered an alternative view of human rights priorities. It declared that "The right to subsistence and the right to development are the primary basic human rights." In Article 4 it introduced these rights together with the right to peace and the environment as "collective" rights: "The right to subsistence and the right to development, the right to peace, and the right to the environment are both important collective human rights and the prerequisite and basis for the realization of individual human rights."

What is the solution to the question of the right balance? Professor Falk says "There is no clean solution, but an improved normative understanding can only arise by celebrating the cardinal principle of self-determination, which should allow ample national space for diversity, economic sovereignty, and political experimentation."

He concludes that "national reputations of legitimacy should rest on a comprehensive assessment of material, ethical, and spiritual wellbeing of individuals and communities, and no longer be allowed to reflect geopolitical agendas and civilizational arrogance."

Although the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review attempts an evaluation along similar lines, this is not the perspective adopted at the UNHRC regular sessions by some powerful countries and most NGOs, which apply human rights standards selectively. A more holistic approach which celebrates achievements in all the areas recommended by Professor Falk may encourage better commitment to human rights.

Referring to the popularity of President Erdoğan of Turkey, Richard Falk observes that "The response of AKP loyalists when asked why they vote for Erdoğan over and over again offer different lines of explanation: ‘Are we stupid?’ Some of these persons actually dislike, and even fear, the Islamic edge given by Erdoğan to Turkish government identity or think the Syrian policies were a huge mistake, but for what touches their lives most directly, the AKP remains for them far preferable to available alternatives in Turkey."

These sentiments are certainly true of people’s loyalty to the previous regime here in Sri Lanka. They have however also seen some progressive decisions, resisted by elements in the previous regime, successfully attempted by the current one. The ideal option could be a combination of the best tendencies of the two sides, reflective of the balance sought in the realm of human rights, which is not altogether impossible following the upcoming elections.