President’s term is only five years- SC

2018-01-15 01

The Supreme Court has communicated to the Presidential Secretariat that President Maithripala Sirisena’s term was only five years, it is learnt.

Last week the President had made a reference to the Supreme Court seeking its opinion whether he could serve up to six years.

The five-member bench of the Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the President’s term was restricted only to five years.

The bench comprised Chief Justice Priyasath Dep, Eva Wanasundare, Buvaneka Aluvihare, Sisira de Abrew and K. Chitrasiri.

The bench communicated its opinion to the Presidential Secretariat yesterday.

Implications of a six year term for Maithripala Sirisena

by C.A.Chandraprema-January 13, 2018, 12:00 pm 

President Sirisena’s request for a determination from the Supreme Court as to whether he could remain in power for six years even after the 19th Amendment reduced the term of the President to five years has caused consternation in the pro-yahapalana camp and quiet glee among their opponents. One of the pioneers of the yahapalana project, university lecturer Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri, has reproduced on his facebook page the Colombo Telegraph report of Sirisena asking the SC whether there is any impediment to his remaining in power for six years with a cryptic message in Sinhala suggesting that they (the yahapalanites) were now completely naked before the people. Among those who made representations in the Supreme Court against Sirisena was the Centre for Policy Alternatives and the elections monitoring outfit CAFFE which were firmly within the yahapalana camp.

 The President’s query addressed to the Supreme Court left no doubt as to what he had in mind. The query went as follows: "Whether, in terms of Provisions of the Constitution, I, as the person elected and succeeding to the office of President and having assumed such office in terms of Article 32(1) of the Constitution on 09 January 2015, have any impediment to continue in the office of President for a period of 6 years from 09 January 2015, the date on which the result of my election to the office of President was declared". In the wake of the caterwaul of protest that this evoked, the President’s Media Office issued a statement claiming that the President was only trying to clear the confusion surrounding this matter by asking for a SC determination on the subject, but the wording of the query implies otherwise.

This is a very clear attempt on the part of the President to extend his term to six years once again after it was reduced to five years by the 19th Amendment. The 19th Amendment was brought for the purpose of abolishing the executive Presidency as Sirisena had promised at the 2015 Presidential election. When Jayampathy Wickremeratne and others took to the newly elected President Sirisena the original draft of the 19th Amendment, the President had barked at them "Mawa pambayek karannada hadanne?" (Are you trying to turn me into a scarecrow?) and he had chased them away. Thereafter, Sirisena and the JHU whittled down the 19th Amendment until there was nothing left except the establishment of the constitutional council to recommend appointments to key state posts and this reduction of the term of the President from six to five years. It was the JHU that surreptitiously included in Sirisena’s manifesto a clause saying that he would agree to constitutional changes only to the extent that a referendum would not be necessary.

Since there was no way to abolish the executive presidency without a referendum, all talk of abolishing the executive presidency ceased. Now with Sirisena’s move to claw back through judicial interpretation what he himself claimed to have voluntarily relinquished and with his own loyalists and opponents voting for it in parliament (only one vote against and one abstention with 215 votes for and six absent), the 19th Amendment is to be almost completely vitiated – which is why virtually all yahapalana stakeholders have roundly condemned Sirisena’s move.  The most immediate reason for President Sirisena to ask the Supreme Court for a determination is a comment made in passing by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a media release issued on 14 December 2017 about the local government election.

What gave Sirisena the jitters

In that media release, the former President had stated that the LG election would be the first in a string of elections leading up to the next presidential election which has to be held before 9 December 2019 in terms of the 19th Amendment. What the former President said in this regard was as follows. "According to the change effected by the 19th Amendment to Article 30(2) of the Constitution, the term of office of the President was reduced to five years. By the provisions of Section 49(1)(b) of the 19th Amendment, that change has been made specifically applicable to the incumbent President as well. Hence the term of office of the incumbent President ends on 9 January 2020. According to Article 31(3) of our Constitution, a Presidential election has to be held not more than two months and not less than one month before the incumbent President’s term of office expires. Hence the next presidential election will have to be held between 9 November and 9 December 2019. When the mandatory periods between the declaration of the election, calling for nominations and the subsequent period up to the poll laid down in the Presidential Elections Act of 1981 are taken into account, it is clear that the next presidential election process will have to begin by October 2019…"

This appears to have been the immediate trigger for the President’s query to the Supreme Court. The Attorney General who represented the government had argued in open court last Thursday that the President had been elected on 9 January for a term of office of six years and that this power emanated from the sovereignty of the people and that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was promulgated and made operative only after the incumbent President was elected for a term of six years by the people. He said there cannot be retrospective effect unless it has been specifically made retrospective. The crux of the Attorney General’s argument is that the President had received a mandate from the people for a six-year term in office, and that any change in that would affect the sovereignty of the people. However, in his argument, the AG has ignored some important matters. Firstly, Section 49(1)(b) of the 19th Amendment states as follows: "49. (1) For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that,– (b) the persons holding office respectively, as the President and Prime Minister on the day preceding April 22, 2015 shall continue to hold such office after such date, subject to the provisions of the Constitution as amended by this Act."

The AG has not explained what Section 49(1)(b) means if it is not to be taken as making the 19th Amendment applicable to president Maithripala Sirisena as well. Section 3 of the 19th Amendment had repealed the earlier Article 30(2) of the Constitution and substituted in its place the following "The President of the Republic shall be elected by the People and shall hold office for a term of five years." If the AG argues that the shortening of the term of the President does not apply to the incumbent President despite the transitional provision in Section 49(1)(b) of the 19th Amendment, because Sirisena was elected and sworn in before the 19th Amendment was passed, that puts many other provisions in this Constitutional Amendment in jeopardy. For example, the main limitation on presidential power imposed by the 19th Amendment is to make it mandatory for the president to appoint key officers of the state such as the Attorney General, Judges of the Supreme Court and the members of the independent commissions from among persons nominated by the Constitutional Council.

Does anything at all in 19A apply to Sirisena?

If the 19th Amendment does not apply to President Sirisena because he was elected and sworn into office before the 19th Amendment was promulgated, then it follows that he is under no obligation to follow the procedure laid down in the 19th Amendment in making appointments to key state offices and independent commissions either. However the President has already made appointments based on recommendations made to him by the constitutional council in accordance with the provisions of the 19th Amendment. Examples of this would be the present IGP and the Attorney General himself. One assumes that the President made these appointments in accordance with the 19th Amendment because of the transitional provision in Section 49(1)(b) of the 19th Amendment which clearly states that the incumbent president will hold office after the promulgation of the 19th Amendment, only in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution as amended by the 19th Amendment.

If the transitional provision in Section 49(1)(b) is deemed not to apply to President Sirisena, an anomalous situation will arise where the Constitutional Council and the independent commissions will be set up under the 19th Amendment but the President will be under no obligation to take any of the recommendations of the CC into account in making key state appointments because the president was elected and sworn in under the 18th Amendment and the 19th Amendment does not apply to him.  If we take Section 49(1)(b) of the 19th Amendment which has been reproduced above, the phrases used "For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared"; "the persons holding office respectively, as the President and Prime Minister", "shall continue to hold such office after such date, subject to the provisions of the Constitution as amended by this Act." do not leave any doubt whatsoever as to the fact that the President and Prime Minister now hold office only in accordance with the Constitution as amended by the 19th Amendment.

There is also another very important factor to be considered. After the August 2015 parliamentary election, a government was formed on the basis of the power sharing arrangement between the President and the Prime Minister laid down in the 19A.  If the SC accepts the AG’s interpretation of the Constitution, it will also have the effect of throwing the entire basis of the yahapalana power sharing arrangement into jeopardy. For instance, the 19th Amendment states that in appointing cabinet ministers, the President shall, in consultation with the Prime Minister, where he considers such consultation to be necessary, determine the number of Ministers of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministries and the assignment of subjects and functions to such Ministers. Thus, when it comes to determining the subjects and the number of ministries, the President has the final say. But when it comes to appointing individuals MPs to fill those cabinet positions, the President has an obligation to act on the advice of the Prime Minister. If the provisions of the 19th Amendment do not apply to President Sirisena because he was elected President before the 19th Amendment was promulgated, what happens to these power sharing provisions? 

If the SC upholds the Attorney General’s argument, in the remaining period of Sirisena’s term he will be exempt from all limitations imposed on the President’s power in appointing the cabinet. After all, it can be argued that since Sirisena was elected President without such limitations, to impose such limitations on him by Parliament later would be against the people’s sovereignty!

Yahapalana NGO raises a valid point

In their submissions to the SC, the advocacy NGO Centre for Policy Alternatives had pointed out that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution clearly states which parts of the Amendment do not apply to President Sirisena as the incumbent President and the reduction of the term of office is not such a provision. This in fact is true. Take for instance Sections 50 and 51 of the 19th Amendment which specifically exempts the person holding the position of President at the time when the 19th Amendment comes into operation from the changes introduced in Section 9 of the Amendment which refers to the appointment of Ministers. As a result of this exemption, between the time the 19th Amendment comes into operation and the parliamentary election of August 2015, the President may, with the concurrence of the Prime Minister, assign to himself any subject or function and may, with like concurrence, determine the Ministries to be in his (the President’s) charge.

Section 51 of the 19th Amendment likewise grants Sirisena an exemption from the operation of Section 9 of the 19A on the appointment of the cabinet by allowing Sirisena to hold the Defence, Mahaweli Development and Environment ministries for as long as he remains President. So as the CPA says, the 19th Amendment does have specific provisions exempting the incumbent President from the operation of certain Sections of the Amendment but the reduction in the term of the President is not among those exemptions.

By the time this newspaper is published, the determination of the SC would have been communicated to the President. Since this is a case of the President consulting the SC on a constitutional matter, he is under no obligation to make known to the public what the SC determination was. In fact speculation is rife that he may seek to keep the determination a secret so that his henchmen can claim that the President will be in office until January 2021. In fact ever before the SC had delivered its determination, Sirisena loyalists were claiming that the President will be in office until 2021 as a way of boosting their prospects at the local government election. It may be necessary to file a separate FR application in the SC for the public to get to know when the next presidential election will be held. Since President Sirisena has already applied to the SC for a determination on when the next Presidential election has to be held, the public now has a right to know what the determination of the SC was.

 Perhaps the SC cannot make their determination public on their own. However if the Sirisena faction tries to misrepresent what the determination said, so as to gain political advantage, the SC should inform the public of what they really said. One of the lawyers who appeared before the Supreme Court, Faiz Mustapha, had argued that the public pronouncements made by President Sirisena before and after the 19th Amendment explaining how he reduced his term by one year are irrelevant. How can those pronouncements be irrelevant? They were made by the President of the country who was elected to power on the people’s franchise and he was making those pronouncements on a matter of public importance. If the President said publicly that he had wanted the term of the President reduced to four years but had reluctantly agreed to make it five because his MPs had pointed out that it would not be feasible to have elections once every four years, the SC should have taken that fact into consideration in their deliberations.

 How Sirisena can get his extra one year

 The 19th Amendment is very clear on two things. Firstly, it reduced the term of the President from six to five years. Secondly, the President and Prime Minister holding office at the time it was promulgated will continue to hold office only under the terms of the Constitution as amended by the 19A. If the SC determines that Sirisena can hold power for six years, the SC will have to explain what the transitional provision in Section 49(1)(b) actually means. The AG most certainly had not offered any explanation of what that transitional provision meant. Be that as it may, there is a perfectly legal way of extending President Sirisena’s term by one year. That is to make use of the loophole in Article 83 of the Constitution which was not amended by the 19th Amendment. Everyone knows that President J.R.Jayewardene put in place safeguards to prevent the term of the President and Parliament from being extended beyond six years by including in his Constitution a provision that such an extension cannot be done without a two thirds majority in Parliament plus a referendum.

 That provision was not changed in any way by the 19th Amendment. So even though the terms of the President and Parliament were reduced to five years by the 19th Amendment, a referendum would be needed to extend the term of the President only beyond six years. Theoretically it should be possible to extend the term of the President from five years to six years with just a two thirds majority in parliament! What Article 83(b) in the present Constitution even after it was amended by the 19th Amendment says now is the following: "a Bill for the amendment or for the repeal and replacement of or which is inconsistent with the provisions of paragraph (2) of Article 30 or of, paragraph (2) of Article 62 which would extend the term of office of the President, or the duration of Parliament, as the case may be, to over six years, shall become law if the number of votes cast in favour thereof amounts to not less than two-thirds of the whole number of Members (including those not present), and is approved by the People at a Referendum…"

So here’s a loophole that can be made use of! A Bill can be brought in Parliament extending the term of the President from five to six years again and the UNP can be persuaded to vote for it on the promise that the bond commission report will be shoved under the carpet. With a little bit of horse trading, President Sirisena will be able to get what he wants. There is no shame in any of this. If a senior President’s Counsel like Faiz Mustapha can present himself in no less than the Supreme Court and argue before the Chief Justice and judges of the Supreme Court that the numerous public pronouncements made by the President - the Head of State, Head of Government and the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces elected by the sovereign people of Sri Lanka should not be given any value by the court, then there is no depth that is too low to be plumbed. So there will be no shame in getting an Act passed in Parliament to reverse the reduction in the President’s term. As for the Joint Opposition, they too will not really lose anything if President Sirisena gets his term extended by one year. The extension will create such a wave of negative opinion that the Joint Opposition will be able to win the elections that will inevitably follow that one year extension, without having to campaign or even spend any money.  

President Sirisena at 3: Politician or statesman?

Tough challenge ahead: Friday's picture of President Sirisena at an election rally in Hambantota

• Sunday, January 14, 2018
• 
  
• Yahapalana rule under siege; vagaries  of cohabitation politics take heavy toll of President’s political career
• President faces the unenviable task  of uniting the SLFP while drawing criticism from within and from without
• Much needs to be done in the remainder of his presidency forhim to be remembered as ‘a great’
• Unfulfilled promises, mixed achievements in the anti-corruption battle, some notable progress on the democracy front

Sometimes, politics is all about being in the right place at the right time. Since Sri Lanka embraced a presidential system of government forty years ago, three of our six Presidents have been elevated to the highest office in the land by being in the right place at the right time.

President Sirisena at 3 Politician or statesman.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Echoes of an ecosystem: Revisiting HRM in Sri Lanka

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Overview 

Monday, 15 January 2018

Ecosystems are so essential for nature. They provide the basis for survival and sustainability. Can the practice of Human Resource Management (HRM) be meaningfully viewed as an ecosystem? Today’s column attempts to do so in the broader context of Sri Lankan organisations operating in local and international territories.
Ecosystems in a nutshell

An ecosystem can be described in multiple ways. The typical biology textbook calls it a community of living organisms. It can further be described as a group of interconnected elements formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment. It appears that the business world has borrowed the term from biology and adapted it to suit business needs. As such, it can be viewed as any system or network of interconnecting and interacting parts.

The essential feature of an ecosystem is the lively interactions among the elements. It is a dynamic set of interrelationships that create value. An ecosystem can be influenced by internal as well as external factors. The scope and the space of an ecosystem may vary. In fact, the entire planet has been identified as a mega ecosystem.

HR Ecosystem through 10 Gs

It is indeed fascinating to see how HRM operates at various levels within an institution as well as outside an institution. I propose an HR ecosystem as a combination of 10 Gs, namely Goal, Get, Give, Grow, Glue, Glow, Guard, Grapple, Grip and Gratify. They are related mainly to four levels, from micro to macro. I would identify them as Ground, Group, General and Global. Figure 1 illustrates such multiple facets at multiple levels. Let’s go through the details of the 10 Gs depicted in figure 1 with examples.
Ground Level

I propose this as the institutional or organisational context. It could be private or public. The first seven Gs are very much in existence here.
Goal

This occupies centre-stage in setting the direction of the entire organisation. It revolves around the strategic intent, comprising vision, mission or aspiration whatever the terminology may be. Aligning the grooming of people with the goals of the organisation should be the right approach. There are numerous occasions where people are unclear about their top goals and priorities.

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) appears prominently in this context. SHRM is an approach which defines how an organisation’s goals will be achieved through people by means of HR strategies and integrated HR policies and practices.
Get

This is all about getting the right people in. The hiring challenge looms large for organisations in diverse environments, mainly owing to a talent gap. I would call it a R-R gap, the gap between required talent and raw talent.

The market is abundant with raw talent, especially with school leavers. Are they geared to do a demanding job in a target-driven environment? Sadly, the answer is no. We teach complex subject matter but not how to gain confidence. Job orientation in academic courses has been recognised as important only of late.

In practical terms, updated job descriptions and job specifications should be available for each position and these should be used in the selection process. Also, selecting the appropriate test in predicting future performance on the specific job is of importance. Managers should be trained in effective hiring, with special emphasis on interviewing skills.
Grow

This refers to the need to build people. Training and development go hand-in-hand. The simple difference is that the former is for the present and the latter is for the future. In essence, training is to do something. Development is to be someone. Both are intertwined in such a way that training leads to development.

Choices in training and development are captured here. Identification of training and development needs is of the utmost importance in this regard. Having clarity on program participants, presenters, designers, coverage, delivery methods and expected behavioural changes are some of the vital associated components.

A growing emphasis on training effectiveness with proper mechanisms to measure is seen in the Sri Lankan private sector. The use of the popular Kirkpatrick model to assess training effectiveness at different levels is one such approach. Return on Training Investment (ROTI) has slowly become a critical factor in the local scenario as well, in justifying the monetary allocation for training and development.

Give

“If you give peanuts, you get monkeys,” goes an old saying. What you give to the person who came in by way of reward and recognition is of utmost importance in the context of competition. Your competitor can grab your best talent by “giving” more.

One may observe that some Sri Lankan organisations have well-structured reward and recognition schemes. What is needed more could be the strengthening of behavioural aspects, such as verbal appreciation of an exceptional performance.
Glue

I would associate the feature ‘binding’ with glue. This refers to the range of choices in retaining talent. Having developed the knowledge and skills of high performers of any organisation, seeing them leave is the last thing an organisation would like to see. The multifaceted phenomenon of employee engagement needs to be dealt with through appropriate strategies.

Finding out why talented people leave and taking appropriate action to arrest the outflow should be high on the HR agenda. Offering a variety of financial and non-financial rewards to stay also needs to be strengthened.

Encouraging evidence can be found at many leading organisations in Sri Lanka. Yet the reality remains that when there are a number of overseas opportunities with unmatchable financial offers, employees tend to seek better prospects. As I have seen at many organisations, effectively engaging the employees with a clear purpose can be a sure cure in arresting the rot.
Glow

This is the subtlest of all. It can appear in several forms. As one such form, choices in promoting the employees can be captured. When a career ladder is available for them to climb, and when the organisation is genuinely providing support and encouragement, the chances of them contributing better in a more committed manner is high. Establishing criteria for new jobs, allowing volunteers to take up challenging tasks, evaluating candidates’ potential, supporting new job-holders are some of the key actions in this regard. The broad aspects of performance management fall into this arena.

In another form, encouraging the employees to unleash their potential is also a way of allowing them to ‘glow’. Creating an environment where employees feel free to experiment, resulting in innovative products and services is a right step in this direction. Global examples such as 3M and Google have made this a sure-fire approach in making people glow.
Guard

Guarding is all about employee protection through a proper policy framework. It may include controls as well as clearance for creative action. A widely shared and wilfully practiced set of corporate values also falls into this perspective. A weak guarding may result in employees having uncertainty and ambiguity with regard to their direction, resulting in lower involvement and contribution.

The above seven Gs are interrelated and in existence at institutions. Let’s move one step further. When many such institutions in an industry have seven Gs, there are much greater prospects for HRM to prosper.
Group level

I use the term ‘Group’ to identify many institutions in an industry. Several apparel manufacturers having the seven Gs of HRM in the apparel industry is such an example. The eighth G, Grapple, is required here.
Grapple

It is the reality of competition among various institutions to grab the best talent. It also highlights the way to handle possible conflicts or collaborations between different institutions with regard to HRM. Among the competing organisations how HRM practices can be shared and supported is worth exploring. In essence grapple refers to the challenges of facing competition among the firms and how HRM should respond to such challenges.

In the diagram of an HR Ecosystem, several institutions having the seven Gs of HRM are represented with the eighth G as an institutional HRM response to the industry. This in fact can be further extended to more than one industry as well.
General level 

This is where all industries with many institutions meet. It is essentially the broad national level where countrywide HRM policies and practices become significant. This is where twin influences occur with regard to industries and thereby the institutions within. I would like to call them gearing factors and governing elements.

Gearing Factors are the typical PESTEEL factors that gear or influence the steering of an industry or the institutions within. PESTEEL stands for political, economic, social, technical, environmental, ethical and legal factors. They affect an industry in general and an institution in particular. What is the implication to HRM? It is a case of having a grip on the gearing factors in making HRM policies. I propose this aspect as the ninth G, Grip.
Grip

In essence, it is the collective and committed HRM response to the gearing factors. Let’s say a policy decision of allowing knowledge workers from a neighbouring country is taken. There is a need for HR professionals to discuss, decide and do the needful in such an event. That is to take a firm ‘grip’ in responding to the influencing factor. It is a significant step in staying competitive as a nation.

Apart from the gearing factors, governing forces need our attention.

Governing Elements are the stakeholders having diverse expectations. They include government, labour unions, HR professional bodies, HR research units, etc. What is required from HRM is the tenth G, which is to ‘gratify’.
Gratify

This essentially refers to stakeholder satisfaction. HRM has a macro role here. HR professionals have to connect, cooperate and collaborate with multiple institutions, communities and organisations at a national level. These moves provide the key drivers for being more competitive as a nation.
Global level

Having discussed the ground, group and general levels what is left is the global level.

The Global Level is where the national competitiveness of a country matters most. For us to be more competitive as a nation at the global level, HRM should produce global talent from Sri Lanka. HR professionals have a critical role in ensuring the seven Gs at the ground level, the eighth G at the group level and the remaining Gs at the general level. The current indications such as the Global Competitiveness Index reveal a significant area for improvement in this respect. It is the culmination of all Gs that HRM has to offer in order for the country to be globally more competitive.
Way forward

Revisiting HRM through an ecosystem to discover its depth and breadth is not just a conceptual act but points to concrete actions towards goal attainment. The role HR professionals have to play is getting increasingly important with the associated complex challenges.
(Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri can be reached at director@pim.sjp.ac.lk, president@ipmlk.org or

www.ajanthadharmasiri.info.)

Man arrested with weapons and ammo in Karandeniya

2018-01-14

A suspect had been taken into custody this morning with large number of weapons and ammunition at Karandeniya, Madakumbura by the Organised Crimes Investigation Unit of the Special Task Force (STF).

The Police said that they had recovered a type JR live hand grenade, a locally made 9mm revolver, a pen gun with spare parts, 12 bore gun and an American made weapon at the suspect’s residence.

The Police had also recovered three bore bullets, one T-56 magazine, 100 live bullets (Type 7.62 x 39), three 45mm live rounds, three live rounds (Type 7.62 x 25), 31 9mm rounds and eight other unidentified live bullets.

Meanwhile, the Police had taken into custody four mobile phones and a weapon manual written both in Tamil and English with the logo of the LTTE organisation.

The suspect is identified as Donan Thumara Ranaweera alias Suchee- a 37-year-old resident of Madakumbura, Karandeniya.

The Police said the suspect would be produced before the Elpitiya Magistrate’s Court tomorrow and the Karandeniya Police are conducting further investigations. (Thilanka Kanakarathna)

HIV & AIDS in Sri Lanka Journey to Equal Grounds LGBTIQ community faces many challenges

By Kaushi Sendanayaka-2018-01-14

Sri Lanka's record of a low prevalence of people living with either Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or full-blown Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is being maintained but experts warn that negative attitudes towards people falling within the LGBTIQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning) spectrum remain and that it hinders programmes to help patients.

According to the 2016 UNAIDS HIV and AIDS estimates, Sri Lanka's prevalence of HIV is at 0.1% with

4,000 adults over 15 years of age living with HIV. This compares well with our giant neighbour India which has a prevalence of 0.3%.

The global HIV epidemic has always been closely linked with negative attitudes towards LGBTIQ people, especially men who have sex with men, a group that is particularly affected by HIV and AIDS. The search for the real reasons behind these misconceived notions is much needed in order to demystify the issue.

Prevalence

A recent survey done by the National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) reveals that nearly half of all males reported with HIV have a history of male to male sexual contacts. Most of these men are married and added the risk of spousal transmission and mother to child transmission of HIV. Moreover, the UNAIDS factsheets of 2016 reports a total of 7, 551 men who have sex with men and the HIV prevalence among these groups 1.5%. According to the 2014 IBBS Survey only 47% reported regular use of condoms as protection.

Speaking to Ceylon Today, Dr. Sisira Liyanage, Director of NSACP, said that men who have sex with men are one of the main categories among HIV risk groups. Other high risk groups are female sex workers, intravenous drug users, beach boys and prisoners. Moreover, the NSACP Annual Report for 2016 states that a total of 249 HIV cases were newly reported during 2016 in Sri Lanka and all three districts in the Western Province and Galle District reported higher numbers than other areas in the island.

NSACP engages in the prevention, control and provision of services for sexually transmitted infections (STI) including HIV. They conduct various tests and screenings in order to detect HIV among the community. Moreover, the Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), available only at NSACP prevents the growth of the HIV virus by preventing its replication.

As Dr. Liyanage pointed out most LGBTIQ groups are accessible since they gather and meet in public places such as hotspots, clubs, guesthouses etc, but there remains a group of people who meet discreetly for instance via websites, who haven't been reached yet by outreach workers handling AIDS prevention programmes.

Disputing assertions

The best practice he said was for people to use condoms and stick to one partner. He also said that the lack of sex education in schools is not to be blamed for people being unaware as everyone is now part of the digital world and knowledge is an open source available to all, but encouraged schools to discuss the topic openly. He also said that the subject should be discussed with
parents. He also proposed a sex education paper to be provided to students in their local curriculum.
Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, a leading LGBTIQ activist disputes Dr. Liyanage's assertions calling them grossly inaccurate. Flamer-Caldera who is Executive Director of Equal Ground, the only non-profit organization advocating LGBTIQ rights in Sri Lanka, told Ceylon Today that only 15% of those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS are identified as belonging to the LGBTIQ community.

She said 85% of those living with the disease are heterosexuals. Flamer-Caldera said that it is erroneous to point a finger only at gay men for spreading diseases and questioned as to why women are less doubted. She also said that the term 'MSM' (Men having Sex with Men) was derogatory and discriminatory to homosexual men. Moreover, based on a study done by Equal Ground in four districts; Colombo, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Matara, it was found that 19.6% of the population in these areas belong to the LGBTIQ community which in turn means that 6 - 10% of Sri Lanka's population are members of this community.

When asked about reasons behind these miscalculations Flamer-Caldera said the social stigma attached to these people, discrimination they suffer and criminalization of LGBTIQ people have driven them underground and therefore they do not come forward for any surveys or studies that are conducted.

Conservative thinking

Flamer-Caldera proposes decriminalization of LGBTIQ people and the adoption of non-discriminatory policies where certain services be made available to this community. She also proposed the establishment of a bureau, one similar to the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, for LGBTIQ people to forward any complaints or harassments faced in their day to day lives.

Yet, despite these statistics, the social stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV has always been on the rise and it is even more traumatic to be a person from the LGBTIQ community. This arises most probably due to lack of awareness and education regarding issues pertaining to HIV, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation being confined to a 20th century conservative thinking frame. According to Denning LJ (as he was then) in the United Kingdom case of Roe v Minister of Health [1954], "We must not look at the 1947 incident with 1954 spectacles." Similarly, the issue at hand should be looked at without any pre conceived notions and institutional biases.

Status Quo

While LGBTIQ rights have made progress over the last decade in some countries by legalizing same-sex marriages and identifying discrimination against gender and sexual orientation, most countries still continue to criminalize same-sex marriages. LGBTIQ is recognized as a taboo in our society and most people question its legality and thus consider it to be unnatural, marginalizing this community.

Therefore, the LGBTIQ community is constantly struggling for their civil rights in Parliament, courts and on the streets.

In Sri Lanka, Article 12 of the 1978 Sri Lanka Constitution , the provision of equality, recognizes non-discrimination based on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion, place of birth or any one of such grounds as a Fundamental Right. This measure protects persons from stigmatization and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identities.

Homosexuality is illegal in Sri Lanka, with up to 10 years of prison for 'carnal knowledge' against the order of nature. Article 365A of the Penal Code prohibits anyone, irrespective of gender, from engaging in 'gross indecency,' which is not explicitly defined.

The Penal Code of Sri Lanka, which was enacted in 1883, made sex between men an offence. Both Sri Lanka and India were colonies of Britain, so it is clear that the Sri Lankan Code is also based on British criminal laws as they were then. The existence of lesbianism was not even acknowledged by the 1883 Penal Code.

Universal Periodic Review

Needless to say, Britain has moved on, and Australia and Canada, both former colonies have legalised same-sex unions.

The Sri Lankan government received seven specific recommendations on 15 November 2017 where the UN reviewed Sri Lanka's record on human rights as part of the country's third Universal Periodic Review (UPR) under the Human Rights Council and advised amending sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code, which targets LGBTIQ people in consensual, adult relationships.

Despite this, LGBTIQ people living in Sri Lanka still continue to face discrimination and harassment. Many are abused physically and mentally within their own family, bullied at school and arbitrarily arrested by the Police.

Israel has already killed three Palestinian children in 2018

Mourners carry the body of Amir Abd al-Hamid Abu Musaad during the 15-year-old’s funeral in Gaza’s al-Maghazi refugee camp on 12 January.

 Mohammed DahmanAPA images

Maureen Clare Murphy-13 January 2018

The second week of 2018 is not yet over and already Israeli occupation forces have killed three Palestinian children.

Fourteen Palestinian boys and girls under the age of 18 were killed by soldiers and police in all of 2017.

Israel has already killed three Palestinian children in 2018.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Turkey angry as new US-trained Syrian Kurdish border force announced

The new border force will be controlled by the mainly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, which Turkey considers an arm of the PKK

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces atop an armoured vehicle in Raqqa (Reuters)

Sunday 14 January 2018

The US-led coalition is working with its Syrian militia allies to set up a new border force of 30,000 personnel, the coalition said on Sunday, a move that has stoked Turkish anger.

The force, whose inaugural class is currently being trained, will be deployed at the borders of the area controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - an alliance of militias in northern and eastern Syria dominated by the Kurdish YPG. About half the force will be SDF veterans, and recruiting for the other half is underway, the coalition's Public Affairs Office told Reuters.

The force will deploy along the border with Turkey to the north, the Iraqi border to the southeast, and along the Euphrates River Valley, which broadly acts as the dividing line separating the US-backed SDF and Syrian government forces backed by Iran and Russia.

Nicholas A Heras@NicholasAHeras

#CJTFOIR has big plans for the #SDF in eastern #Syria -plans that could box out #Assad and friends (especially #Iran ) from this strategic region indefinitely-"Coalition Retraining 15,000 Veteran SDF Fighters to Serve as #Syrian Border Force" https://thedefensepost.com/2018/01/13/syria-border-security-force-sdf-coalition/amp/?__twitter_impression=true … via @Baco_UK

3:05 PM - Jan 13, 2018

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US support for the SDF has put enormous strain on ties with NATO ally Turkey, which views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - a group that has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman denounced the plans. Ibrahim Kalin said that, instead of ending support for the YPG, as Ankara has requested, "the USA is taking worrying steps to legitimise this organisation and make it lasting in the region. It is absolutely not possible for this to be accepted."

Syria's main Kurdish groups have emerged as one of the few winners of the Syrian war, and are working to entrench their autonomy over swathes of northern Syria. Washington opposes those autonomy plans, even as it has backed the SDF, the main partner for the US-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria.

Kurds to police Turkish border

The coalition said the BSF would operate under SDF command and around 230 individuals were currently undergoing training in its inaugural class.

"Efforts are taken to ensure individuals serve in areas close to their homes. Therefore, the ethnic composition of the force will be relative to the areas in which they serve.

"More Kurds will serve in the areas in northern Syria. More Arabs will serve in areas along the Euphrates River Valley and along the border with Iraq to the south," the coalition's Public Affairs Office said.

"The base of the new force is essentially a realignment of approximately 15,000 members of the SDF to a new mission in the Border Security Force as their actions against ISIS draw to a close," it said.

"They will be providing border security through professionally securing checkpoints and conducting counter-IED operations," it said, using an acronym for improvised explosive device, adding that coalition and SDF forces were still engaging Islamic State pockets in Deir al-Zor province.

Turkish army tanks stationed on the Turkish-Syrian border (Reuters)

The United States has about 2,000 troops in Syria fighting Islamic State and has said it is prepared to stay in the country until it is certain Islamic State is defeated, that stabilisation efforts can be sustained, and there is meaningful progress in UN-led peace talks on ending the conflict.

On Saturday, Erdogan said Turkish military forces in Syria's Idlib province will crush Kurdish forces in the neighbouring Afrin province as Turkish artillery hit Kurdish positions in Afrin, Turkish media reported.

"If the terrorists in Afrin don't surrender we will tear them down," Erdogan told a congress of his ruling AK Party in the eastern Turkish city of Elazig.

Turkish passenger plane skids off runway onto seaside cliff

No one was hurt when the Pegasus Airlines flight skidded off the runway. (Photo: AFP/Stringer)

15 Jan 2018

ANKARA: A plane with 168 people aboard skidded off a runway onto a seaside cliff after landing at an airport in northern Turkey at the weekend, but no one was injured in what one passenger called a "miracle".

The Pegasus Airlines flight had taken off smoothly from the capital Ankara bound for Trabzon, where the accident occurred as the plane was landing late Saturday.

Dramatic images from CNN Turk broadcaster showed the plane lying on the cliffside, its nose just metres (feet) from the waters of the Black Sea and its wheels stuck in mud.

"There was panic, people shouting, screaming," one of the passengers, Fatma Gordu, told state-run Anadolu news agency.

"When they told us to leave from the rear exit, everyone tried to push ahead of everyone else. It was a terrible situation."

She said they could smell fuel and feared that a fire would break out. "That is why we were scared," she said, adding that there were pregnant women and children on board.

 Passenger Yuksel Gordu said it was a "miracle" they were saved. "We could have burned, it could have exploded, we could have fallen into the sea ... Every time I think about it, I feel I might go crazy," she said.

Images from the Dogan news agency showed smoke emanating from the trapped plane and an engine that appeared to have fallen into the water.

According to the agency, the plane was 25 metres (80 feet) away from the sea.

Pegasus Airlines confirmed in a statement on Sunday there were no injuries among the 162 passengers, two pilots and four flight attendants.

The cause of the incident was unknown but an investigation is under way, the Trabzon governor's office said. A crisis centre for the incident was set up at the airport.

"The plane will be removed while all measures have been taken for other work and procedures. These will be carried out step-by-step," Trabzon governor Yucel Yavuz told Anadolu.

He added that a small number of people asked to go to hospital but did not give further detail.

The Trabzon public prosecutor has launched a separate criminal probe. Dogan agency said the prosecutor would seek statements from the six crew onboard.

The airport was temporarily shut before reopening early on Sunday, while an operation to remove the plane continued.

Professor Atakan Aksoy from Karadeniz Technical University's civil engineering department said that the construction of a second runway needed to be "accelerated".

"These kinds of accidents can happen due to the narrow ground surface in the northern part of the airport and because it is near a cliff," he told Dogan agency.

Source: AFP/ec