Higher Education: Getting More And More Into A Mess.

Colombo Telegraph

IN JOURNALISM TRUTH IS A PROCESS
By Professor Vijay Kumar -

Professor Vijaya KumarSri Lankan higher education seems to be getting more and more into a mess. While the government is desperate to encourage private higher education and faltering badly in these efforts, it seems to be unable to deal with student protests and labour disputes in the Universities. The student leadership which is not totally representative of the students and unable normally to mobilize student activism is being provided with rallying points by government action. To make matters worse we have had to face the imbroglio of the GCE A/L results this year.

Since higher education has been the main process which permitted children from Sri Lanka’s working and rural population to break through class barriers and socially advance, it is vital that this process be protected. But what is the government doing?

Unfortunately the JVP leadership in the Universities is unwilling to test its strength at University elections relying instead on ragging to ensure that elections are uncontested and the process works in 

The GCE A/L fiasco has caused much heartburn among students and parents in this country. When the original results had very obvious errors, the credibility of the Examinations Department built up over several decades was lost. Nothing short of a complete re-examination of the entire process would satisfy students, parents and the general public and help  rebuild confidence in the system. However the committee appointed to look into the problem claims that its mandate was restricted merely to the rankings of students. Rankings are themselves based on Z-scores and it is this which ultimately decides on who is admitted to the University. If Z-scores are wrong, even though rankings are revised to correspond to (the wrong) Z-scores, neither rankings nor Z-scores will provide a correct assessment of performance of the candidate. If the Z-scores were not to be scrutinized, there was no need for a high powered Committee.   Continue reading »

Sharing in Sri Lanka

The family lives in a home made of palm leaves and mud in Sri Lanka.

Updated: Thu Feb. 09 2012 18:52:28

ctvcalgary.ca

CTV Calgary's Karen Owen went with a team from World Vision to Sri Lanka to meet some of the people who have benefitted from its programs and even more who need our help.

In part two of her series, Karen meets a family living in poverty in a home made from palm leaves.

After 26 years, the civil war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009 but the healing continues.

Up to 100,000 people died and many others were injured.

The injured included former soldiers, who once injured, were let go from the army with no pension or assistance.

Kamal was wounded in the war after he was shot in the head and foot.

He suffers chronic headaches and memory loss and sometimes the pain is so bad, he goes off alone until it subsides.

The family can't afford the pain medication and there is no pension for former soldiers.

When he's feels well enough, Kamal tries to find work, but there are few jobs in the area.

It is a constant struggle to find enough money for food and clothing for the family of five.

"These days vegetables are expensive, but I haven't even been to the market to tell you the truth, but I make sure the children aren't hungry and that they do have something to eat, all three meals," said mother, Thushari.

The family lives in a home made of palm leaves and mud and that does not offer a lot of protection from the monsoon rains.

At one point, Thushari considered going overseas as a domestic servant.

Instead the eldest daughter 12-year-old Priyangika volunteered to live with an aunt to make things a little easier on her parents.

The hope for all three daughters is an education and a better life.

"I wouldn't even mind going begging if I can give an education to my three daughters," said Thushari.

Education is free but children can't go to school without uniforms and books and that costs money.

Dinusha, 7, has been able to go to school and says she wants to be a teacher one day.

World Vision hopes to find a sponsor family for Dinusha and hundreds of other children just like her.

So far, World Vision says it has had 213 new sponsorships from Calgary residents and 247 from people in Edmonton.

For more information on the Alberta campaign, visit the World Visionwebsite.

Tamil dinner says oppression continues in Sri Lanka

By Chris Slee, Melbourne

Friday, February 10, 2012

2010 Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry at a World Refugee Day rally. He said people in the detention centres were nearly all genuine refugees.

More than 500 people attended a dinner of the Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) on February 4.
The ATC, formed in 2009, campaigns for the rights of Tamil people in Sri Lanka, who have been subject to discrimination, oppression and massacres at the hands of successive racist Sri Lankan governments since the independence of Sri Lanka in 1948.
The ATC has helped gather evidence of war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government during its war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who fought for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of the island until their military defeat in 2009.
The gathering viewed a video that showed a young Tamil woman describing the bombardment of hospitals by the Sri Lankan military in the final stages of the war.
Dr Siven Seevanayagam told the audience that “structural genocide” takes place in Sri Lanka today. He said thousands of Tamils are still held in prison “camps”, nearly three years after the end of the war.
Seevanayagam said that the Australian government is reluctant to challenge the Sri Lankan government because it helps to stop Tamil refugees coming to Australia on boats. He said that if Tamils were safe in Sri Lanka, Tamil refugees “would stop tomorrow”.
Professor Patrick McGorry, a psychiatrist who treated Tamil asylum seekers in detention centres and Australian of the Year in 2010, also spoke. He said the people in the detention centres were nearly all genuine refugees, but have a lot of difficulty being accepted by the authorities.
McGorry, who was born in Ireland, drew parallels between the Tamil and Irish people. Both had fought against oppression, and in both cases ethnic cleansing has created a large diaspora.

More corruption activities of judges surface: A ‘bribe’ to Justice Abeyratne –Son promoted as senior State counsel

thursday 9 of February 2012
(Lanka-e-News-09.Feb.2012, 11.45PM) Following the exposure of the bribe taking mode of the chief justice of Sri Lanka (SL), Dr.Shiranee Bandaranaike to change judgments under the caption “How the SC decisions are ‘fixed’ by filthy lucre exposed………” in our website , we at Lanka e news are inundated with copious information on these types of sordid activities in the judicial sphere .

A President’s Counsel Lawyer speaking to us said, there are very few judges in SL who are immune from bribe taking. Judges are infected with this contagion of bribe taking all round , he added.

One case in point is the appointment given to the son of Appeal court judge Upali Abeyratne , the judge who has already tarnished his name professionally. His son has been appointed as a Senior crown Counsel by the Govt. Because he appeared as a junior State counsel in Fonseka’s case , and he is the son of Upali Abeyratne he had been elevated as a senior crown counsel. But , the whole of the Attorney General’s Dept .is rudely shocked over this appointment for he is not at all competent to hold that post.
In addition , at the same time , a son of a Supreme Court judge and his fiancée who are both utterly unsuitable for promotion have also been appointed as senior crown counsels by the Govt. But , the strange turning point in this romantic tragic -comedy is the Romeo (SC Judge’s son) finally getting the boot from Juliet (fiancée) after the promotion.

President keeps a close watch on the former President

Thursday, 09 February 2012

The President disturbed by repots by the state intelligence units that several ministers and a governor had secretly met former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge, has ordered the intelligence units to monitor the former President’s behavior and movements, a senior government minister said.

He said the President was spending most of his time planning about his son, MP Namal Rajapaksa’s political future and was busy drawing up plans for him while the SLFP and even the government has been pushed into a crisis situation.

The minister said that the political futures of ministers and even young MPs who are believed to pose a threat to Namal’s ascension to the leadership are now at risk and a large number of government ministers were displeased with the President’s actions.

The latest victim is the Deputy Youth Affairs Minister Duminda Dissanayake. Chief Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake’s son Duminda is also Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne’s son in-law.

Therefore, a force is now emerging from within the government to strengthen the SLFP, the Minister said.

Attempts to contact former President Kumaratunge over the telephone to ascertain more details about this matter failed.

It is learnt that Kumaratunge has decided not to meet with any politician until her daughter Yasodhara and her family, who are currently on a holiday to Sri Lanka, leave the country.

Army team that killed Prabhakaran to be dispatched to save Male President : Nasheed attacked

thursday 9 of February 2012
His resignation forcibly taken holding pistol to head
(Lanka-e-News-09.Feb.2012, 11.45PM) According to our reporter from Maldive Islands , it is the general opinion of the people of the Maldive Island that the Maldvian President met with his doom because he followed Sri Lanka (SL) President’s advice. He by trying to emulate our President Rajapakse, and trying to do most of what the latter is doing , including tax increases; and like how the SL Army Commander was arrested , the Maldivian President by arresting the chief judge , he plunged himself into the present predicament , according to the view of the majority of Maldivians.

Another group are of the view that Mahinda Rajapkse is sending an Army contingent to save the Maldivian President who voluntarily resigned. There are widespread rumors that Mahinda Rajapakse is to send the Army team which killed Prabhakaran.

Meanwhile Male former President Nasheed who was under house arrest held a demonstration along with supporters announcing a strange story after he was released from arrest at about 3.30 p.m. yesterday (8). He said, the supporters of the Vice President got him to sign his resignation letter after holding the pistol to his head. He added , that if he refused they would have shot him. He further said , he does not want the President post , and an election shall be held immediately after the resignation of the Vice president.

Later the police have attacked the demonstrators including Nasheed . Consequently Nasheed is now hospitalized. In the scuffle , two persons have died and about 50 had been injured. Many of the victims of the assault were seen running helter skelter with blood flowing from their heads.
About 2000 protestors have participated in these protests , and it is learnt that Nasheed ‘s supporters have captured some police stations away from the city.

Subsequent reports say that a warrant has been issued to arrest Nasheed.

(Pictures show Nasheed when he re appeared before the people.)

U.S. Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the claims against Shavendra de Silva

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
--------------------------------------------------------------
VATHSALA DEVI and
SEETHARAM SIVAM,
Plaintiffs,
-againstSHAVENDRA SILVA,
Defendant.
-------------------------------------------------------------
X
11 Civ. 6675 (JPO)
MEMORANDUM
OPINION AND ORDER
J. PAUL OETKEN, District Judge:
Plaintiffs in this action are two Sri Lankan nationals who have filed suit on behalf of their
deceased relatives, alleged to be victims of torture and wrongful killing by the Sri Lankan
military.  Defendant is the Deputy Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations,
who served as a commander in the Sri Lankan Army.  Plaintiffs seek relief pursuant to the Alien
Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victims Protection Act of 1991, as well as common law and
international law.
Defendant has moved to dismiss this action on the ground of diplomatic immunity.  For
the reasons that follow, Defendant’s motion is granted.            Full Story>>>

South African Government position on the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC) in Sri Lanka

Sunday, 12 February 2012
South African Government position on the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC) in Sri Lanka
The South African Government has noted the release of the final report of the Sri Lankan Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (the Commission of Enquiry) and the positive recommendations contained in the report relating to human rights, the return and resettlement of displaced communities, restitution and compensatory relief for the affected people, and post-conflict reconstruction and nation-building.

The report, however, should have addressed in more detail the question of holding those people responsible for human rights violations to account. 

The South African Government calls on the Sri Lankan Government to speedily implement the measures as recommended.

The South African Government commends the Sri Lankan Government for the decision to set up an authoritative mechanism to further investigate allegations related to human rights abuses and encourages decisive actions upon the findings. 

The solution to the challenges facing the people of Sri Lanka at this critical juncture lies in a genuine and inclusive dialogue among all the people and political parties in Sri Lanka. To this end, South Africa encourages the Government and people of Sri Lanka to create a conducive environment, inside and outside Sri Lanka, that will allow for a meaningful and sustainable political settlement that will lead to a constitution that will be acceptable to all Sri Lankans. 

In a spirit of partnership and cooperation, South Africa stands ready to share its experience and work with the people of Sri Lanka as they embark on this journey of building a truly reconciled and united people and nation.

The Commission of Enquiry  was established by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in May 2010,  among other things,  to look into the facts and circumstances which led to the failure of the ceasefire agreement between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 21 February 2002 and the sequence of events that followed thereafter up to the 19th of May 2009 (when the LTTE was defeated in a bloody civil war); whether any person, group or institution directly or indirectly bears the responsibility for alleged human rights abuses especially towards the end of the war;  whether there are any lessons to be learned from those events in order to ensure that there will be no repeat of these events; the methodology whereby restitution to any person affected by those events can be effected; the institutional, administrative and legislative measures to be taken to prevent any recurrence of such concerns in the future;  and to promote national unity and reconciliation among all communities.

Enquiries: Mr. Clayson Monyela, spokesperson for DIRCO, 082 884 5974 

ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION

OR Tambo Building 
460 Soutpansberg Road 
Pretoria

Australia should find its voice on Sri Lanka’s war crimes

Elaine Pearson

As nations like Canada and the United Kingdom weigh in on accountability for war crimes in Sri Lanka, it’s time for Australia to add its voice. After all, promoting human rights is a crucial part of Australia’s foreign policy, as Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd is keen to say.

One month ago, the Sri Lankan government’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) issued its long-awaited report. The commission was established by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in May 2010 to deflect mounting international pressure on accountability for alleged war crimes in the final months of the conflict with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

As the United Nations Panel of Experts appointed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon  reported last April, tens of thousands of civilians were killed during that period, largely from indiscriminate shelling by government forces. Government forces were also implicated in extrajudicial killings, torture, and the shelling of protected places such as hospitals, while the LTTE abuses included using civilians as human shields, shooting people who tried to escape, and forcibly conscripting child soldiers. But nearly three years after the conflict ended in May 2009, there is still no accountability for any of these war crimes.    Full Story

SL Minister Devananda threatens to attack journalists of Jaffna daily

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 February 2012, 16:45 GMT]

“I told my [paramilitary] boys to beat up these journalists. But, the boys are not paying attention. It seems I have to go in person and do it to make these journalists behave,” was the newest controversial comment by SL Minister and EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda on Thursday evening at a meeting held at Jaffna District Secretariat, where he was talking to unemployed graduates who were demanding employment. The spontaneous comment by Mr. Devananda came when SL military governor's secretary informed him of a news item that appeared in the Jaffna edition of Thinakkural exposing the diversion of funds allocated to development of schools in Vanni to the highly showcased construction of swimming pool which was declared opened by SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa. 

The threat against Tamil journalists comes following the recent comments against journalists by the visiting SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself, the journalists in Jaffna said. 

L. Ilankovan, the secretary of SL Military Governor of Northern Province, gave the newsclip to Mr. Devananda who was having the meeting with unemployed graduates. 

Five million rupees that had been allocated for the urgent reconstruction of schools in Vanni was diverted to the completion of the swimming pool at Jaffna Central College The swimming pool was supposed to be developed by the youth group of SL President Rajapaksa's son Namal Rajapaksa. But, the project which was marred corruption and misuse of the resources took several years and was not completed by the group. 

The EPDP is earlier blamed to be involved in the slaying of Jaffna correspondent of BBC and TamilNet, Mr. Nimalarajan in year 2000.

Toronto scientist develops artificial leg that costs just $50

Published On Thu Feb 09 2012

A novel artificial knee joint for lower-limb amputations: a functional and affordable technology for low- and middle-income coun from Grand Challenges Canada on Vimeo.

Research scientist Jan Andrysek displays the L.C. (Low Cost) mechanical knee that was created at the Bloorview rehab centre over the last six years.

RICK EGLINTON/TORONTO STAR

By Megan OgilvieHealth Reporter

If a man loses his leg in Sierra Leone — from the blast of a land mine or in a horrific car accident — chances are he will not be able to get an artificial limb.

Those used in Canada and the U.S. are too expensive, costing many thousands of dollars each. And if a limb were available, it would likely be too primitive for him to use.

But Jan Andrysek, a scientist at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, has developed a cheap and functional artificial limb for those who have had their leg amputated above the knee.

It costs just $50. Comparable limbs have a $3,000 price tag.

Full Story>>>

WikiLeaks: A Top Sri Lankan Major General Is A US Informer

Colombo Telegraph

IN JOURNALISM TRUTH IS A PROCESS

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Major General Prasad Samarasinghe the former Military Spokesman and Director, Directorate of Media in the Army has provided valuable information to the US and contradicted government’s official versions, according to a cable sent by the US Embassy Colombo. Major General Samarasinghe who is also the Chief Signal Officer (CSO) of the Army and Chief Controller, Centre for Research and Development at Ministry of Defence. He has also been the Commander for three separate Brigades in Jaffna, Wanni and Trincomalee, Colonel General Staff, 22 Division Headquarters, Trincomalee, Colonel General Staff, Directorate of Operations, Army Headquarters, Assistant Military Secretary, Army Headquarters and the Centre Commandant, Sri Lanka Signal Corps. He previously served as the military spokesman to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London on a diplomatic posting.

Samarasinghe - a political insider within the Rajapaksa administration,

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “SECRET” and discuses Sri Lanka’s problem of political abductions and abductions-for-ransom. The cable was written by the Charge d’Affaires, James R. Moore.

The cable, dated July 6,2007, updated the Secretary of State on Sri Lanka’s issue of abductions and asked strictly protect Military Spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe as their source. Samarasinghe was described as a political insider within the Rajapaksa administration.

The Charge d’Affaires wrote “Despite the GSL’s efforts to tout arrests of alleged abductors, critics and some government insiders claim that there is little genuine connection between the abductions and those that the Government has arrested. Military Spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe (strictly protect), a political insider within the Rajapaksa administration, told us that the arrest on June 26 of the five alleged abductors working with Gajanayake was political retribution against those thought to be disloyal to the Rajapaksa administration. Samarasinghe further alleged that the GSL felt compelled to demonstrate concrete examples of progress on abductions to appease the international community.”

Below we give the relevant part of the cable;  Continue reading »

Rudd under fire over Sri Lanka report

  February 9, 2012 

Adam Gartrell, AAP Diplomatic Correspondent

AAP

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd is under fire for failing to respond to a Sri Lankan government report on that country's civil war, despite repeatedly promising he would.

The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) - set up by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in May 2010 - released its long-awaited report into the 26-year conflict two months ago.

The Canadian and UK governments have been among critics of the report, saying it does not adequately address persistent allegations that both sides of the conflict committed war crimes.

Rights groups say the report is a whitewash and have intensified calls for an independent investigation into the war, particularly Colombo's final bloody offensive against the Tamil Tigers in 2009.

Mr Rudd last year said the government wanted to read the LLRC's report before assessing the need for further probes.

But since the report's release he has been silent.

The Australian Greens on Thursday criticised the delay.

"Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has waived aside growing international concern about Sri Lankan war crimes for months citing the need to wait for the LLRC report," Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon told reporters in Canberra.

"It is almost two months since the LLRC report was released, yet Mr Rudd remains tight-lipped."

Senator Rhiannon believes the government's cooperation with Colombo on stopping asylum-seeker boats could be one reason for the delay.

But the time for diplomatic tip-toeing was past, she said.

"War crimes and crimes against humanity were committed in our region, and we have a responsibility to speak out against it and ensure those that were responsible are held to account."

The government later said it was still completing its assessment of the report.

A spokesperson for Mr Rudd said the government would "make its views known shortly."

"The government has consistently urged Sri Lanka to investigate all allegations of crimes committed by both sides to the conflict," the spokesperson said.

Ban Ki-moon Tells Press Alleged War Criminal as UN Adviser Was "Decided by States"

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, February 8 -- Twelve days after Inner City Press began reporting on Sri Lankan alleged war criminal Shavendra Silva joining the "Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations" of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, on Wednesday evening the question was finally put to Ban Ki-moon himself. He said, "Sri Lankan mission? It was the member states that decided."

  Inner City Press had tried to ask the question during Ban's stakeout session outside the Security Council but was not permitted to. An hour later, Ban again passed by the Council accompanied by his Deputy Spokesman.

  Inner City Press asked, "What about Shavendra Silva?

Even as Ban slowed down, his deputy spokesman tried to avoid any answer. But Ban asked in return, "Sri Lankan mission?" Inner City Press said yes. Ban delivered the excuse that his primary spokesman Martin Nesirky has repeatedly used: "It was the member states that decided."

It is not that simple, and many have questioned whether for the credibility of the UN the Secretary General should adopt a position of powerlessness about all such decisions. In this case, there was no election; Inner City Press has learned that Sri Lanka got Saudi Arabia and Nepal to stand down.

This week, a major Asia Group Permanent Representative told Inner City Press he'd had no idea what Sri Lanka was putting Silva in the post.

 For the record, acts of Shavendra Silva's battalion in 2009 are described in the UN's own Panel of Experts report on Sri Lanka -- for example in paragraphs 73, 90 and 171, shelling hospitals and killing those seeking to surrender -- and lawsuits have been filed against Silva for war crimes. InSeptember 2011, Inner City Press asked Silva about them, click here for that story.

Earlier on Wednesday, Inner City Press asked Herve Ladsous, the head of Peacekeeping that Ban selected as the fourth Frenchman in a row in the job, if Silva having the post impacted DPKO's credibility.

Ladsous said, "this was a decision by the Asian group,. a decision to appoint this person which became known to all, including to us, the very day the group met for the first time. We had nothing to do with the selection of the individual."

Inner City Press has reported that Ladsous' fellow Under Secretary General Susana Malcorra, now slated to become Ban's deputy, in fact met with member states to give them criteria for people to serve on the Senior Advisory Group, including that they be Permanent Representatives and not Deputies, like Silva. She apparently neglected to say then, or since, that alleged war criminals should not be made advisers to UN Peacekeeping.

When Pressed about Silva and the UN's credibility, Ladsous said "the matter is being considered further."

According to Ban's pat and prepared answer later Wednesday -- it was the member states that decided -- it is unclear if the matter is being further considered by Ban.

Ban shaking heads with Silva, (c) MRLee: it was a slippery and fast slope

What Inner City Press has been told by a number of member states is that Sri Lanka is being talked to, but is demanding in return for possibly switching Deputy Silva for Permanent Representative Palitha Kohona, also involved along with Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar in the so called white flag killings of surrendering prisoners, that Sri Lanka not be pursued at the Human Right Council in March or afterward. (The fig leaf that the switch would only be for seniority, though, is undercut by Japan naming its Number Three diplomat, Jun Yamazaki, to the Senior Advisory Group.)

   So Sri Lanka would be allowed to benefit, even in this scenario, from putting an alleged war criminal as a Senior Adviser to Ban Ki-moon on Peacekeeping. Some say, the person who should speak out is Ban Ki-moon himself. But all he's said, after 12 days, is "It was the member states that decided." Quiet diplomacy, indeed. Watch this site.

Walk for Justice Team met with EU representatives

Wednesday, 08 February 2012

On the second day of their ‘Walk for Justice’, activists met with representatives from several European Union member states and Members of European Parliament (MEPs).

Activists stressed the need for a resolution initiating an independent international investigation at the 19th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka.

EU representatives deemed the activists’ demand both reasonable and timely. They promised to initiate discussion at the EU parliament to pass a resolution supporting calls for an independent international investigation. In addition, they assured that most EU states will fully support a resolution that favours accountability for international crimes, at the UNHRC.

During further discussions it was noted that a final political solution to the Eelam Tamil nation’s struggle for independence should be based on the result of a UN sponsored referendum.

Activists were further heartened by the fact that high level diplomats and MEPs met with a team that is proudly carrying the Tamil Eelam national flag during the entirety of the walk, putting to rest various misleading claims that Tamils must shun their national symbols in order to build diplomatic relationships.

Encouraged by the words of support, activists are continuing their walk in earnest while braving subzero weather conditions.

REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS CREATES MIRROR SITES TO FIGHT CENSORSHIP

PUBLISHED ON WEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2012.

Filtering, denial of service attacks, withdrawal of content – censors use many different methods to silence news websites. In addition to drawing attention to these acts of censorship and providing the victims with legal, material and financial help, Reporters Without Borders has now decided to provide them with technical assistance as well.

So that independent news websites that are targeted by cyber-attacks and government blocking can continue posting information online, Reporters Without Borders is going to start mirroring sites. The first sites to be mirrored are those of the Chechen magazine Dosh and the Sri Lankan online newspaper Lanka-e News. We urge Internet users all over the world to create more mirrors of these sites in an act of solidarity.

If a cyber-attack renders Doshdu.ru inaccessible again, as it was during last December’s parliamentary elections in Russia, Internet users will be able to access the exact copy created by Reporters Without Borders, http://dosh.rsf.org. The mirror will be regularly and automatically updated.

Mirror sites can also be used to circumvent blocking by governments. For example, the Lanka-e-News site, http://lankaenews.com, has been blocked in Sri Lanka since October 2011 (by blocking the site domain name or the hosting server’s IP address), but Internet users in Sri Lanka will be able to access the Reporters Without Borders mirror site, http://lankaenesw.rsf.org, which is hosted on another server with another domain name.

If the mirror is itself later also blocked, the creation of further mirror sites together with a regularly updated list of these mirrors will continue to render the blocking ineffective in a Streisand effect.

Reporters Without Borders will soon create other mirrors and urges Internet users who want to help combat censorship and have the ability to host a site on a web server to follow suit. A list of the mirror sites will be updated on this page. If you want to participate, send the URL of the mirror site you have created to wefightcensorship [at] rsf.org. We will add it to the list below. The next mirroring operations launched by Reporters Without Borders will be reported on the@RSF_RWB and @RSFNet Twitter accounts with the #RSFmirror hashtag.

List of sites mirrored by Reporters Without Borders

• doshdu.ru
  Dosh, which covers politics and current affairs throughout the Russian Caucasus, received the Reporters Without Borders press freedom prize in 2009 for the courage and quality of its reporting. Despite frequent attempts to intimidate its staff, it is one of the very few independent sources of news about Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, the victims of a low intensity civil war. Its website is often the target of DDoS attacks, the latest of which was during Russia’s disputed parliamentary elections on 4 December 2011. The site’s content and all of its files were completed deleted in 2010.
  Mirror 1 : http://dosh.rsf.org
• lankaenews.com Lanka-e-News is one of the few independent news outlets in Sri Lanka, where a government licence is needed to publish news online. As Lanka-e-News does not have a licence, the site has been blocked since October 2011. Its headquarters in a Colombo suburb were badly damaged by an arson attack in January 2011.
  Mirror 1: http://lankaenews.rsf.org

How to create a mirror site

To mirror one of the sites on the above list, you can:

1. Either install website copying software on your server and run it at regular intervals in order to have an updated version of the mirrored site (we recommend copying the content of the existing mirror rather than the original site in order not to overload the original)
2. Or download a compressed file of the mirrored site (available for all the Reporters Without Borders mirrors at http://mirroradress/archive.tar), decompress it and use ftp to transfer all the files to your server.