Why Pillay should raise media freedom

Editorial-Tuesday, 27 Aug 2013

The visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, who is in Sri Lanka on a week-long official tour, is expected to meet a motley group of people representing the government, including the Head of the State, the opposition, civil society, Tamil political parties, media and so forth.

Pillay's visit caused ripples within the government, soon after her office in Geneva announced her official tour, some weeks back. Within days, the President appointed a special commission to inquire the disappearances and abductions that took place during the height of war. Last week, the Police Department was, suddenly, brought under the newly-established Ministry of Law and Order. Both those measures were, in fact, part of recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), nearly two years ago.

Earlier, in March this year, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in a resolution called upon the government to implement the recommendations of the LLRC. Now, Pillay is here to assess the country's human rights record and the progress in the implementation of the recommendations of the LLRC. Hence, the sudden interest in the government to address those long-neglected human rights and governance related concerns.

In this backdrop, the existential grim realities in the media landscape loom large. Pillay should listen to the media fraternity in this country, who against many odds, had refused to bow down to the powers that be. It is media that remains one of the last functioning pillars of democracy in the country and unearthed much of the incriminating evidence of violations of human rights and civil liberties. For simply doing their job, those scribes were assaulted, abducted, killed and forced into exile. It was not long ago that the reporters risked the wrath of the military in order to report the mayhem in Weliweriya. Their reportage caused a public outrage over the military excesses, triggered a debate on the militarization in the society and prompted the government on a damage control offensive, which culminated in an Army Court of Inquiry, a rare act on the part of the security establishment.

Media in this country has shown enormous resilience in the face of multiple threats. Those threats vary from the prevailing climate of impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of violence, the concentration of media ownership with the individuals closely associated with the incumbent regime, State interference with the editorial content, through multiple means, the absence of a Right to Information Law, the safety of media personnel and so forth. It is against those odds that media in this country strives to be independent, vocal and outspoken; and in terms of those attributes, the local press has fared much better than many of their counterparts in Asia.

It is important that the visiting UN Human Rights Chief be cognizant of the existential realities of the media landscape. When she meets the government authorities, Pillay should bring up those concerns that beset media freedom in this country, one of the oldest democracies in South Asia. It is within her mandate to demand that the Government of Sri Lanka ends the prevailing culture of impunity and prosecute the killers and abductors of scores of scribes and many thousands of Sri Lankan citizens.

It is definitely within Pillay's mandate to ask the government to ensure the safety of media personnel so that they would be in a position to carry out their duties with a sense of security, without looking over their shoulder.

Pillay should also remind the Government of Sri Lanka that many recent democracies have enacted legislative provisions enabling right to information of their public. Nepal and Bangladesh are two recent examples. The Government of Sri Lanka has obstructed the passage of the Right to Information Bill that was presented by the Opposition.

The UN Human Rights Chief may not be able to convince the intransigent government to deliver on all measures. But, she may, at least, succeed in forcing the government to address some concerns as per press freedom.

Navi Pillay asks Hakeem:  Why weren’t police placed under Justice Ministry?

By Ajith Alahakoon-August 26, 2013, 12:00 pm 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay yesterday raised a series of questions with Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem, including why the government had not done away with the Prevention of Terrorism Act and reasons for creating a new ministry for police affairs.

Minister Hakeem, soon after meeting High Commissioner Pillay, addressing a media conference, said the latter had suggested that the Police Department should have been placed under the Ministry of Justice instead of moving it under the purview of the new Ministry of Law and Order.

The meeting between Minister Hakeem and HC Pillay took place at the Justice Ministry and lasted for nearly half an hour. Journalists were not allowed access to the meeting.

Hakeem said that among other questions Pillay had raised were the post conflict reconciliation process, criminal law and the judicial process. She had flayed the government for not doing away with prosecuting people under the provisions of the PTA.

The minister said he had responded that the government had considered doing away with the PTA but the prevalent security issues did not permit it. The government would pay attention to do so in the future, he said.

Hakeem told journalists that when Pillay pointed out that the police should be brought under his ministry, instead of a new ministry, he had

responded that the allocating of subjects of ministries was under the powers of the executive presidency, according to the Constitution.

She had also questioned the minister on recent incidents at Rathupaswala-Weliweriya. The minister had clarified that the police and military had worked together during many incidents to restore law and order in the country during the recent past.

She had also raised the progress with regard to the Right to Information Act, and he had responded that the Bill had been drafted and it would be put into effect by the Ministry of Mass Media and Information.

Ravana Balaya uses children in protest

• by Dinouk Colombage
• - on 08/27/2013  

• in Colombo, Human Rights, Religion and faith

On Monday (26) the Buddhist monks of the National Organisation for Ravana Power (Ravana Balaya) marched to the UN office in Colombo demanding that UN Human Rights Chief, Navaneetham Pillay, leave the country.

However, in a shocking display of disregard for the safety of their followers, the “Ravana Balaya” had placed numerous child monks at the front of the protest march. When the protesters encountered the police lines they proceeded to charge them resulting in the police being force to push them back. Trapped in the middle of these scuffles were the young monks.

Members of the “Ravana Balaya” explained that they were proud of the monks who “wanted to be part of this protest. Even at their young age they see the hypocrisy of such a visit, we cannot stop them from participating.”

Police officers on the scene exhibited concern about the presence of the monks, but failed to take any action. When the police spokesperson, G.M.H.B. Siriwardana, was contacted he claimed to have not been notified about this incident but insisted they would look in to the matter.

All photos by the author.

Madras Cafe: Intercept the half-truth

27 AUGUST 2013-BY R.M.KARTHICK

Some sections of the Indian media may be going gaga over the ‘realistic’, ‘non-dramatic’ film ‘Madras Cafe’ of Shoojit Sircar. Some have, rather shamelessly, compared it to Zero Dark Thirty - in reality, GI Joe: Retaliation is a more gripping watch. While the poor sense of aesthetics of these pseudo-critics is lamentable, their contempt for history as it happened leaves much to question.
Madras Cafe Intercept the Half-truth by nelvely

Whose Rights Are Human Rights?

By Thrishantha Nanayakkara -August 27, 2013

Dr. Thrishantha Nanayakkara

Ravana Balakaya was on the streets protesting Navi Pillay’s visit to Sri Lanka. One banner asked, “Hey Pillay, don’t you have better things to do?” The same tone was seen in the statements of the Government, state media, and Bodu Bala Sena.

When we are born to this World, some say we are born free. Well it is not true. We are born so dependent on many things. We first heavily depend on the care of parents. Parents depend on the care of a society and the care of a constitution of a country whether they like it or not. If there is some flaw in the care of the society or the constitution of the country, whom should the parents depend on to protect the child? Shouldn’t it be the greater human kind on planet Earth? Then, who is going to protect the greater human kind?

Well, there was no such higher authority at the level of the planet till the end of World War II. It was a winner-takes-all game. The parties to the war came together to formulate a set of universal conventions that all Nations should abide by, and that resulted in the establishment of United Nations (UN). This did not still get rid of the special privileges of the super powers. The negotiations settled down in the formulation of a security council where each super power got a veto power to decide any united military action outside their countries. This too, did not insulate any country from a military action from a super power outside the UN charter. However, the World was left to accept that military action from a super power is most often done with good intention. This was proven to be blatantly wrong in the push of the Bush administration to find out weapons of mass destruction (WPO) in Iraq. Not many are aware that it was an action taken in denial of UN recommendations, and even outside the recommendation of the US house of congress. This kind of historical blunders undermined the respect for the UN’s original vision to be a Global umbrella organization to protect humanity from unfair military action. That resulted in denial of the rights of so many thousands of children born in Iraq and other countries affected by that unfortunate incident.Read More

Event Invitation: Left Discourse

August 27, 2013 

Left Discourse

“Lessons from the

’53 Hartal for Today”

Presenters:

Dr. Tudor Weerasinghe

(Rector, Sri Palee Campus, University of Colombo)

 T.M.R. Rasseedin

(President, Ceylon Federation of Labour)

 Thursday, 29 August 2013

at 4.30 pm

at the

N.M. Perera Centre

106, Dr. N.M. Perera Mawatha, Colombo 8.

You are cordially invited.

Vasu, DEW and Tissa

SL group promoting violence against women removed

By Vyshnavy Velrajh and Nisal Lakmal-Tuesday, 27 Aug 2013

A locally operated ‘closed’ group on Facebook titled ‘Kellanwa Rape karanna kamathi kollo’ (Boys who like to rape girls) was repeatedly reported to Facebook Authorities during the last few days, stating that it promoted violence against women.

It was reported that the repeated complaints on the group which had around 500+ members escalated yesterday (26) and went viral on all social media networks. Even though, the issue was highlighted on various social media sites it was unheeded by Facebook Authorities.

However, a statement posted by Facebook following the repeated complaints by more than 100+ persons revealed that the group was not removed from the social networking site as the content did not violate the ‘Community Standards” of Facebook.

Meanwhile, reports state that Nibras Bawa, a digital marketer, trainer, speaker, and consultant to global brands had contacted the Facebook office in Singapore personally to inform the authorities about the group and the repeated complaints reported against the group.

Thereafter, another statement released by Facebook stated that the previous decision taken by the authorities to not remove the group has been reconsidered and revised due to the large number of complaints against the relevant group.

Following the statement released by Facebook last night (26), the relevant group titled ‘Kellanwa Rape karanna kamathi kollo’ (Boys who like to rape girls) was removed from Facebook this morning (27).

Meanwhile, Nibras Bawa when contacted by Ceylon Today Online stated that Facebook had not deleted the group despite the repeated complaints due to a communication problem, adding that many people had reported the group but had not exactly explained the reason for the complaints.

He added that as he had directly contacted the Facebook Authorities and had explained the meaning of the title and the reasons for the complaints, the Authorities had taken steps to remove the group. (Ceylon Today Online)

KOTTE MC MEMBER ARRESTED FOR SEXUALLY MOLESTING WIFE

August 27, 2013
Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Municipal Council member Dhanushka Vishvajith has been arrested on charges of sexually molesting his wife, police said. 

The victim has lodged a complaint with the Welikada Police stating that she was subject to sexual molestation at hands of her husband at their residence in Rajagiriya, Bandaranayakepura, Welikada.

The Municipal Councilor was subsequently arrested by Welikada Police today, the Police Spokesman’s Office said. 

ASIA: Second Regional Conference of Asian Parliamentarians & Human Rights Defenders on Elimination of Custodial Torture and Ill-treatment in Asia (November 2013, Hong Kong)

CONCEPT PAPER:-August 27, 2013

This conference is jointly organised by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and DIGNITY.

Scheduled Date: 11-13 November, 2013

States across the world deny that custodial torture and ill-treatment exist within their jurisdictions. Yet, in reality, not only does such practice exist, it is often promoted within states, as a policy, whether clandestine or open, for the enforcement of state writ. Wherever the practice is endemic, it has adopted various forms: custodial torture and ill-treatment to facilitate corruption, to maintain absolute state control, or to silence political opposition being the most prevalent.

ASIA Second Regional Conference of Asian Parliamentarians & Human Rights Defenders on Elimination of Cu... by nelvely

INDIAN STUDENTS STAGE HUNGER STRIKE OVER C’WEALTH MEET

August 27, 2013

Four Indian law college students have started an indefinite hunger strike in Tiruchy on Monday urging the Central government to boycott the Commonwealth meet to be held in Sri Lanka in November.

The third year students of Government Law College were identified as N Pushparaj of Cuddalore, S Bharathi of Pudukkottai and T Kajendran and S Marimuthu of Tiruvarur. They started their indefinite protest on the college premises, Express news Service reported.

They condemned the anti-Tamil activities of the UPA government and urged it to skip the meeting scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka.

Senthil Kumar (25), a diploma student of Pullambadi, was stopped by Fort range police when he tried to stage a hunger strike on the same issue.

The students of Law College in Tiruchy earlier staged protests urging the Centre to introduce an amendment in the US-sponsored resolution at the UNHCR on the Lankan Tamils issue seeking an international, independent probe into allegations of human rights violations during the military offensive against the LTTE.

Various political parties and pro-Tamil activists have been urging the Centre to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka, to protest against the island nation’s government.

Bloody footprints on Sri Lanka, the island of shame

Nicola Smith, Colombo Published: 25 August 2013

Sri Lankan soldiers chase residents protesting against the alleged poisoning of drinking water in Weliweriya, on the outskirts of Colombo

RAVISHAN PERERA should have been preparing to enter university. Instead, on the day he was to sit his entrance exam, the 19-year-old was buried in his school uniform.

He was shot in the head on August 1 as Sri Lankan forces opened fire on a peaceful environmental protest in Weliweriya, a small town close to the capital, Colombo. The town, which donated blood to the army during Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war, is in shock.

The bloody episode is cited as the latest example of violent repression that threatens to overshadow the Commonwealth leaders’ summit in Colombo in November.

Full Story>>>

Syria's Guilt in Chemical Attack 'Clear to the World,' Kerry Says

By DANA HUGHES and KIRIT RADIA

DANA HUGHESMore From Dana »

Reporter

KIRIT RADIAMore From Kirit »

Reporter

 via WORLD NEWS-Aug. 26, 2013

Syrians inspect the rubble of damaged buildings due to heavy shelling by Syrian government forces in Aleppo, Syria, Aug. 26, 2013, in this citizen journalism image, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting,

Secretary of State John Kerry indicated today that the Obama administration intends to hold the Syrian regime accountable for a chemical attack that he called "undeniable."

Kerry spoke as the Obama administration was mulling possible military action following reports of a massive chemical weapons attack with many of the victims being civilians.

And his comments came hours after U.N. inspectors were fired upon by at least one sniper as they tried to enter the area to carry out an investigation to probe the claims of the chemical attack.

Kerry said that the attack was "inexcusable and undeniable," and that the judgment on who is responsible is "very clear to the world."

"We know that the Syrian regime maintains custody of these chemical weapons. We know that the Syrian regime has the capacity to do this with rockets. We know that the regime has been determined to clear the opposition from those very places where the attacks took place," he said.

The regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad had denied using chemical weapons and blamed the attack on the rebels his soldiers are battling.

But the secretary of state pointed to the regime's behavior in the wake of the attack as further evidence of guilt.

"For five days the Syrian regime refused to allow the U.N. investigators access to the site of the attack that would allegedly exonerate them. Instead, it attacked the area further, shelling it and systematically destroying evidence. That is not the behavior of a government that has nothing to hide. That is not the action of a regime eager to prove to the world that it had not used chemical weapons. In fact, the regime's belated decision to allow access is too late and is too late to be credible," Kerry said.

For all the outrage, Kerry did not speak of any specific consequences or actions the U.S. planned to take. He said the President Obama continues to consult with Congress and U.S. allies and will soon make a decision.

"Make no mistake: President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons against the world's most vulnerable people," Kerry said.

A senior State Department officials said today that a formal assessment is likely to come soon, possibly sometime this week.

A U.N. team began its investigation today after nearly a week's delay by the Assad government, but the team's car immediately came under fire by at least one sniper, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said.

"Despite such very difficult circumstances, our team returned to Damascus and replaced their car and proceeded to a suburb of Damascus to carry on their investigation," Ki-Moon told reporters. "They visited two hospitals, they interviewed witnesses, survivors and doctors, they also collected some samples. They are now returning to Damascus."

The secretary general said that the U.N. will be registering a "strong complaint" to both the Syrian government and opposition rebel leaders about the attack in an effort to prevent more incidents from occurring during the rest of the investigation. The U.N. Security Council is holding an emergency meeting today to discuss the current situation in Syria.

Over the weekend the Obama administration deliberated over what action the U.S. should take after finding "very little doubt" that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its own people.

The president and his national security team met to outline military options that include positioning destroyers currently in the Mediterranean that could be used to carry out limited cruise missile strikes. The purpose of launching the strikes would be to "defer or prevent" another chemical attack by the Assad regime, senior administration officials tell ABC News.

On the diplomatic front, Kerry has been furiously burning up the phone lines to allies and foes, including speaking with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Syrian Foreign Minister Moulliam. The call to Moulliam on Saturday was the first time the secretary has spoken to anyone in the Syrian government since taking his post early last year.

A senior State Department official said Kerry made clear that based on information U.S. allies have shared along with other intelligence and analysis "there is very little doubt that a chemical weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in this incident."

Fifty Years Ago King Had A Beautiful Dream

By Asanga Abeyagoonasekera -August 27, 2013 

Asanga Abeygoonasekera

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. delivered in Washington, on August 28, 1963. This remarkable speech that touched many people’s hearts was delivered on the centenary of the Emancipation Proclamation introduced by President Abraham Lincoln. It reminded the great values of human life and created hope for a better society to live in harmony with dignity and without racial segregation.

Just a few days ago we witnessed a horrific, suspected chemical attack in Syria; more than two hundred and fifty people have already been killed in Egypt; and only weeks ago a religious place in Iraq was attacked killing many innocent civilians. These are just a few stories we hear from across the globe and this all 

occurs due to the disharmony that is prevalent among different groups. One may wonder whether the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. had, was a dream that is destined to remain unfulfilled. Even today we look back at this great speech and wonder if we, as humans, have made progress towards cashing the cheque of unity in our society? As Dr. King so eloquently says, America has given the coloured people a check that has come back marked “insufficient funds.” In that difficult environment he created hope among all groups and emphasized that it was the beginning, not the end. A new hope with promise was echoed and the moment to fight for individual rights was emphasized by deep, meaningful phrases such as “it is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism, to rise from the dark to the sunlight path of racial justice, from quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood, make real the promise of democracy.”

Read More

Due to security threats government decided to implement prevention of terrorism act

[ Tuesday, 27 August 2013, 02:38.03 AM GMT +05:30 ]

SriLanka government informed UN Human Rights Commissioner Navaneetham Pillay , due to security threats government decided to implement prevention of terrorism act in the country.

During the discussions at the ministry last afternoon the Minister of Justice Rauff Hakeem informed commissioner this regard. Minister also brief on the act of protecting evident and independency to receive information’s, sources said.

Who Is Afraid Of Colombo Telegraph?

By Malinda Seneviratne -August 26, 2013 | 

Malinda Seneviratne

The news/views website, Colombo Telegraph is blocked for users from Sri Lanka.  This is not the first occasion this has happened. Colombo Telegraph is not the first website that has been blocked either.  Tamilnet, which was the voice of the LTTE was blocked years ago.  Other sites which like people to think that gossip, wish and other mischievous missives marketed as ‘news’ that the operators of the websites believe would in some way help their political project(s) have also been blocked.  Pornographic sites have been blocked too.

The blocking of websites is first and foremost silly.  Those who really want to visit such places can do so at the cost of just a few mouse-clicks.  It is therefore childish.  Now we don’t know for sure who blocked CT, but let’s assume that the Government had a hand.  If that is the case, the Government is not doing itself any favors. Indeed, it can be argued that it is detrimental to the Government to block CT or those other classes of websites referred to above.

As I argued in a piece titled ‘The staunchest friends of the regime’ that sites like Colombo Telegraph helps the regime.  It’s an old theory, true, but dissent and criticism is more containable within democratic structures and in this case such opposition gets off loaded into virtual space largely inhabited by invective-spewing hotheaded cowards who are loathe to walk the talk.

Colombo Telegraph has more uses than this dissent-offloading business. Even if you thought CT was run by nutcases with nutcases and for nutcases with narrow political objectives that are against the larger interests of the citizenry, it can be taken to be a place where the enemy shows up, shows face, spouts criticism.  Knowing the enemy by face, name and word is very useful in politics.

But CT is bigger than that.  CT gives space to a wide range of political views.  While it has its complement of regime-haters (mostly out of disappointment and rage that preferred outcome(s) did not materialize), there is enough cogent criticism to make such whiners irrelevant and even sufferable.  The benefits outweigh the negatives.                            Read More