Will Sri Lanka be called to pay for making bribery charges against Sison?

Alist of names of likely defectors who were to follow Maithripala Sirisena to the Opposition when the latter made his exit from the government has now been publicized through the social media.

Will Sri Lanka be called to pay for making bribery charges against Sison?

2014-12-10

Alist of names of likely defectors who were to follow Maithripala Sirisena to the Opposition when the latter made his exit from the government has now been publicized through the social media.

Though some made their exit others did not. Among those names was Minister Gunaratne Weerakoon. Now, the minister claims that the United States Ambassador in Colombo Michele J. Sison promised to offer him a bribe if he was to cross over to the Opposition. This allegation was made on the eve of the departure of Sison, who had completed her tenure of office here.
When Minister Weerakoon made this charge on Sison, the latter had been met by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who met her prior to her departure. Also External Affairs Minister, Prof. G.L. Peiris had met her. Both the President and the minister had expressed their gratitude to Sison for her efforts to strengthen relations between the two countries during her stay here. However, Weerakoon made that charge, while Sison was busy packing up to leave Sri Lanka. Sison left Sri Lanka last Friday. The US Embassy in Colombo issuing a statement refuted the charge made by Weerakoon stating it was baseless.

However, the statement never mentioned that there was no meeting between Sison and Weerakoon. Hence, the US Embassy had not rejected the charge outright but, had stated there was a 'misunderstanding'. It read; "They reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of our engagement with senior government officials and our policy towards Sri Lanka as well as the US political and economic system", the embassy said in response to the allegations.It indicates that there had been a meet between Sison and Weerakoon, where the activities of the government were discussed in a critical manner. However, even that position is also not clear. Therefore, Weerakoon must release the recorded version of the talks he had with Sison to clear the air. Though he claimed that he had a tape to that effect, he had not released it so far to establish the charge.
Certainly Weerakoon cannot make such a charge without the knowledge of the government. Earlier, the State-owned print media published his photograph stating that he too, was contemplating to become the common candidate.

Wikileaks cable
Similarly, during the 2010 Presidential Election, Mohamed Muzammil of Wimal Weerawansa's National Freedom Front (NFF), alleged at a press briefing that both US and Norway offered him bribes to support Sarath Fonseka. Following is the Wikileaks cable that referred to Muzammil's charge; "(Rel to UK, CAN AUS, SWITZ) On 15 January, Mohamed Muzammil, a member of Parliament from the ultra-nationalist and often anti-American National Freedom Front (NFF), accused Fonseka's campaign of offering him a 30 million rupee bribe (approximately US$ 265,000) to end his support of President Rajapaksa and join Fonseka's campaign. Muzammil further alleged that the money for the bribe had been provided to Fonseka's campaign by the US and Norwegian Governments. Post issued a statement the next day, which reaffirmed our neutral position and 'strongly condemned' allegations of support for one candidate over another. The Norwegian Embassy also issued a statement denying any interference in the election. On Monday, 18 January, Ambassador issued a statement through Post's public blog, reiterating the US Government's neutrality in the election and expanding on the importance of this election in Sri Lanka's long, democratic history. In the statement, the Ambassador called for an end to election related violence and for a free and fair election that allowed Sri Lankans to choose whichever candidate they preferred without risk of violence or intimidation".

The government did not inquire into charges made by Muzammil against the US and Norway diplomatic missions. It was used as a tool for the presidential campaign. Hence, it looks that Weerakoon's charge against Sison is also being used as a tool for the current Presidential Polls campaign by the government. The government does not realize the damage it causes to the country by making wild allegations against the United States. Sison left Sri Lanka to accept a Deputy Chair position in the United Nations to represent America. UN is the body that investigates war crimes against Sri Lanka and it has the privilege to make decisions. When Sison goes to accept such high position, the government should have tried to befriend her to get her support to defeat the war crimes move against the country. What is happening is that Sri Lanka is pushing not only Sison but, the entire United States against Sri Lanka.

In no other country allegations have been levelled against US diplomats trying to bribe politicians. Even the anti-US countries like Libya and Venezuela have not made such charges. It appears that the present government is playing with fire to win the Presidential Election.
Having got Muzammil to make charges against the US in 2010, Sri Lanka over the past few years has come under tremendous pressure from the UNHRC. The challenges hurled at Sri Lanka have not been easy to face. In the face of charges made against the US diplomat Sison, the country will be called upon pay for those charges if Mahinda wins.

Gotabaya’s Militarism And His Intention Of Entering Politics

By Rajiva Wijesinha -December 9, 2014 

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP

Enemies of the President’s Promise: Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Seven Dwarfs - Grumpy 5

I also suggested, as happened in Pakistan, the establishment of ordinary schools by the military, or taking over the management of existing schools in areas where the military had a presence. This had been essential in Pakistan, where the public education system had been inadequate in rural areas where there were military cantonments. The army had therefore begun schools to cater to the children of military personnel, and these were then opened to the public too for a fee.

Sri Lanka however, having had a good public education system, had not initially needed such establishments while, the country being small, military personnel had not generally had their families with them when they were stationed away from Colombo, since regular visits were possible. But while coordinating on behalf of Sabaragamuwa University the degree programme at the Sri Lanka Military Academy in Diyatalawa, I had noticed how much more content were the officers whose wives and children were with them. This was possible only when the children were very young, since later on it was thought essential that they be admitted to good schools in Colombo, given the inadequacies of rural schools. But it struck me then that the SLMA could easily take charge of one or two local schools in Diyatalawa, something I had indeed suggested for Sabaragamuwa University and the local school in Belihuloya, since I saw how my academic colleagues suffered from having to send their children to schools in bigger towns.

Gotabaya

Given the commitment of the more sophisticated parents who would now be sending their children to the local school, the standard of education there would improve, to the benefit too of the local children. And the managing institution would make sure that essential subjects, such as English and Mathematics and Science, which were grossly neglected in many rural schools, would be properly taught.

The Ministry of Defence had indeed taken over one school after the war, but this was in Colombo. But my suggestion as to this and other initiatives was not taken up, with Gotabaya laconically telling me that he would have to face even more criticism with regard to what was described as militarism. Later however, after a paper I produced for a Defence Seminar, he told me to go ahead, but I explained that I could do nothing, it was theKotelawala Defence University and other military bodies that had to take the lead – though the KDU, given its civilian agenda, was uniquely positioned to move in this matter without criticism..Read More

Media suppression increase – Police inaction worrying

 Tuesday, 09 December 2014 

CaFFE is deeply concerned about the increasing media suppression as presidential election draws near and the police inaction regarding those who violate election laws.
 Editor of Ravaya newspaper KW Janaranjana has been summoned to the CID, for publishing an article regarding a intelligence report on the coming presidential election. The headline of the November 30, 2014 of Ravaya was 'Intelligence boss who predicted 59% for Maithri and 41% for Mahinda sacked'. CID has summoned Janaranjana for tarnishing the image of DIG Chandra Wakishta, head of the state intelligence unit. The newspaper and its editor is an active member of Citizens Power organization and the newspaper has been fighting corruption for decades. Meanwhile Janaranjana  is a vocal advocate for many social issues and CaFFE considers this a direct attempt to supress the media near the election. Although Janaranjana  was summoned, authorities have not denied the Ravaya news item.

Meanwhile there is a police investigation on Derana News Director Shehan Baranage  regarding a phone call which 'inconvenienced' Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage on Derana 'Wada Pitiya' programme. UPFA left the programme stating that there is a bias against them and are not sending representatives to political talk shows on Sirasa TV.

Police inaction
 CaFFE has been dismayed by the lukewarm attitude taken by the police in apprehending those who violate election law violations. According to our knowledge only the UPFA Ududumbara Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman was arrested by police for an election related violent incident. He was arrested for allegedly assaulting a group of Opposition activists and destroying the propaganda materials in support of Common Opposition Presidential Candidate Maithripala Sirisena on December 06.

Meanwhile Mr. Maspotha Nilan Indika has lodged a complaint stating that Kurunegala PS member Vithanage Rohana threatened him. He was threatened when he visited  a person who was assaulted at Rathkarawwa and was undergoing treatment at Kurunegala hospital. However police claim that the incident is not politically motivated.

Political Culture Of Sri Lanka

| by Helasingha Bandara

( December 9, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) This is election time. Seeing what is happening, hearing what is being said, recognizing who comes to the fore, it is inevitable that our attention is drawn to the concept of South Asian political culture. Some highlights may shed light on the direction this article is taking. The other day someone took about ten minutes to remove the garlands from around the neck of Maithreepala. Maithreepala claimed that he will continue to call Chandrika, a Madam and Ranil, a Sir. Starting from Polonnaruwa, huge rallies are being organized and massive crowds flocking to hear politicians. 

Political Culture of Sri Lanka by Thavam Ratna

Lets March From Victory to Victory by Ousting the Dictatorial Executive President in Power !

by H.A. Seneviratne –09/12/2014 

The people’s march in Sri Lanka to defeat the executive presidential dictatorship is numerically and energetically increasing daily. This is the inevitable outcome of unending mass suffering due to famines, tortures, threats and killings under an individual petty-bourgeois neo-feudal dictatorship linked up with corruption, family bandism and nepotism.

In the context of the country being on the threshold of a people’s uprising, the bondage of political opportunism between the parties that supported the executive presidential dictatorship has also begun to split away. Even the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) – the main body of the ruling coalition – who was also the Secretary of the ruling coalition called the United People’s Front Alliance (UPFA) and Health Minister, Maithripala Sirisena, joined the parliamentary opposition led by the United National Party (UNP) and became the common opposition candidate to contest the upcoming executive presidential election.

This situation has become absolutely and clearly disastrous for Mahinda Rajapakse – the present holder of the dictatorial post of executive presidency – who has declared himself as the SLFP candidate for the post at its forthcoming election also fixed by him to be held on January 08, 2015, the birthday of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike who formed the SLFP after leaving, in 1951, the UNP government under the country’s 1st prime minister D.S. Senanayake.

It has become more disastrous for Mahinda Rajapakse, because the executive president who preceded him: namely: Chandrika Bandaranaike, is opposed to him, being the daughter of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike – the prime minister of the 1st SLFP government formed in 1956 and of Sirimavo Bandaranaike who was the prime minister of the SLFP government formed in 1970 and the prime minister under Chandrika’s executive presidency in 2005 – has joined the parliamentary opposition along with Maithripala Sirisena.

The prospective findings of the United Nations Human Rights Commission – almost due to be released before the date of the executive presidential election – regarding war crimes will be the only sympathetic reason to be addressed by Mahinda Rajapakse to be re-elected as executive president. But it will not be a reason for the people to forget the harassment they are facing even 5 years after the defeat of the LTTE.

In that situation, there could even be a cancellation of the executive presidential election on grounds of increasing deadly clashes between supporters of the candidates for the presidency, which are of course created by supporters of the political power-holders. Such a cancellation of the presidential election can “constitutionally” allow the sitting executive president to stay for 2 more years, that is until the end of the 6th year after taking his oath in the year 2010.

On the other hand, there could also be a situation where 51% of the votes cast is not obtained by any of the candidates, mainly due to the fact that a number of candidates supporting the present executive president are contesting for such a non-achievement purpose. In that situation too the present executive president can continue to be in office until 2016.
But Sri Lanka has now reached a turning point in its political history. It is the beginning of the end of not only the Rajapakse regime but of any capitalist dictatorship under one man or woman with his or her family members.

Casting votes for the common candidate of the parliamentary opposition, Maithripala Sirisena, should be only the first direct step of the people to oust the present dictatorial regime. But the struggle for freedom has to continue.

The struggle for freedom has already begun in many parts of the country, against various injustices committed by the present dictatorial regime.

In that situation, even some good-hearted members of the clergies of all religions – led by well-known leaders of the Buddhist clergy – have joined the struggle.

The left opportunist parties have failed to find even an alternative leader of opportunism to oppose the presidential candidate of the joint parliamentary opposition.

In the present political situation of people’s disgust for executive presidency, the common presidential candidate of the joint parliamentary opposition, Maithripala Sirisena, had no alternative but to declare – along with the parliamentary opposition leader Ranil Wichremasinghe – that the executive presidency will be abolished within 100 days of his being elected as the executive president and form a united front government with Ranil Wickremasinghe as prime minister, and thereafter hold a parliamentary election to restore democracy.

Undoubtedly, it is an attempt to restore bourgeois democracy. But it will be the first victory for the people of Sri Lanka who will become a section of the oppressed people of the entire world in the context of a 3rd World War situation that has already begun to emerge.

The people of Sri Lanka must gain their first victory by ousting the dictatorial executive president in power and proceed from victory to victory!

WORKERS’ SOLIDARITY ORGANIZATION
H.A. Seneviratne

General Secretary 

WikiLeaks: Maithripala Sirisena Is A Rustic-Style Politician, Popular In Rural Areas – US

December 9, 2014 

“Maithripala Sirisena, 53, is the new Minister of River Basin Development and Rajarata (North-Central Province) Development. He first entered Parliament in 1989. He holds a diploma in agriculture and is currently the secretary of the SLFP. Sirisena was the deputy minister of irrigation in the previous PA government and served as minister of Mahaweli (river basin) development from 2000-2001. As a “rustic”-style politician, he is popular in rural areas of the country. He is a Sinhalese Buddhist and is married.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The classified diplomatic cable details the biographic data on Sri Lanka’s new cabinet was sworn in on April 10, 2004. The “Confidential” is cable signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey J. Lunstead on April 15, 2004.

CBK speaks of Mahinda’s phobia

 Tuesday, 09 December 2014 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is suffering from a serious “Bandaranaike phobia,” former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge says.

Kumaratunge told the media that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is now losing his temper even when he hears the “Bandaranaike” name.

However, the former President said she is unable to do anything to cure this disease.

Kumaratunge made this comment in response to the President’s statement last week that his real opponent was the former President and not the common candidate Maithripala Sirisena.

Senate report on CIA torture claims spy agency lied about 'ineffective' program

Report released by Senate after four-year, $40m investigation concludes CIA repeatedly lied about brutal techniques in years after 9/11

• CIA torture report released – follow live reaction
• The key methods used in the CIA’s torture of detainees
• Stop believing the lies: America tortured more than ‘some folks’

CIA headquarters in McLean, Virginia. The majority of the 6,000-page classified torture report remains classified. Photograph: Larry Downing/Reuters

Spencer Ackerman and Dominic Rushe in New York, and Julian Borger in London-Tuesday 9 December 2014

The full extent of the CIA’s interrogation and detention programmes launched in the wake of the September 11 terror attack was laid bare in a milestone report by the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday that concluded the agency’s use of torture was brutal and ineffective – and that the CIA repeatedly lied about its usefulness.

Senate Report on CIA Torture Claims Spy Agency Lied About 'Ineffective' Program by Thavam Ratna

Senate report on CIA program details brutality, dishonesty

By Greg Miller, Adam Goldman and Julie Tate December 9 at 1:35 PM

An exhaustive, five-year Senate investigation of the CIA’s secret interrogations of terrorism suspects renders a strikingly bleak verdict of a program launched in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, describing levels of brutality, dishonesty and seemingly arbitrary violence that at times brought even agency employees to moments of anguish.
Senate Report on CIA Program Details Brutality, Dishonesty by Thavam Ratna

The Problem With the Torture Report

$40 million, 6,000 pages, and 5 years in the making, the investigation into CIA enhanced interrogation is still full of holes.

BY MICAH ZENKD-DECEMBER 8, 2014

Two years after a 9-6 bipartisan vote, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) will reportedly finally release a declassified executive summary (of between 480 and 600 pages) of the committee’s report (itself over 6,000 pages long) into the CIA’s post-9/11 detention and interrogation program. Despite the best efforts of news organizations, the SSCI’s report has not been leaked, although, in April, McClatchy did reportthat it contains 20 main conclusions, among them that the CIA used methods not approved by the Justice Department, and that the agency impeded congressional oversight of the program. SSCI member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has claimed that the report shows “mistakes, misdeeds and falsehoods that were repeated over a period of years,” while minority chair Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) has termed the entire investigation a “mistake.”

The Problem With the Torture Report by Thavam Ratna

Ukraine accuses rebels of violating 'Day of Silence'; Russian gas flows resume

 Pro-Russian separatists ride on a tank at the town of Khartsyzk, east of Donetsk, December 7, 2014. 
CREDIT: REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV

Pro-Russian separatists take pictures of a hole caused by recent shelling at the Azotny district in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, December 5, 2014. 

BY RICHARD BALMFORTH AND PAVEL POLITYUK-Wed Dec 10, 2014

(Reuters) - Ukraine's military accused separatists of violating an agreed "Day of Silence" in the country's embattled east on Tuesday, an initiative that was seen as an attempt to forge a durable ceasefire paving the way to a new round of peace talks.

In a step towards normalisation, Russia resumed shipments of natural gas to Ukraine on Tuesday after a six-month shut-off caused by a dispute over price and debt that ran parallel to the war waged by pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Government forces said they had suspended combat operations from 10 a.m. on Tuesday and separatists said that the ceasefire was, for the moment, holding.

But as night fell, Kiev's military said troops had recorded 13 violations by rebels shelling Ukrainian positions, highlighting two artillery attacks on the airport of rebel-held Donetsk. It did not say if any soldiers had been killed.

"Not having any idea of observing the agreements, the rebels employed light weapons, mortars and artillery, armoured tanks in residential areas," the press service for Kiev's military operation in the east said in a post on Facebook.

The Ukrainians saw the Day of Silence as a litmus test of the Moscow-backed separatists' readiness to reinforce a September truce that has been regularly breached, with almost daily deaths among government forces, rebels and civilians.

Fighting in the past few weeks has been intense around the international airport in Donetsk, the separatists' main urban stronghold. The rebels are trying to wrest the ruins of the airport from government control.

It had been hoped that the truce could improve prospects of a new round of peace talks in the Belarussian capital Minsk involving Russia, Ukraine and the separatists under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Talks by that "contact group" in Minsk in early September led to a 12-point blueprint for peace, including a ceasefire.

Since then, however, separatists have defied Kiev by holding elections for officials. Ukraine accuses Russia of sending more troops and weapons to aid the rebels.

"We have declared a Day of Silence three times in the past. This is the fourth time. One hundred and ninety-two people have been killed since Sept. 5," army chief of staff Viktor Muzhenko told journalists in Kiev.

Moscow, which denies its troops are fighting in Ukraine although scores of them have died there, says Kiev has violated the Minsk deal by continuing to fight.

Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz urged the European Union to prepare to impose a third round of economic sanctions on Russia if the Minsk agreement is not fulfilled.

In Donetsk, rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko said he had ordered his forces to cease firing from 10 a.m. and only to respond if attacked. "The ceasefire for the moment is being observed," he said.

The United Nations says more than 4,300 people have been killed in eight months of conflict that began after a Russian-backed president was ousted by street protests in February.

Russia has annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and given support to separatists in the east, driving relations between Moscow and the West to the lowest point since the Cold War.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that a meeting of the contact group was planned in coming days but said an easing of tensions in eastern Ukraine remained "a long way off".

INDEPENDENCE IN ENERGY

The restoration of flows of gas from Russia, after an upfront $378 million payment by Kiev for supplies this month, brings temporary relief to a national power grid short of coal and under further pressure from sudden freezing temperatures.

It also suits Moscow, which wants an uninterrupted flow of gas over Ukraine to supply its European customers in winter.

But a temporary resolution to their gas dispute does little to resolve the separatist war. Ukrainians have accused Moscow of seeking to impose a "frozen conflict" that could keep eastern provinces beyond Kiev's control indefinitely. Moscow and the rebels now call eastern Ukraine "New Russia".

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said in a speech on Tuesday that the former Soviet republic's sovereignty hinged on achieving "independence in energy".

In comments likely to be seized on by Moscow to justify Russian policy, he also said Ukraine would act to scrap its neutral "non-bloc status", introduced by ousted president Viktor Yanukovich, and do more to bring its army up to NATO standards. An IMF mission arrived in Kiev to start a fresh round of talks with Yatseniuk's government linked to a $17 billion loan package that may have to be ramped up due to the financial toll the separatist crisis has taken.

State coffers are at their barest in 10 years and Ukraine needs extra cash to service its debt and make gas payments at a time when the economy is contracting and the hryvnia currency hovers close to historic lows.

(Additional reporting by Alessandra Prentice in Kiev, Serhiy Kirichenko in Donetsk and Thomas Grove in Moscow; Writing by Richard Balmforth; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Is the US overseeing torture in Somalia? - video

TUESDAY 09 DECEMBER 2014
An exclusive report on allegations the CIA has been working closely with Somali forces in the interrogation and torture of suspected al-Shabaab members - the militant group linked to al-Qaeda.

PH rebels rebels own up ambush where civilians are killed

By Edwin Espejo Dec 10, 2014

PHILIPPINES – The spokesman of the National Democratic Front (NDF) in Mindanao on Tuesday admitted responsibility over the death of 4 civilians and wounding of 4 others which included an 8-year old girl in an ambush staged by its military wing, the New People’s Army.

“It is most unfortunate that a number of civilians have figured unintendedly in an ambush carried out by a unit of the New People’s Army (NPA) – NEMR in Rosario, Agusan del Sur against a notorious armed barangay captain, together with his escorts, a cadreman and CAFGU members,” NDF Mindanao spokesman Jorge Madlos alias Ka Oris.

The NDF is the political umbrella of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA.

File photo of NPA regulars in northern Mindanao.Pic by Edwin Espejo

On November 30, an ambulance carrying Barangay Chairman Emillio Solidor Jr of Marfil, Loreto in Agusan del Sur was ambushed by the NPAs while it was on its way home after attending a thanksgiving celebration of the Wayside Bible Baptist church.

Dead on the spot were Neljoy Cerna, 27, Noni Mabong, 51, Alfredo Cerna, 51, and Vanessa Sabas, 30.

The wounded were identified as Liza Casilla, 47, Elmer Adonis, 37, Mae Roselyn Adonis, 8, and Solidor Jr, 49.

Ka Oris said the NPAs will indemnify the victims gut at the same time reiterated its strict “adherence to the signed documents between the GPH and the NDFP, particularly the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law, or CARHRIHL.”

Ka Maria Malaya, believed to be the wife of Ka Oris and NDF spokesman of the Northern Eastern Mindanao Region, said the target of the NPA ambush were cadre man Sgt. Derion Mordeno and CAFGU/CAA Expedito Sabado, Elmer Adonis, Lalang Anstral, Minggoy Serna and one only known as Arong.

“Gihimo nga private service ni Brgy. Capt. Solidor, uban sa mga armadong CAFGU, ang ambulansya sa barangay, imbis nga alang sa mga pasyente,” Ka Maria further explained.(Brgy Capt Solidor, together with the armed CAFGUs, has been using the ambulance as private service instead of the use of patients)

“Alang sa mga pamilyang hingtungdan ug sa publiko, balikon namo, dili tinuyo nga maong panghitabo. Ug kay nasayop man ang mga Kauban, responsibilidad sa rebolusyonaryong organisasyon ang pagpahiluna sa danyos nga nahimo ngadto sa mga sibilyan,” she further stated.(To the families and the people, we reiterate that the death of civilians was unintentional. Because our comrades erred, it is our responsibility to indemnify the civilians who were killed and wounded.)

Ka Maria however also insisted said that Solidor and the Sgt. Derion Mordeno and the CAFGU/CAA who used the ambulance were legitimate targets.

She said their intelligence information was accurate but the command of the NPA unit failed to gather the fact that the ambulance picked up some civilians along the way to the ambush site.

The military has condemned the ambush claiming it is a clear act of human rights abuse.

Today is the 64th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human rights Day.