Destroying Homes for Kurdistan

Diplomats and human rights workers claim that America’s closest ally in Iraq is engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing designed to push Arabs out of the future Kurdish state.

BY SARA ELIZABETH WILLIAMS-JULY 23, 2015

ERBIL, Iraq — War is an ugly business, but in some northern villages scattered near the front line between Kurdish fighters and the jihadis of the Islamic State, there is growing evidence of a far uglier crime perpetrated by America’s closest allies in Iraq. For months, humanitarians working in areas wrested back from the Islamic State have quietly documented a pattern of Sunni Arabs, who were displaced during the jihadis’ advance, being denied the right to return home.

Destroying Homes for Kurdistan by Thavam Ratna

Arab World And The Remaking Of Global Politics

By Mahboob A. Khawaja
22 July, 2015

Towards Understanding the Political Problems

And here is the dilemma we face as a civilization. We march collectively toward self-annihilation. Corporate capitalism, if left unchecked, will kill us. Yet we refuse, because we cannot think and no longer listen to those who do think, to see what is about to happen to us. We have created entertaining mechanisms to obscure and silence the harsh truths, from climate change to the collapse of globalization to our enslavement to corporate power that will mean our self-destruction. If we can do nothing else we must, even as individuals nurture the private dialogue and the solitude that make thought possible. It is better to be an outcast, a stranger in one’s own country, than an outcast from one’s self. It is better to see what is about to befall us and to resist than to retreat into the fantasies embraced by a nation of the blind.

Arab World and the Remaking of Global Politics by Thavam Ratna

Economics increasingly shaping international politics 

Obama (R) and Cuban President Raul Castro

July 22, 2015

It should be plain to see that Western governments would have to brace for aggravating law and order issues in the wake of these social disruptions. Western governments have a lot of thinking to do on the question of managing identity conflicts within their national boundaries, particularly in the context of the current NATO-led bombing campaign against the IS and like organizations.

Are economics increasingly shaping international politics? The student and observer of international politics and economics would, perhaps, be compelled to broach this seemingly contentious issue on hearing of two very significant current developments on the international scene. They are, the reestablishment of diplomatic ties between the US and Cuba, which only a couple of months ago seemed to be an impossible proposition, and the clinching of an agreement between the US and Iran on the latter’s complex nuclear power-linked questions.

Economic globalization manifests the paradoxical features of being a unifier and leveler as well as a divider. It has this strong tendency of uniting countries which are geographically dispersed as well as ideologically distant, on the basis of economic considerations; the BRISCS being a case in point. On the other hand, the same economic current has spurred a plethora of identity conflicts globally, on account of its culturally divisive impact. Even as this is being written, South West Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa are witnessing seemingly endemic violent conflicts generated by identity issues in the form of IS and Al-qaeda-inspired militancy, for instance.

However, the religion-based violence mentioned, has begun to exercise a socially destabilizing impact on Western societies, in that it is increasingly bringing to the public stage vociferously vocal white right wing groups and other political formations which draw their ideological sustenance from staunch opposition to the presence of ‘foreigners’ and immigrants. Such organizations are currently taking to the streets of Melbourne and Sydney in Australia in a show of disconcerting force, although it is quite some time since white supremacist organizations and allied right wing forces marked their presence on the Western political scene. Since the explosive onset of religion-based violence in Asia and Africa, however, the activities of these right wing groups have been on the upswing.

It should be plain to see that Western governments would have to brace for aggravating law and order issues in the wake of these social disruptions. Western governments have a lot of thinking to do on the question of managing identity conflicts within their national boundaries, particularly in the context of the current NATO-led bombing campaign against the IS and like organizations.

It goes without saying, though, that economic globalization and issues growing out of it are prompting ground-breaking international political developments. What could have spurred the US and Cuba to bury their decades-long ideological stand-off and diplomatic estrangement than economic considerations in the main? The need for closer economic interaction between the countries has been recognized by both states on the basis of common material interests. For instance, they could both do with inter-country stepped-up trade and investment. The US is being seen in some quarters as ‘an economic engine’ which could help in stepping-up Cuba’s economic growth.

The same is true of the US’ ties with Viet Nam. It was relatively recently that the states concerned decided to downplay their differences, born of Cold War politics, and chose to relate more closely on the economic plane. Clearly, economics are taking precedence over politics.

Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is on record that his country’s policy on the ‘arrogant’ US would not change despite the West and Iran clinching a deal on the Iranian nuclear capability question but it is clear that under President Hassan Rouhani the Iranian policy on the West in general and the US in particular would be relatively reconciliatory and based more on a clear conception of Iran’s national interest. Accordingly, since Iran was affected considerably over the years by the nuclear issue linked economic sanctions, Iran would have perceived it to be in its interests to clinch a deal with the West on the nuclear issue and be free of the sanctions. Once again, economics have come to the fore.

For those recent generations which are not too acquainted with Cold War politics and their compulsions, the foregoing comments on the primacy of economics may not seem to be particularly thought-provoking. This could be attributable to the fact that though wide-ranging and intensifying economic liberalization and globalization are part of everyday life at present, it was not so in the decades immediately after World War Two.

It is relevant to note that for those generations which lived through the latter half of the Cold War decades, current US-Iran relations present a considerable and substantive change from the past. During the Cold War years, the ideological rivalry between West and East shaped world politics considerably and past Iran-US ties were not free of these compulsions. But today, economic forces primarily shape developments in international politics and it could be argued that the bases on which international politics devolve have undergone a marked change. Accordingly, yesterday’s enemies could be today’s allies.

Looked at from a historical perspective, the year of particular importance in US-Iran ties is 1979 – the year the Islamic Revolution occurred in Iran. This was also the year when the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan took place, marking a new low in US-Soviet relations. Since the Shah of Iran, who was in power at the time of the Islamic Revolution and was a main target of the uprising, was firmly backed by the US, the Islamic government which took power in 1979, pursued an anti-US policy in the decades after the Revolution. Needless to say, the Iranian Islamic Revolution played a lead role in inspiring resurgent Islamism the world over.

However, there is no escaping the inference on surveying the more noteworthy changes in world politics today, that it is economic necessity that has the greater impact on international relations than ideological and connected compulsions of a political nature. Iran and Cuba are by no means compromising their sovereignty and integrity by choosing to deal with the West in a more accommodative way, but are perceiving the virtues of adopting a relatively pragmatic foreign policy to secure their national interests. It is the latter that are uncompromisable. The well being of publics has to take precedence over other considerations for states.

Late-night laughs: Donald Trump does it again edition

July 23, 2015 3:56 PM EDT - Presidential candidate Donald Trump took swipes at fellow Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham this week. And late-night comics couldn't get enough of it. Here's a roundup of some of the best jabs at "The Donald." (Gillian Brockell / The Washington Post)

Litvinenko inquiry told Dmitry Kovtun planned to lure him to 'finish him off'

Witness known as D3, a friend of alleged killer, gives evidence at inquiry into polonium-poisoning death of spy

 

The last photo taken of poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko alive. D3 told the inquiry Dmitry Kovtun hinted he would be well rewarded for carrying out his mission. Photograph: Litvinenko Inquiry/PA

Luke Harding-Friday 24 July 2015 14

The inquiry into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko has heard dramatic evidence from a friend of one of the alleged killers, Dmitry Kovtun, who said Kovtun told him he was going to “lure” Litvinenko to an interview in order to “finish him off”.

The witness, known as D3, met Kovtun in Hamburg on 30 October 2006. Two days later Litvinenko met Kovtun and a second Russian, Andrei Lugovoi, in the Millennium hotel in London. Both are accused of poisoning Litvinenko by putting radioactive polonium-210 into his green tea.

According to D3, whose testimony was heard at the public inquiry into the murder of Alexander Litvinenko on Friday, Kovtun confessed to his role in the murder plot after a meal at a Hamburg restaurant, when they were both strolling together in the street. He and Kovtun had been friends since the late 1990s, and had worked together as waiters at Il Porto, an Italian restaurant in the city’s harbour. 

D3 told German police that out of the blue Kovtun mentioned Litvinenko’s name, and told him: “Litvinenko is a traitor. He has blood on his hands. He does deals with Chechens.” Kovtun also called Litvinenko “a pig”. Kovtun then told D3 he was carrying “a very expensive poison” and that he needed a cook to put the poison into Litvinenko’s food and drink.

The witness – whose testimony was read out to the closing stages of the inquiry on Friday – said he knew a cook, C2, who had worked with them in Il Porto and had since moved to London. D3 pointed out that C2 was married and suggested humorously it might be simpler to shoot Litvinenko instead.

Kovtun then allegedly replied: “It’s meant to set an example.” 

Kovtun also said that Litvinenko was well protected and that his intention was “to lure him to an interview” in London in order to poison him. He said the poison cost an “incredibly high sum” of money. According to D3 Kovtun hinted he would be well rewarded for carrying out his mission and said “he would soon have his own flat in Moscow”.

D3 said he thought Kovtun’s story was crazy. He suggested Kovtun try to find a job instead. The two then met up again with another friend, D5, in a Hamburg casino who had been with them earlier. Asked subsequently by German police if Kovtun might have been joking, D3 said: “He spoke as he always did. It sounded like one of his attempts to do something. I didn’t take it seriously.”

It was two weeks later that D3 read in German newspapers of Litvinenko’s poisoning, and that Kovtun was a suspect in the killing. After the conversation Kovtun had stayed at D3’s flat in Hamburg and shared his large bed, before flying to London early the next morning. The bed – together with Kovtun’s ex-wife’s home, where he also stayed – were heavily contaminated with polonium.

After the murder, and finding himself involved in an international scandal, D3 said he felt frightened, confused and afraid. He failed to mention his conversation with Kovtun during his first interview with German police, who found extensive radiation in his Hamburg flat. “I hoped the police would resolve this case alone,” he said.

During a second interview, however, D3 told detectives what Kovtun had revealed. Asked why he delayed, he said: “This awful feeling became so great. I had to get it off my chest. I could not go on.”

He added: “I curse him [Kovtun] every day, because of the whole story, because of the conversation and the other persons he also presumably contaminated, perhaps also because of the mattress [where polonium was found].” The affair left him uncertain and edgy, he said.

D3 added that Kovtun called him from Moscow once the story broke and insisted that he was innocent and had been “marked” by somebody else. D3 said he told Kovtun he was “an arsehole” for having dragged his ex-wife Marina and her child into this awful case, adding that if he were really innocent he had nothing to worry about.

German police initially did not believe D3’s testimony. They believed it to be contradictory, the inquiry heard. Giving evidence, DI Craig Mascall, however, said that Scotland Yard’s investigations in 2010 had shown his evidence to be true. Phone logs corroborated D3’s statements to police, Mascall said.

Hours after arriving in London, Kovtun used Lugovoi’s mobile to phone C2, the cook he had been trying to track down while in Hamburg. C2 was busy. Kovtun and Lugovoi allegedly administered the poison themselves, putting it in Litvinenko’s teapot.

The inquiry continues.

World's first malaria vaccine gets regulatory go-ahead, faces WHO review

The world's first malaria vaccine got a green light on Friday from European drugs regulators who recommended it as safe and effective to use in babies in Africa at risk of the mosquito-borne disease.

Worker Solomon Conteh dissects a mosquito at Sanaria Inc. facility in Rockville, Maryland, October 26, 2007.-REUTERS/JIM YOUNG/FILES

 BY KATE KELLAND-Fri Jul 24, 2015 

The world's first malaria vaccine got a green light on Friday from European drugs regulators who recommended it as safe and effective to use in babies in Africa at risk of the mosquito-borne disease. 

The shot, called Mosquirix and developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, would be the first licensed human vaccine against a parasitic disease and could help to prevent millions of cases of the killer disease in countries that use it.

It still faces hurdles before being rolled out in Africa, including winning agreement from governments and other funders that it is worth using, since it offers only partial protection.

Mosquirix, also known as RTS,S and part-funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will now be assessed by the World Health Organization (WHO), which said on Friday it would begin a review in October on when and where it could be used. The WHO aims to make a recommendation by November.

"We will look at the vaccine from the point of view of public health," said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl. "We need to think closely about how best to add - and if to add - a malaria vaccine across certain malaria endemic areas."

Malaria is one of the biggest killers of children in the world, claiming the life of one child every minute. It infects around 200 million people a year and killed an estimated 584,000 people in 2013, the vast majority of them babies in sub-Saharan Africa.

Andrew Witty, GSK's chief executive, said the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) positive opinion was an important step towards making the world's first malaria vaccine available.

"While RTS,S on its own is not the complete answer to malaria, its use alongside those interventions ... such as bed nets and insecticides would provide a very meaningful contribution to controlling the impact of malaria on children in those African communities that need it the most," he said.

Mosquirix was assessed for quality, safety and efficacy under a special procedure that allows the EMA to evaluate a product even if it will not be marketed in the European Union.

Beyond the WHO's November recommendation, Mosquirix would still have to be reviewed by national regulatory authorities in any country wishing to use it. The WHO's Hartl said this meant it is unlikely to be rolled out anywhere until at least 2017.

Global health experts have long hoped scientists would be able to develop an effective malaria vaccine, and researchers at GSK have been working on RTS,S for 30 years. The shot also contains an adjuvant, or booster, made by U.S. biotech company Agenus.

Expectations that Mosquirix could be a final answer to wiping out malaria were dampened when trial data released in 2011 and 2012 showed it reduced episodes of malaria in babies aged 6-12 weeks by only 27 percent, and by around 46 percent in children aged 5-17 months.

The EMA recommendation is that the shot should nevertheless be used in babies in the full age range covered in the trials, from six weeks to 17 months.

Some malaria specialists have expressed concern that the complexities and potential costs of deploying this first vaccine when it provides only partial protection make it less attractive and more risky.

"The timing, duration, and outcomes of some of the critical steps to possible vaccine implementation in African countries are not yet known," said David Kaslow, PATH's vice president of product development.

However Joe Cohen, a GSK scientist who has led the development of Mosquirix since 1987, said on he had no doubt the vaccine could significantly reduce the toll of sickness and death caused by the malaria among African children.

"I have absolutely no reservations in terms of rolling this vaccine out," he told Reuters. "Why? Because the efficacy, when translated into cases averted and deaths averted, is just tremendous. It will have an enormously significant public health impact."

GSK has promised it will make no profit from Mosquirix, pricing it at the cost of manufacture plus a 5 percent margin, which it will reinvest in research on malaria and other neglected tropical diseases.

Sources involved in planning for Mosquirix's potential future use have told Reuters they've been advised to work with a price tag of around $5 per dose, which would bring the cost of a recommended four-dose immunisation to $20.

(Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler in London and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, editing by Alison Williams and David Stamp)

3 Ingredients That Cure Clogged Arteries,Fat In The Blood And Infections(Old German Recipe!) 

Healthy Life VisionInteresting things to see about making your life healthier

by admin · July 9, 2015

If you are trying to find some solution that will deal with many problems in your body like infection, cold or even cardiovascular ailment, and keep your health in good condition, you should prepare a mixture of the following three powerful ingredients. This mixture will solve your health problems very effectively.

You should know that by combining some super-foods together, you will get the extra benefits that the combination will provide you, compared to consuming them alone.

The following recipe is an old German recipe that will make your overall health better. You will need only three ingredients: garlic, lemon and ginger.

The garlic has powerful antiseptic, antiviral and antibacterial properties. It is considered as one of the healthiest foods in the world. The allicin is the most important compound in the garlic, and its beneficial properties are mostly because of this ingredient. Garlic also includes: manganese, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6 and fiber.

The ginger is a great antioxidant. The ginger includes some anti-inflammatory ingredients such as: gingerols, beta-carotene, capsaicin, caffeic acid, curcumin and salicylate. It is helpful for inflammation, sickness, pain and digestive problems.

The lemon is very rich source of vitamin C. It has alkaline effect on our body, strengthens our immune system, normalizes our pH value and keeps us safe from diseases.

Dosage of the ingredients to prepare the recipe:

• 2 litters/ 67.6 oz of filtered water
• 4 unpeeled lemons
• 4 garlic bulbs
• 4 cm/1.5 inches long ginger root
• 
  

Preparation:

1. Wash the lemons well and slice them. Then clean the garlic cloves and peel the ginger root.
2. Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend them well until you have homogenous mixture.
3. 
   
4. Place the mixture in a pot on a heated hot plate, and add the water. Mix it continually until it starts to boil. Remove it from the heat and leave it to cool down.
5. Strain the mixture and then pour the liquid in a glass bottles.
6. Keep the liquid in the fridge.
7. 
   

Directions:

Consume one glass of the drink every morning on an empty stomach. You can also consume it two hours before going in bed, on an empty stomach.

If you think that you couldn’t bare the garlic and its smell, don’t worry, you will not even feel its taste because of the cooking process and because of the strong taste of lemon and ginger.

Don’t forget to shake the drink well before drinking, because the ginger will probably stay on the bottom of the bottle. Enjoy in this powerful and beneficial mixture!

Source : www.healthfoodsolution.com

Black July 1983 remembered

Sinhala rioters celebrate as they pause in the destruction of homes and businesses in Tamil sectors of Colombo

Tamil man stripped naked by Sinhala rioters. Photograph Chandragupta Amarasinghe 23 July 2015 Today Eelam Tamils around the world mark thirty-two years from the horrors of the anti-Tamil pogrom of 1983, when Tamils were killed by Sinhala mobs backed by the then UNP government and state forces. Armed with electoral rolls, Sinhala mobs targeted Tamil homes and businesses looting and ransacking property. Driven from their homes, particularly in Colombo, over 3000 Tamils were massacred, whilst thousands more were effectively deported by the state to the North-East.

Black July 1983 Remembered by Thavam Ratna

Lankans are record holders

Thursday, 23 July 2015

Mahinda Rajapaksa is no-2

President Mahinda Rajapaksa "and his family at large" had stashed away US $ 18 billion abroad.  

Rajapaksa and family are number 2 among Heads of State and Government who had stashed away billions abroad according to a list prepared by Transparency International (TI) Germany.

As per the TI list, President Mohd..Suharto of Indonesia had siphoned off US$ 15 to 35 billion;

1. 1. President Ferdinand Marcos of Philippines, US$ 5 bn to10 bn;
   2.     President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, US$ 5 bn;
   3.     President Sani Abacha of Nigeria, US$ 2 to 5 bn;
   4.     President Slobodan Milosovic, US$ 1 bn;
   5.     President Jean Claude Duvalier of Haiti, US$ 300 million to 800 m;
   6.     President Alberto Fujimori of Peru, US $ 600 million;
   7.     President Paslo Lazarenco of Ukraine, US$ 114 m to 200 Million;
   8.     President Amoldo Alamain of Nicaragua,US $ 100 m;
   9.     President of Philippines Joseph Estrada, US$ 78 m to 80 million.
    
   MiG Deal: Rajapaksas Paid US$ 10 Million To A Ghost Company: “No Company Called Bellimissa" – Interpol Confirmed

Interpol Headquarters confirmed that there was no company called Bellimissa Holdings Limited in United Kingdom.

When the MiG deal fell into media spotlight in December 2006, it was highlighted that so-called government-government deal involved payment to a mysterious third party, Bellimissa Holdings, UK.

Bellimissa was in fact a ghost company that did not exist in any form in the UK.

Even London address it had provided to the Defence Ministry was false.

Confirming the media reports, last week, the Interpol Headquarters has reported to the the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) that there was no company called Bellimissa Holdings Limited in the UK.

The controversial MiG 27 deal was first revealed by Sunday Times Defence Correspondent and Senior Journalist Iqbal Athas in December 2006 and further exposed in The Sunday Leader then edited by murdered Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge.

It was revealed in the front page report of The Sunday Times dated 03.12.2006 that four MiG 27s purchased in 2006 had been on the market for several years.

They had lain in disuse since 1991 and were repaired by Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant before being sold to Sri Lanka.

In fact, in 2000, three of these planes had been rejected by SLAF on two different occasions.

Firstly, on May 25, 2000, when the SLAF purchased four MiG 27 aircrafts at US$ 1.5 million each, and next on October 24, 2000 when two more MiG 27 aircraft were purchased for US$ 1.6 million each.

Thus, it appears that these very same MiG 27 aircraft had earlier been rejected by the SLAF in 2000 were purchased in 2006 at a cost of US$ 2.462 million each.

On the basis of The Sunday Times news report on March 11, 2007 Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyaarachchi, two key Minster's' who broke away from the Rajapaksa government made complaint to the Bribery Commission alleging corruption part of the Presiden’ts brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Following the complaint the Ministry of Defence issued a statement on March 22, 2007, titled “MiG 27-Inside Story”.

This statement is false in many aspects.

On of the main issues is the MOD refers this procurement is as a deal between the producer government ( Ukraine ) and the Government of Sri Lanka.

This statement is false for the following reasons.

Ukrinmash from SLAF purchased these aircrafts is the self-supporting Foreign Trade Investment Subsidiary of UKPSPETSEXPORT – the State company responsible for the export of military products.

Such organisation does not fall within the parameters of a government to government contact.
Under a Government to Government deal, monies must be paid to the relevant bank account of the Government or a Government Institution.

The MiG purchase monies were not paid to a bank account of ukrimash in Ukraine either.

Instead, payments were made to the account of UK company named Billimissa Holdings.

Belimissa Holdings Limited is a party of the contact sign by the MOD. So the MOD is deliberately lied to the public to cover up this fraud.

Udayanga Weeratunga, a first cousin of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had allegedly involved in arms sales to separatist rebel fighters in Ukraine, was the main broker of the MiG Deal.

In February 2006, Udayanga Weeratunga was not Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Russia, but a Sri Lankan citizen resident in Ukraine.

There was nothing to distinguish him from any other Sri Lankan apart from being a first cousin of the Rajapaksa brothers.

Records from the guard room of Air Force Headquarters indicate that Weeratuna visited the SLAF headquarters no less than 25 times to meet air force officials.
Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa filed legal action against The Sunday Leader newspaper to prevent further exposure of the corrupt deal.

The investigative reports on the MiG deal proved to be one of the last reports on controversial defence purchases under Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s reign in Sri Lanka’s mainstream press.

After The Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge was killed, the newspaper was purchased by a Rajapaksa family friend Asanga Seneviratne.

The Sunday Leader, on March this year apologised to Gotabaya Rajapaksa for a series of articles written in the newspapers in 2006 on the purchase of MIG 27 aircraft for the Sri Lankan Air Force.

The unqualified apology was carried in The Sunday Leader newspaper of 8.3.2015.

On April 2, 2015, Colombo Telegraph exclusively reported that after violating all laid down norms for recruitment to the Sri Lanka Navy, the son of former President Yoshitha Rajapaksa received a 13th month course sponsored and paid for by Ukrinmarsh, the Ukranian Government’s “State Self-Supporting Foreign Trade and Investment Firm.”

It was all arranged by Udayanga Weeratunga, former Sri Lanka Ambassador to Russia and first cousin of Rajapaksa.

This clearly shows that Weeratunga, who stands accused by the Ukranian Government of selling weapons to pro Russian separatist rebels was operating hand in glove with the former President and his brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former Defence Secretary.

Our Struggle Will Continue Until There Is Justice To Tamils

By Visvanathan Rudrakumaran –July 23, 2015

Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran – PM – TGTE

Signature Campaign Surpasses a Million! Campaign marches forward to September session of UNHRC!

It has been a heartening moment for World Tamils to see that the Million Signature Campaign launched by the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) calling for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) has reached its goal. This Campaign has played a significant role in internationalizing the Tamil struggle for Justice and in galvanizing Tamils around the world and their international civil society counterparts on the path to justice. With a strong sense of solidarity, we grasp the hands of all who participated in this campaign and all those who worked hard to make this Campaign such a resounding success.

An impressive 1.2 million people from around the world have endorsed this Campaign, including those who placed their signatures on paper. The number of people participating from India, especially those in Tamil Nadu, has exceeded 600 thousand. The numbers are swelling further as the momentum gathers across the villages of Tamil Nadu in this relentless search for justice.

Over 100,000 people have joined this Campaign to date from the Tamil Eelam homeland, despite living under the threat of an occupying army. The conditions there are such that no one is allowed to canvass for this campaign, nor are the political leaders there given permission to support this campaign. This demonstrates how eager the Eelam Tamil people are in demanding justice for the crimes committed by the Sri Lankan State. People living in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and the Gulf States and in the Tamil Diaspora have participated in this initiative full of enthusiasm.

The people of Tamil Nadu have played a significant role in transforming this Signature Campaign into a mass movement it became. The TGTE Solidarity Centre in Chennai, under the able leadership of Professor Saraswathi, has coordinated Tamil activists from many walks of life including political parties, student movements, youth organizations, journalists, cinema stars and stage artistes, lawyers and other professionals, and face book users to create this remarkable development. We are thrilled to hear about the warmth and enthusiasm of the people when receiving our comrades who went around collecting signatures. We have no doubt that the strength of support demonstrated in Tamil Nadu for the demand to refer Sri Lanka to the ICC would help place some moral pressure on the Government of India. Under the conditions prevailing in the Tamil Eelam homeland, many activists have worked behind the scene to make this Campaign a success, at some risk to their lives. Likewise, it has been through the broad participation of many among peoples’ movements, journalists, artistes, students and face book enthusiasts that has made the Signature Campaign reach its target in numerous other countries.

Read More

The Legal Aid Commission—Its National Importance and Role in Reconciliation – Friday Forum

23/07/2015

Media Release / 21st July 2015

The Friday Forum has consistently emphasised the importance of State institutions in ensuring citizens’ democratic rights and equality before the law. The Legal Aid Commission is one such institution – while not prominent in the public sphere – that performs the critical function of providing free legal services to the economically marginalised sections of our society. The Friday Forum reiterates the national importance of the Legal Aid Commission to ensure the rights of all citizens as well as its relevance for reconciliation in the post-war era and the reconstruction of legal infrastructure and judicial functions in particular in war-torn areas.

The right to a lawyer and to be heard through a lawyer, in criminal cases, is both a Constitutional right and a right provided under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act No. 56 of 2007. The need for legal aid was recognised by the parliament when it passed the Legal Aid Act No. 27 of 1978, where it states: “The objects of the Commission shall be to operate throughout Sri Lanka an efficient Legal Aid Scheme to provide to deserving persons—legal advice; funds for the conduct of legal and other proceedings for and on behalf of such persons; the services of attorneys-at-law to represent them; such other assistance as may be necessary for the conduct of such proceedings.” In addition to such free litigation services, the Legal Aid Act provides the Commission with a broad mandate to provide other “legal assistance” to be made “easily accessible to deserving persons” and to develop legal aid educational programmes and special programmes.

Performing such functions of national importance requires adequate State funds to the Legal Aid Commission. The excuse of budget constraints is unacceptable; for example, in 2014 the allocation for the Legal Aid Commission was Rs. 146 million, a mere one thousandth of allocation towards the Ministry of Ports and Highways amounting to Rs. 145 billion. The bottom line is State priorities towards citizens’ rights and their equality before the law, which is critical to ensure the democratic fabric of our society. Therefore, the State’s commitment to legal aid must improve as a matter of urgency; for a range of civil and criminal cases for the disadvantaged in our society. Too many aggrieved persons are unable to seek justice because of the high costs of litigation. That in turn gives rise to many social issues, including violence as people take the law into their own hands. Legal aid services to the people must improve all over the island as a matter of priority if the rule of law is to be protected. In particular, the need for improvement is acutely felt in war-torn areas.

In this context, recent news reports that the Legal Aid Centres in the North may be curtailed due to the winding up of donor funding in August 2015 is worrying. What lapses, if any, on the part of the Legal Aid Commission and the Ministry of Justice led to this situation? The Friday Forum calls on the Legal Aid Commissioners, the Minister of Justice and the Government to rectify this funding problem and ensure the maintenance of these Legal Aid Centres with State funds. It is vital that legal aid services to the North and the East, which were disrupted during the war, are now sustained with permanent staff. Furthermore, where possible, legal aid services should be expanded to support efforts of reconciliation and reconstruction.

The Friday Forum respects the indispensable role of many of our State institutions and values the work of individuals who carry out the related duties. The meaningful functioning of the Legal Aid Commission requires the commitment of the lawyers in their daily duties as much as the vision and leadership of the Legal Aid Commissioners and the Minister and officials of the Ministry of Justice. The Friday Forum in the spirit of keeping State institutions accountable to its citizens will continue to engage with the priorities and functioning of the Legal Aid Commission and other State institutions.

 Professor Savitri Goonesekere      Manouri Muttetuwegama    Ahilan Kadirgamar

For and on Behalf of

Professor Savitri Goonesekere, Ms. Manouri Muttetuwegama, Mr. Ahilan Kadirgamar, Dr. A.C.Visvalingam,            Mr. Pulasthi Hewamanna, Professor Arjuna Aluwihare, Dr. Selvy Thiruchandran, Mr. Faiz-urRahman,                      Mr. Javid Yusuf, Professor Gameela Samarasinghe Ms, Damaris Wickremesekera, Mr. Tissa Jayatilaka,     Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Rt. Reverend Duleep de Chickera, Dr. Deepika Udagama, Mr. Ananda Galappatti ,      Mr. S. C. C . Elankovan, Professor Camena Guneratne, Rev. Dr. Jayasiri Peiris, Ms. Shanthi Dias,  Mr. Danesh Casie-Chetty, Ms. Suriya Wickremasinghe, Mr. D. Wijayanandana, Mr. Chandra Jayaratne