Skeletons in Sri Lanka’s closet safe for now

By Sam Rajappa -Posted 19 Sep 2015

The much-awaited report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights   Investigations on Sri Lanka (OISL) released in Geneva on 16 September has identified war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka between 2002 and 2011 by both sides to the conflict. 

“For an accountability mechanism to succeed in Sri Lanka, it will require more than a domestic mechanism,” the report said.  The report was compiled by former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, assisted by Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland, Dame Silvia Cartwright, former New Zealand High Court Judge, and Asma Jahangir, former chief of Pakistan Human Rights Commission. 

Sign of the times: A Sinhala-only signboard in a Tamil area

Skeletons in Sri Lanka’s Closet Safe for Now by Thavam Ratna

Corrupt politicians, corrupt people or both? 

By Izeth Hussain-September 18, 2015

This article is really in expansion of my previous one in the Island of September 12 in which I argued the case for what might be called meliorist politics. My purpose in that article was to establish that the present Government should be judged by its fidelity or otherwise to the mandate given to it by the January 8 Revolution, and not by the Machiavellian means it might employ towards that end in accordance with principle that politics is the art of the possible. That article did not address the perennial problem of ends and means.

The problem is that ends and means cannot be entirely dissociated from each other because dubious or morally outrageous means can vitiate the end itself. How should meliorist politics address this problem? It should eschew theoretical discussions on ends and means, which can never result in unanimity or even anything that might be rated as a consensus. Instead it should be pragmatic in its approach because pragmatism is at the core of meliorist politics. That means that we should fulminate vociferously against and do everything possible to stop the Government’s morally dubious or outrageous actions while continuing to support it to the extent that it remains committed to the January 8 Revolution. Meliorist politics would not expect to make governments morally spotless overnight, but only to improve their moral standards to acceptable levels through a gradual meliorative process. Nothing more needs to be said about the famous problem of ends and means in the realm of practical politics.

The two preceding paragraphs and my previous article see the Government and the people in contradistinction to each other. That is quite legitimate because there is obvious discontinuity between government and people: the former can kick the latter around but the latter can’t reciprocate. So there is discontinuity, but there is also continuity between government and people. I will now provide a concrete illustration to show what I have in mind. People, including supporters of the Government, are now morally outraged by the way the Government has used the National list to bring into Parliament rogues, thugs, even murderers, and endowed them with high office. That is a clear case of the discontinuity to which I refer. But we also know after the recent General Elections that rogues and other dubious characters have been enormously popular with segments of the people. There we clearly have continuity between government and people. So it is not a case of an incorrupt people trying to correct corrupt politicians. The problem confronting us now is that we have to take corrective action against partially corrupt politicians and partially corrupt people.

The truth is that our politics has undergone a process of degeneracy for several decades. I am an octogenarian who attained majority in 1948, and I can truthfully attest that until after 1970 I would never have imagined the kind of political degeneracy that we have been witnessing. I won’t go into details about the degeneracy, but I will point to a contrast by way of illustration. In my last article I invoked the names of Bismarck and Lee Kuan Yew to show that mighty achievements are possible through meliorist politics. I was not suggesting that such mighty achievements are in the offing in Sri Lanka. Our political culture is far too low grade to be able to accommodate achievers of the order of a Bismarck or a Lee. How low grade it is is shown by the following facts. Dubious elements have been brought into Parliament to establish a stable majority without which the January 8 Revolution cannot be furthered. The likes of those dubious elements would in Lee’s Singapore have been kept firmly locked in jail.

How did we come to this sorry pass in our politics? It is a huge subject, and the few observations I make here are to be regarded as no more than notes towards a fuller treatment. In my view the degeneracy began in 1956 with the introduction into Sri Lanka of what might be called Afro-Asian socialism. That phase of degeneracy lasted until 1977. It was followed by a terrifying phase of degeneracy which lasted until 1989, which I find impossible to explain in terms of socio-economic factors. The only explanation that I can offer is that Evil reigned supreme and that Evil was personified in the deeply flawed human being J.R. Jayewardene. The wreckage of our politics wrought during those two periods should however be seen against the background of the neo-colonialist phase of our history from 1931 to 1956.

After 1931 we had a very wide measure of self-government though still under British imperialist tutelage. It was essentially a neo-colonialist set-up, qualitatively distinct from the traditional colonial one, the product of a phase in which Britain was preparing to give up its coolie empire. Independence, and together with it democracy, came without any struggle worth the name. In 1948 Sri Lanka was way ahead in every sense of practically all the other Afro-Asian countries. It was a situation that could be expected to breed complacency and irresponsibility in the elite that inherited power from the British. The situation was comparable to that of the young man who inherits vast wealth without doing a stroke of work and proceeds to blow his patrimony on attaining majority. That was seen in the ways that that elite failed to understand and cope with the malefic aspects of the 1956 revolution.

1956 saw the inauguration of Afro-Asian socialism, a phenomenon that was seen also in Nehru’s India, Nasser’s Egypt, Soekarno’s Indonesia, Nyere’s Tanzania, Sekou Toure’s Guinea, and in several other Afro-Asian countries. It essentially meant the emergence to elite status of the lower middle class. There was a positive aspect to that process in that that class represented a more authentic nationalism than that of the Westernised elites, but in practically every other way the process was negative. That class had no higher education, no professional qualifications, no business skills, no capital, and the only way it could ascend to elite status was through the state sector. We therefore saw in Sri Lanka the setting up of huge state corporations and the politicization of the Administration. The State with its vast resources became the virtual possession of the Government in power. The essence of politics became patronage, and that had horrible consequences: the politicians became powerful over the people and the people had to be servile to the politicians to secure their ends. The result was partially corrupt politicians and partially corrupt people. And that result prevails today as shown by the recent General Elections.

With the introduction of the open economy in 1977 and vastly increased opportunities for upward mobility there was no need for the continued politicization of the State. But it became worse, while the politicians became more powerful and the people became more servile. I can find no socio-economic explanation for that. I can only grope towards a cogent explanation by introducing the category of Evil into the analysis of politics – a huge and complex subject that requires analysis elsewhere. By Evil I mean the drive to harm and destroy with no purpose other than the joy it gives to the perpetrator. In literature the great exemplar of Evil was Iago in Shakespeare’s play Othello. In Sri Lanka Evil was personified in President JR who exercised virtually absolute and arbitrary power over an enslaved people. I will provide only one example to show Evil in operation in his case. We all know that Governments usually try to tame the judiciary, and resort to devious ways towards that end. But JR went much further than that. When a Supreme Court decision displeased him he had the houses of the judges surrounded by thugs who were transported in CTB buses – no need to go into further details about that well-known episode. My point is that JR was not satisfied with taming the judges. He wanted to humiliate them in order to appease the drive of Evil in him.

I have tried to show that the phenomenon of partially corrupt politicians and partially corrupt people has a long history behind it, which means that it could prove difficult to eradicate it. But the people have given a clear mandate for its eradication. We must therefore be vociferously critical over the Government’s accommodativeness towards the corrupt, while continuing to support it to the extent – and only to the extent – that it furthers the January 8 revolution.

izethhussain@gmail.com

Seya’s Death: Who Is To Be Blamed ?

By Mass L. Usuf –September 19, 2015

Mass L. Usuf

It is an irony of sorts that a nation with deep buddistic roots which defacto had suspended the death sentence, is now clamouring for it. Some of the expressions of the masses aired over the national television channels demand the shooting of the accused in public at the Galle Face green. While others citing the law in the middle-eastern countries, vociferously advocate the beheading of such accused. The villagers want the accused for themselves to put him to death by torture. Who is this accused ? He is the child abuser who sexually molested and caused physical harm to Seya.

How many more angels are to be sacrificed before meaningful action is taken to address this growing social menace. The reality may be that incest, rape and paedophilia occur on a daily basis within the confines of the four walls. It is when an encounter ends with killing that we see a public revulsion. The Kotadeniyawa incident(12.09.2015) where a five year old became a victim of a maniacal sexual psychopath was the latest in a series of events.

State responsibility

The State has a duty to protect its citizens and especially those who are in the vulnerable category. Children do rightly and squarely fall into this classification. There is no doubt that the parents have a great responsibility in providing the environment of security for their offsprings. So does this duty devolve on the teachers at school where these innocent kids go to learn. In combination of these, there is the additional watchdog in the form of the society which also share the same responsibility of the State, the parents and the teachers.

The State’s legal machinery triggering into action is good but is not the solution. It would be like treating the symptom rather than the cause. The low number of prosecutions against the high number of violation, indicate the need to develop the jurisprudence in this area. Along with this, the State must also embark on a study to understand the several socio-cultural and psychological factors which directly or indirectly contribute to such psychopathic tendencies. While the arm of the law has to be strengthened to prevent, protect and safeguard the vulnerable, there is a compelling need for a holistic approach to this problem.Read More

10 children murdered & 795 women raped this year

SATURDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2015

Ten children have been murdered during the first nine months of this year says acting police spokesman SSP Prishantha Jayakody. He said the number of children murdered last year was 27.

The number of incidents of torture of children reported this year 84 and the number of incidents of children being tortured last year was 197 said the acting police spokesman.

He said 795 incidents of women being raped have been reported this year (2015) and the number of rapes reported last year was 1680.

“There is a crime wave in the country which rapidly goes up. Everyday there are reports of rape, murder and child abuse. The government should take measures immediately to combat this wave of crimes,” said the Mahanayaka of Asgiriya Ven.  Galagama Attadassi Thero speaking to the Minister of Law and order and Prison Reforms yesterday (18th).

Beast of a father pushes wife and sweet daughter into sea : child missing and untraceable !

(Lanka-e-News - 19.Sep.2015, 5.00PM) Even as president Maithripala Sirisena announced at Galle yesterday that death sentence will be introduced if the parliament approves it , a news report emerged that a most cruel father in this land of the Dhamma pushed his 34 years old wife and his one year 11 months old sweet daughter into the sea at Kosgoda. Following this brutal action of a beast of a father , the infant had gone missing in the sea. 

The wife who escaped death is now taking treatment at Balapitiya hospital.The infant who died in this tragedy is pretty  Parindya Sithmini. This tragedy took place on the 17th at about 10.00 p.m. , and the police had been unable to trace the child so far , Kosgoda police revealed.

The  wife whose life was saved told the police , after having dinner , her husband and the father of the child had invited her to go out with the child. The assassin has then taken them on a bicycle from their house at Miriswatte , Benthara , and at Mahapelena , beach , Kosgoda , he had pushed her and the child to the sea from a rock .

At that moment the woman had been carrying the child . The mother had somehow managed to save her life by clinging on to the stones and reaching ashore.

Sumudhu Priyankara the suspect has fled the area after the incident . However with the assistance of the residents , the Kosgoda police had been able to arrest the suspect last noon. 

The police and the navy divers have commenced a search for the child.

 (In the photograph is the sweet infant unlucky to die at sea owing to no fault of hers)

Photo and report filed by Dhakshina Gallage
Translated by Jeff.

---------------------------
by     (2015-09-19 12:27:04)

Gota to be arrested next week

 Sep 19, 2015

Political reports confirm that following the ongoing current investigations the former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa would be arrested for providing firearms to Rakna Lanka Limited without proper legal mechanism.

Former additional secretary to defense ministry Ms. Damayanthi Jayarathna who gave evidence in front of Presidential commission to investigate grievous crimes accepted that firearms were provided to Rakna Lanka without a proper legal mechanism.

During the investigation it was conformed that out of 3473 firearms only 89 has been issued with legal procedure to Rakna Lanka Pvt Limited. Meantime the former defense secretary appeared today on the 18th in front of the Presidential Commission.

Secretary to the commission Lasil De Silva said that Gotabaya was summoned to the commission to inquire the deployment of workers belong to the Rakna Lanka during the Presidential Election. Lasil De Silva said that the current defense secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi too reported to the commission.

He said another seven people linked to the Rakna Lanka appeared in front of the commission.

Opposition leader’s daughter seeks US pressure on Malaysia

Nurul Izzah Anwar, daughter of jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Pic: AP.

By AP News Sep 19, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — The daughter of imprisoned Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is urging U.S. officials to press the government to allow him medical treatment and release him.

Nurul Izzah Anwar has been visiting Washington with a message that political persecution of Malaysia’s opposition is intensifying. She is herself a lawmaker and vice president of her father’s political party.

Anwar Ibrahim was jailed for five years in February when he lost a final appeal against a conviction for sodomizing an aide. The U.S. has strongly criticized the conviction.

Malaysia’s jailed opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim. Pic: AP.

Nurul Izzah said Friday authorities are denying her father treatment for a shoulder injury.

She spoke to The Associated Press after meeting lawmakers and State Department Counselor Thomas Shannon.

President Barack Obama is expected to attend an Asian leaders summit in Malaysia this autumn.

Greek elections: do Syriza want to win?

Paul Mason-Saturday 19 Sep 2015

Alexis Tsipras’ final election rally had the usual soundtrack and familiar props but a different cast. After more than a fifth of his MPs split to form a new left party, the inner core of party activists behind the stage were nervous. Would anybody more than the party faithful come?

Tsipras in July signed a third austerity memorandum with Greece’s lenders. Committed to massive privatisation, spending cuts and handing the Eurozone a veto over future legislation, a significant number of the party’s activists have quit.

Greek Elections Do Syriza Want to Win by Thavam Ratna

Do China’s ghost cities offer a solution to Europe’s migrant crisis?

These vacant apartments in the Pujiang area of Shanghai appear to be unwanted supply for non-existing demand but they’re actually new homes for residents who were evicted from the World Expo site. WADE SHEPARD FOR REUTERS

By Wade Shepard-

September 18, 2015

Nearly 150,000 Syrian refugees have already claimed asylum in Europe and tens of thousands more are flooding the borders in search of places to live. Meanwhile, in China, there are millions of new apartments sitting completely empty and entire sections of freshly constructed cities that are virtually uninhabited. This disparity between unmet housing need and oversupply has not been lost on many around the world, and after writing a book about China’s ghost cities, I’ve recently found my email inbox getting flooded with suggestions such as this:

Do China’s Ghost Cities Offer a Solution to Europe’s Migrant Crisis by Thavam Ratna

In sign of U.S. alarm, Washington and Moscow begin talks over Syria conflict

American officials are seeking to understand Moscow’s aims in its expanding support for the Assad regime.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry meets with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed in London about the ongoing Syrian crisis. (Pool/Reuters)

More than 332,000 people have reached the continent this year.

By Carol Morello and Missy Ryan September 18 

LONDON — Defense chiefs from the United States and Russia held their first direct talks in more than a year Friday, reflecting Washington’s mounting alarm about Russian military escalation in Syria and how it might affect the fight against the Islamic State.

The 50-minute phone call between Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu caps weeks of concern about Moscow’s moves to make its military support to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad more effective.

A record number of migrants and refugees are attempting perilous journeys to find a safer, better life in Europe. Here's why they're leaving and how they're being received. (Jason Aldag and Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

In Sign of U.S. Alarm, Washington and Moscow Begin Talks Over Syria Conflict by Thavam Ratna

The Dirty Politics Behind the Syrian Conflict

Victims of Ghouta chemical attack in Syria-August 2013

by FRAGKISKA MEGALOUDI-SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

Over recent months the situation in the Mediterranean has served as a dramatic reminder of what the leaders of Europe have tried hard to forget. The Syrian crisis has reached Europe. Although a lot of talk has been made over numbers and percentages of refugees that every country may or may not accept, let’s not forget that behind those numbers and the showy emotionalism of the politicians hides the ugly side of world politics.

The Dirty Politics Behind the Syrian Conflict by Thavam Ratna

Hungary finishes barbed-wire fence with Croatia as refugee row grows 

Hungary has also reportedly seized a train full of refugees arriving from Croatia and detained Croatian police 

Refugees try to board a train from Gyor to Hegyeshalom in Hungary, near the border with Austria (AFP) 

Simona Sikimic-Saturday 19 September 2015

Hungary has erected a barbed-wire barrier along 41 kilometres of its border with Croatia in order to try and stem a flow of refugees and migrants, a defence ministry spokesman said on Saturday.

"The fence was finished overnight Friday," Attila Kovacs told AFP. The Drava River, which is difficult to cross, cuts through the remaining 330 kilometres of the border between Hungary and Croatia. 

The move comes less than a week after Hungary closed its border with Serbia, sending tens of thousands of refugees and migrants into neighbouring Croatia, from where they have sought alternative routes into Europe. More than 20,000 have now entered in just three days, Croatian authorities said. Initial estimates said that that number could be expected within the first two weeks.  

 Follow

Vlada R. Hrvatske 

✔@VladaRH

20,737 #refugees entered Croatia by 11am. 2,500 of them are currently in Tovarnik. #refugeescrisis

5:45 AM - 19 Sep 2015

Journalists on the ground have queried the Hungarian claims on its border barrier. 

"It took Hungary weeks to build a fence with Serbia, so there is no way that they could have covered the whole [Croatia] border in just two days," Natasa Bozic, a journalist with RTL TV who has been covering the crisis, told Middle East Eye.  

"The information [about Hungary building a wire fence] is inaccurate."

Croatia initially pledged free passage to the refugees earlier this week but then closed some of its border crossings with Serbia in an attempt to stop the influx, saying that it could no longer cope. Thousands still entered through informal border crossings and began to try to head north to Hungary, from where they hoped to make it on to northern Europe and places like Germany and Sweden.

Croatia responded on Friday by busing hundreds of people to the border. 

"So far 22,000 people have come through in three days," said Bozic. "Before when you asked refugees they would often not even know where Croatia was, so yes the government was surprised that this many came so quickly. It is two times [the numbers] we were seeing on the Serbia-Macedonia border.

"Given the numbers we have seen, the Croatian government has responded well and has been pretty well organised about it all. There are now 40 to 50 buses ferrying people to the border. The border is large and there are no real natural barriers for people to cross, so it is pretty easy to pass through, especially now that the authorities are involved. They are taking people to places they know they can get through. There are simply not enough Hungarian police to partol all of Hungary's borders."

Prime Minister Branko Milanovic on Saturday said that Croatia would "force" Hungary to take more people and would continue to take them to the border. This sparked stern criticism from Budapest, which said Croatia was encouraging people to enter. Tensions since then appear to have died down, with Hungary now reportedly bussing people from Croatia to Austria. 

"[Prime Minister] Milanovic has said that Germany was the first to break Schengen [that is, the rules covering the passport-free travel area in Europe]. So if they [the Germans] are not going to enforce it, why should other states," said Bozic. Under the Dublin Regulations on the documentation of refugees arriving in the EU, "all of the asylum seekers must be registered in Greece and that is not happening. So we need to look at the situation in Greece, but I think at the moment the attitude is very much one of every country being out for itself."

Tensions reached a critical point on Friday when Hungarian authorities said that they had seized a train bringing refugees into the country. They then documented the new arrivals and also reportedly disarmed 40 police who were accompanying the train, the head of the Hungarian disaster unit said.

"A very serious border incident has happened because a train arrived in Magyarboly, which had more than a thousand onboard, without any warning and was accompanied by 40 Croatian policemen into Hungarian territory without any prior notice and permit, which is a very serious border violation and there are suspicions of crimes,” Gyorgy Bakondi told media.

"An investigation is under way into this. The driver of the train has been arrested, and my Hungarian colleagues have taken action in relation to the 40 Croatian policemen."

Croatian police initially denied this, saying that they had permission and that its policemen were not stripped of their weapons, but Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has since admitted that his government did not get permission. He also added that Croatia would keep sending buses to the border to help the refugees get further into the EU.

 Follow

Hrvoje Kresic @hkresic

#Croatia PM Milanovic on train issue: There was no deal with #Hungary. #Refugees wanted to go westward, so we forced Hungary to accept them.

3:37 AM - 19 Sep 2015 · Republic of Croatia, Hrvatska

Under the EU's Dublin Regulations, all asylum seekers must be fingerprinted and registered in the first EU country they enter. The sheer influx of people this year though, with asylum applications up by 85 percent since last year, has seen the system all but collapse.

"I was well off in my land, I spent $10,000 to bring my whole family here, and it looks like I have to justify the reasons that led to my decission," an Iraqi who recently arrived in Croatia told Francesca Mannocchi, who is reporting for MEE from the border town of Tovarnik, where some 2,000 refugees and migrants are waiting for transportation. 

"We do not want handouts. We want you to understand that in Baghdad I had a good job and a nice house, and now I'm forcing my children to sleep on the cement because I do not want that one day somebody cuts their heads off in a square," he said, adding that he was fleeing from the Islamic State group. 

The EU’s data agency on Wednesday said there were 213,000 first-time asylum seekers in the EU between April and June of this year.

The number of Syrians and Afghans rose considerably, to reach almost 44,000 and 27,000 respectively, while 13,900 asylum seekers came from Iraq. A further 17,700 claims were made by Albanians, despite there being no war or serious civil unrest there.

“We need to stop the flow, we need to get reassurances from [the] European Union [about] what happens to these people who are already in Croatia, and those who still want to transit through Croatia further,” Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic told AP.

- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hungary-finishes-barbed-wire-fence-croatia-refugee-row-grows-116742092#sthash.ME61fz5t.dpuf

Number of Children Displaced by Boko Haram Surpasses 1.4 Million

BY SIOBHÁN O'GRADY-SEPTEMBER 18, 2015

More than 1.4 million children have been displaced by Boko Haram extremists operating in Nigeria’s Lake Chad region, but humanitarian funding for the crisis continues to fall short, the United Nations said Friday.

“With more refugees and not enough resources, our ability to deliver lifesaving assistance on the ground is now seriously compromised,” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s regional director for West and Central Africa.

UNICEF has received less than a third of the $50.3 million it says it needs for humanitarian response across the region. And the number of displaced only continues to grow.  

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has called Boko Haram’s defeat a top priority for his administration. The vast majority of the displaced children — 1.2 million of the total 1.4 million — are Nigerian, and were uprooted in the past five months, UNICEF said. More than half of the Nigerians are under the age of 5.

An estimated 265,000 displaced children are from Cameroon, Chad, and Niger who have been uprooted as the extremists continue to operate across borders. A multinational task force backed by all four countries, with support from Benin, is working to battle Boko Haram, which upped its extremist offensive in the past two years as it razed villages and kidnapped children from their schools.

Boko Haram, which translates roughly to “Western education is forbidden,” first launched its offensive in 2009, and schools have emerged as some of its biggest targets in an ongoing campaign to carve out a stretch of territory ruled by extremist Sharia law in northeast Nigeria and neighboring countries.

Buhari, who won the presidential election against incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in March, ran largely on a campaign of increased security. Shortly after taking over the presidency in May, Buhari sacked a number of top military chiefs, and in August gave officials three months to beat back the group. But as the extremists continue to terrorize the entire Lake Chad region, Buhari’s latest deadline offers his military a daunting and largely unrealistic task.

Boko Haram lost control of a significant amount of the territory it controlled during a largely Chad-led offensive this past spring, and has in turn resorted more frequently to suicide bomb attacks, which are harder to avert without increased intelligence. In a number of cases, young girls have been used as suicide attackers, killing hundreds at markets and bus stations across the region.

In July, two young girls reportedly detonated themselves at crowded marketplaces in the populated university town of Maroua, in Cameroon’s far north region. In Nigeria, girls and women have been used for the same purpose dozens of times. That threat prompted governments in Chad, Niger, and Cameroon to ban the full-face Muslim veil, which they claimed allowed young women to conceal their identities when they entered public spaces with bombs strapped to their bodies.

Children who escape before they are recruited as soldiers, wives, or suicide bombers, are often left to fend for themselves in precarious conditions. UNICEF reported that 208,000 remain out of school and 83,000 do not have access to clean water. On top of that, 124,000 have not been vaccinated for measles, despite numerous outbreaks of the disease in camps for the displaced.

And according to Fontaine, these shortfalls are a direct result of humanitarian funding shortages in the region.

“Without additional support, hundreds of thousands of children in need will lack access to basic health care, safe drinking water and education,” he said.

Photo Credit: BOUREIMA HAMA/AFP/Getty Images