Wednesday, September 30, 2015

For Germans, worries swiftly follow refugee welcome party

Migrant read documents a at the Patrick-Henry Village refugee center, a former U.S. military facility in Heidelberg, Germany September 29, 2015.

BY ANDREAS RINKE AND MADELINE CHAMBERS-Wed Sep 30, 2015

Just weeks after politicians from Germany's mainstream parties embraced Angela Merkel's unusually warm welcome for refugees, the tone has turned sober, reflecting growing fears about the scale of looming problems.

Merkel's own popularity has taken a hit from her handling of the crisis and unrest within her conservative ranks about how to absorb an influx of about 800,000 people this year is growing.

Even her centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners are worried about the integration of asylum seekers and police have warned about violence between groups of refugees.

"The welcome party in Munich, Berlin and elsewhere was nice. It showed a generous and open Germany to be proud of with Merkel at the top... But now the light has gone on and every day life goes on," wrote the centre-left Sueddeutsche Zeitung this week.

That, it said, meant overcrowded refugee shelters, local authorities and police being stretched to the limit, some Muslims attacking Christians and some men preying on women.

Support for Merkel, one of Germany's most popular post-war chancellors, is waning.. Some right-wing conservatives are even whispering that the crisis could raise questions over the future of the woman who has ruled since 2005.

With up to 10,000 arrivals each day fuelling voters' worries, President Joachim Gauck, who has a non-political role, hit a nerve with a speech on Sunday, saying there is a limit to how many refugees Germany can absorb.

His speech spurred on others, led by Bavarian premier Horst Seehofer who said politicians had an "urgent duty" to point out the limited possibilities.

Even SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel told lawmakers on Tuesday it is clear Germany has limits, especially in the short term.

He has also stressed the importance of integration, saying Germany has translated into Arabic the parts of the constitution which outline rights like freedom of speech, for refugees.

"People who come here must not only learn the German language, but also learn the rules of the game of living together," he told top-selling Bild.

MOTHER TERESA

Merkel's "We will manage" refrain may have reassured some Germans and saw her depicted on the cover of Der Spiegel weekly as Mother Teresa but some say the words ring hollow.

"From solidarity, disappointment can quickly grow. And anger. The state must take this danger seriously and ensure good will doesn't turn into frustration," wrote Bild on Wednesday.

Warnings about the potential exploitation of cheap labour and predictions that new arrivals could push up unemployment by 70,000 next year have replaced euphoria about how newcomers could help solve shortage of skilled labour.

The Labour Office says 80 percent of refugees arrive without formal qualifications by German standards and only 8 percent of refugees tend to find employment in the first year. Aware of the looming problems, the government has responded.

It has reintroduced border controls with EU neighbours to stem the flow after throwing open its doors to Syrian refugees.

It is rushing through a supplementary budget so it can transfer 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) next year to the 16 states clamouring for support to look after refugees as winter nears. And it is cracking down on migrants from the Balkans by making Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro safe countries of origin. ($1 = 0.8953 euros)

(Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Keith Weir)

Fidel Castro – A Documentary

( September 29, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Fidel Castro, perhaps the most important revolutionary to ever live, head of the cuban revolution and of Cuba as its President for more than a century. He survived assassination plots from the CIA and USA, and survived the demise of the Soviet Union to rule his country longer than any other dictator alive.

A life certainly worth exploring through the best Fidel Castro documentary full from the History Channel.

Where Women Are Leading the Peace

A new study shows where — and how — women are at the vanguard of ending conflict. And why their voices make armistices stronger.

BY MELANNE VERVEER-SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

The civil war in South Sudan has ravaged the world’s youngest country, resulting in a catastrophic humanitarian toll. The signing of a new peace deal between the government of President Salva Kiir and rebel forces was welcome news to the international community. And yet, the exclusion of civil society voices — including those of women, who comprise the majority of the population — from the official process casts significant doubt on the country’s chance at a lasting and sustainable peace. In Syria, the protracted conflict has produced more than 4 million refugees, mostly women and children, and many of whom are desperately seeking passage to Europe. Despite multiple attempts to reach a ceasefire between the warring factions, the prospects for peace remain tenuous. To date women peacemakers have been visibly absent from international efforts to end the civil war, even though Syrian women from civil society continue to advocate for peace, at great personal risk, in Zabadani, a fiercely contested village near the Lebanese border, and elsewhere.

Globally, women are most lagging in comparison to men in the area of political participation; this is especially true in conflict-affected settings. In the last two decades, women constituted a mere 4 percent of all signatories and less than 9 percent of negotiators in official peace processes. We know, however, that more than half of all peace agreements fail within first five years. When women’s perspectives and contributions are left untapped, not only are their voices silenced, but so too are societies shortchanged, along with prospects for sustained peace and prosperity. Research and experience demonstrate that women bear disproportional and distinct burdens during and as a result of violent conflict. And yet, in the business of peacemaking they remain marginalized at all levels. As we search for solutions to the world’s most intractable conflicts, we must consider the roles and aspirations of women in creating long-lasting peace.

A new study by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Securitysheds light on the ways in which women have engaged in making peace, providing critical insight into the difference their participation makes. These lessons are vital, not only for those on the frontlines of peacemaking today in some of the most dangerous war zones, but also for officials and others who could benefit from their vital participation. The analysis demonstrates that the inclusion of women in formal peace negotiations makes it possible to ensure that critical issues — ranging from reconciliation and transitional justice to human rights — will be included.Research shows that more inclusive peace processes lead to longer-term peace." style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 32.8px; font-family: Tiempos, Georgia, serif; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">Research shows that more inclusive peace processes lead to longer-term peace. Further, women’s involvement in brokering peace often serves to crystallize women’s movements, thereby emboldening women’s rights and enabling their public leadership in a range of arenas.

In the case of Northern Ireland, women took advantage of a special election to create a new political party, the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition (NIWC), and won formal representation at the talks that produced the Good Friday Agreement the 1990s. The NIWC prioritized issues like integrated education, recognition for victims, and the creation of a civic forum to ensure community voices were heard — issues that were otherwise ignored by negotiating parties. These types of policies address longer-term social change and are necessary ingredients for sustainable peace. Although the political situation in Northern Ireland remains contentious and the full implementation of the recommendations made in the Good Friday Agreement remains unrealized, the presence of the Women’s Coalition ensured that a broader set of issues was on the agenda.

Women’s involvement through civil society in Guatemala’s peace process helped ignite a broader women’s rights movement in the country, the effects of which we still see today. When the Civil Society Assembly (ASC) was established as a formal mechanism through which civil society could engage in and inform the formal peace negotiations between the government and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (known by its Spanish acronym, URNG), women came together within one week and against significant hostility to form the Women’s Sector. They would prove to be an integral part of the ASC, not only because of their ability to forge strategic alliances across political and social divides, but also because of their substantive contributions to the peace accords, including on justice, right of return of refugees, property ownership, poverty alleviation, and access to basic services. Dr. Claudia Paz y Paz, former Attorney General of Guatemala and a distinguished scholar in residence at the institute, notes, “The Women’s Sector opened a new space for women’s participation at all levels, from the peace table to the streets. In Guatemala today, women are still in the streets, fighting for justice.“

The role of international mediators and special envoys, although not always exercised, is critical in promoting women’s participation and creating the space for civil society leaders to be heard. When Kenya was engulfed by election-related violence in late 2007, the international community intervened to shepherd a mediation process to resolve the conflict. Former South African First Lady Graça Machel served on the Panel of Eminent African Personalities that was appointed by the African Union. Machel roused the efforts of women in civil society to coalesce as a diverse but unified group, which made it possible for women to lobby the mediation team. Machel demonstrates that having someone who has a nuanced understanding of these issues leading as a mediator of negotiations makes a notable difference in ensuring that women’s voices are heard and their impact realized, which was codified by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000.

Of all peace agreements signed between and 1992 and 2010, 16 percent make reference to women. However, there is a notable — albeit inadequate — spike in the references to women after the year 2000, especially where the U.N. has been involved.

In January 2014, Miriam Coronel Ferrer of the Philippines became the first woman chief negotiator to broker a peace deal when she signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which brought the decades-long conflict between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to an end. While this was an historic accomplishment, the peace process was also remarkable in that there were multiple women on both sides of the negotiations in a variety of leadership capacities — as negotiators, technical experts, and advisers. Ferrer, who was at first received with skepticism because of her gender and her non-governmental background, was able to convince her own colleagues as well as the MILF panel that women’s meaningful political participation is salient to achieving peace. Mohagher Iqbal, the MILF panel chair, explains, “When women are involved in the peace process … their presence influences the deliberations as well as the output of the negotiations.” Civil society leaders from diverse groups noted a strong sense of solidarity with the negotiation panels due to the extensive consultations Ferrer and others facilitated. Although it is unclear whether the Bangsamoro agreement will be upheld by parliament and successfully implemented as written, the example set by Ferrer and others in the Philippines provides important lessons-learned for the global pursuit of peace.

Despite these powerful examples, the inclusion of women is still not seen as fundamental to peace processes. As we mark the 15th anniversary of the adoption of historic U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325, which recognized the disparate impact of violent conflict on women and girls, and affirmed the participation and representation of women in building peace, it is critical that we reflect on and learn from the experiences of women who have played leading roles in brokering peace at international, national and local levels.

KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/Getty Images

Filipino children risk lives to mine gold in ‘terrifying conditions’

Pic: Human Rights Watch.

By Asian Correspondent Staff Sep 30, 2015

A human rights group says the Philippine government has failed to protect thousands of children, some as young as 9 years old, who risk their lives by working in illegal gold mines under what it describes as “terrifying conditions”.

Human Rights Watch’s report, “What…if Something Went Wrong: Hazardous Child Labor in Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Philippines”, released Wednesday said children work in unstable 25-meter (80-foot) deep pits or underwater along coastal shores or rivers, processing gold with mercury, a toxic metal.

In September 2014, a 17-year-old boy suffocated in an underground mine because there was no machine providing oxygen.

Those who dive for gold stay underwater for hours in 10-meter- (30-foot-) deep shafts, receiving air from a tube attached to an air compressor.

The New York-based group says it interviewed 135 people, including 65 child miners from 9 to 17 years of age, in eastern Camarines Norte and Masbate provinces in 2014 and 2015.

Pic: Human Rights Watch.

“Filipino children are working in absolutely terrifying conditions in small-scale gold mines,” said Juliane Kippenberg, associate children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “The Philippine government prohibits dangerous child labor, but has done very little to enforce the law.”

The report says the children, mostly from impoverished households, skip school because of their mining work and sometimes drop out altogether.

“Lots of children in Masbate and Camarines Norte are dropping out of school to work in gold mining,” Kippenberg said. “In order to tackle the root causes of child labor, the government needs to assist the poorest families financially and ensure their children are able to attend and stay in school.”

Pic: Human Rights Watch.

The Philippines is the world’s 20th largest gold producer. An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people work in the country’s small-scale gold mines. Large and small-scale mines combined produced about 18 tons of gold in 2014, at a market value of over US$700 million, according to official statistics.

The country’s central bank is the official buying agent for gold from small-scale mining and exports it. However, the bank has no process in place to check the conditions in which the gold has been mined. Other gold is smuggled out of the country.

“Small-scale mining provides a vital livelihood for many Filipinos,” Kippenberg said. “But the government needs to take urgent steps to ensure a safe and child-labor-free mining sector so that families can earn an income without putting their children at risk.”

Philippines Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz says the government is addressing the problem.

Additional reporting from Associated Press

8 Underwear Mistakes That Are Bad For Your Health

The type of underwear you choose plus your daily habits can have a big impact on your health "down there."

By Sara Schwartz-09/24/2015

Mistake #1: Too-tight underwear

Not only is too-tight underwear generally unflattering (hello, visible bulges and puckering), but it can also promote chafing of the skin and vaginal irritation, especially if you’re post-menopausal. “For women who are menopausal, their vaginal walls tend to be thin,” says Raquel B. Dardik, M.D., clinical associate professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NYU Langone Medical Center. From that perspective, any underwear that’s tight enough to rub your skin can result in irritation, she explains. “If your skin doesn’t get irritated, then great — tight underwear won’t hurt you. But if you do get irritated because of friction, then it’s not recommended.”

8 Underwear Mistakes That Are Bad for Your Health by Thavam Ratna

First UK womb transplants approved

Doctors give the go-ahead for 10 women to have the first ever womb transplants in the UK from deceased donors.

WEDNESDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2015

Unlike the world's first successful womb transplant in Sweden last year which used a live donor, the British women who are eligable for the transplant will receive a womb from a donor who is classified as brain dead.

The women, who will be selected as part of a clinical trial, must meet strict criteria, including being aged between 24 and 38, having a long-term partner and being a healthy weight.

If the transplant is successful, the first British baby born as a result could arrive in late 2017 or 2018.

Ethical approval for the transplant has been granted by a special committee at Imperial College London and will involve a clinical trial. The trial will launch in the spring and more than 100 women have been identified as potential recipients of donor wombs.

Before the trial starts, embryos will be created and frozen using each woman's eggs and sperm from her partner. The women will then undergo a six-hour transplant operation to receive the womb.

"There is no doubting that, for many couples, childlessness is a disaster. Infertility is a difficult thing to treat for these women. Surrogacy is an option but it does not answer the deep desire that women have to carry their own baby. For a woman to carry her own baby - that has to be a wonderful thing." Dr Richard Smith, Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea hospital

After being monitored closely for 12 months, each woman will be implanted with one of her embryos with the hope of achieving a successful pregnancy. Any baby would be delivered by Caesarean to prevent the donor womb going through the stresses of labour.

Around one in 5,000 women are born without a womb, while others can lose their womb to cancer.

Dr Richard Smith, who has been working for almost 20 years to secure approval, will lead the team hoping to perform the UK's first ever womb transplant. This comes after the world's first successful womb transplant in Sweden, which lead to the birth of a baby boy in September 2014.

Dr Smith said childlessness could be a "disaster" for couples and hopes the procedure could offer an alternative to surrogacy or adoption.

He said: "I've met many of the women who want this and it's really important for them and their partners.

Womb from deceased donor

"There is no doubting that, for many couples, childlessness is a disaster. Infertility is a difficult thing to treat for these women. Surrogacy is an option but it does not answer the deep desire that women have to carry their own baby. For a woman to carry her own baby - that has to be a wonderful thing."

He said that trial would use deceased donors rather than living ones because of the complexities of the operation.

"Donor retrieval is a bigger operation than transplanting the uterus into the recipient. We don't want to subject a live donor to that operation."

Another issue surrounding the procedure is funding. Just over £40,000 has been donated to the Womb Transplant UK project however, Dr Smith needs to raise £500,000 for the trial but he remains optimistic.

"The project has run with no money from the start. Somehow or other, somebody has always turned up and given us enough money to keep it going," the surgeon said.

Organ donor coordinators have suggested that about five wombs per year could be made avaialble.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Sri Lanka war crimes resolution softened before U.N. debate

A Tamil demonstrator holds up a hand as they wear a glove covered with fake blood during a protest near the Commonwealth Secretariat in London November 15, 2013.

Tue Sep 29, 2015

A U.S.-backed resolution at the United Nations that seeks justice for victims of Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war has been softened to keep its government on board and allay the concerns of powerful neighbour India, sources say.

The latest draft, expected to be adopted in Geneva on Thursday, fails to specify the powers and role of foreign prosecutors and judges in trying war crimes suspects – a major shortcoming, in the eyes of human rights groups.

They and some diplomats say that reflects the balancing act needed to keep Sri Lanka's new reformist leadership on board while making a credible attempt to end a culture of impunity over what the U.N. calls the mass killings of tens of thousands of people by both sides in the final stages of the conflict.

"Everything now depends on implementation - the text was worded in a very ambiguous way," said Alan Keenan, Sri Lanka analyst at the International Crisis Group.

A judicial process with teeth would hold out a realistic prospect of punishment for senior figures in ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa's government and military, as well as Tamil Tiger rebels, who waged a bitter final battle in 2009.

The U.N. has estimated that 40,000 people died, many of them civilians, as government forces tightened the noose around a patch of land on the Jaffna Peninsula where Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels were penned in.

But the U.S.-led draft agreed with the Sri Lankan government falls short of explicitly meeting a call by the U.N.'s human rights chief for a special court staffed with international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators.

Such "hybrid" courts have emerged in recent years as a way to deliver justice in places such as East Timor, Kosovo and Sierra Leone against powerful individuals capable of threatening judges or witnesses.

The text instead vaguely affirms the importance of participation in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism of "Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers, and authorized prosecutors and investigators".

John Fisher, Geneva director at Human Rights Watch, said the Sri Lankan government had resisted appointing an independent international prosecutor and a majority of foreign judges.

"Meaningful foreign participation and international monitoring will be needed to prevent local pressure and intimidation from interfering with a fair judicial process," he said.

"SUBSTANCE STILL THERE"

Sri Lanka argues that President Maithripala Sirisena's constructive engagement with the U.N. marks a break with the recalcitrance of Rajapaksa, whom he defeated in a presidential election in January.

Sirisena won backing on Monday from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who endorsed a "credible domestic process" with international support when the two met on the fringes of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

How this would work in practice still needs to be hammered out. "In order to ensure credibility, we of course need some kind of international involvement. But it will be decided after the consultation process," one Sri Lankan official said.

A source familiar with the drafting discussions said the Sri Lankan government wanted to create the impression the resolution had been watered down to placate the majority Sinhala community that formed Rajapaksa's power base.

"The substance is still all there," said the source, who requested anonymity. The U.S. draft is widely expected to be adopted by consensus at the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.

A Western diplomat in Colombo and a source at the Tamil National Alliance, an opposition political party, said India had been at the forefront of efforts to ensure there was no full international war crimes probe in Sri Lanka.

This included lobbying by India to change the description of judges from "international" to "foreign" in the draft resolution, reflecting concerns that India could one day face a similar judicial reckoning in its disputed territory of Kashmir.

Sources familiar with New Delhi's thinking flatly reject those suggestions, saying the resolution was worded to reflect Sri Lanka's concerns about protecting its sovereignty.

(Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal, Stephanie Nebehay and Douglas Busvine; editing by Andrew Roche)

Conflicting Reconciliation

Conflicting Reconciliation by Thavam Ratna

Sri Lanka: UN Resolution Could Advance Justice

The core group presenting the Sri Lanka Resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland on September 21, 2015.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2015

(Geneva) – The United Nations Human Rights Council should adopt a resolution ensuring a robust international role in Sri Lanka’s justice mechanism for abuses during the country’s brutal civil war, Human Rights Watch said today. The resolution, expected to be adopted on October 1, 2015, contains a number of strong provisions but will need to be thoroughly implemented for victims to obtain genuine justice.

“This resolution makes it clear the time has come for the Sri Lankan government to act,” said John Fisher, Geneva director at Human Rights Watch. “The resolution’s endorsement of a judicial mechanism with international participation is an important recognition of the need for an international role to ensure justice for victims.”

The resolution draws on the new report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights detailing numerous abuses by both sides in the conflict, and the government’s failure over decades to hold those responsible to account. Among the report’s concrete recommendations is the establishment of a special court “integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators” with an independent Sri Lankan investigative and prosecuting body. While the proposed resolution does not specifically call for a hybrid national-international justice mechanism, if fully implemented it offers a greater hope for justice than past failed promises by the Sri Lankan government on justice for human rights abuses.

Unlike in past years, Sri Lanka has agreed to co-sponsor the resolution, which was presented initially to the Human Rights Council by the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, Montenegro, and Macedonia. Overall, the new Sri Lankan government, voted into power in January 2015, has acted in a more cooperative manner with the international community. It has, however, resisted including an independent, international prosecutor and a majority of international judges, which would create the greatest chance of success for justice.

“The new Sri Lankan government, through getting on board with this resolution, is making important promises to all the victims of Sri Lanka’s war,” Fisher said. “However, meaningful foreign participation and international monitoring will be needed to prevent local pressure and intimidation from interfering with a fair judicial process.”

The Sri Lankan government has accepted many recommendations to improve the human rights situation, including a repeal of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act and reforms to the Witness and Victim Protection Law, both long called for by victims’ rights groups. The government has also agreed to accelerate the return of lands confiscated by the security forces; to end the divisive military involvement in civilian activities in the country’s north and east; to investigate allegations of attacks on civil society, media, and religious minorities; and to work towards devolution of authority from the centre in line with the 13th amendment to the constitution.

“The resolution is a far-reaching call to address pressing needs for reform,” said Fisher. “An early test of the government’s sincerity will be if the Prevention of Terrorism Act is repealed and not simply replaced by another bad law with another name.”

Human Rights Watch expressed concern about inadequate provisions for international oversight of implementation of the terms of the resolution. The resolution only calls for an oral update from the High Commissioner during the Council’s 32nd session in June 2016 and a written implementation report at the 34th session in March 2017. The government will also need concrete proposals to ensure compliance with international law in addressing grave abuses, including command responsibility, so that charges brought reflect the gravity of the crimes and target those most responsible.

“If implemented, the Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka could prove to be a milestone for addressing past and ongoing human rights abuses,” Fisher said. “The burden now rests with the government to fully honour its pledges and with UN members to see that it does so. This is not a time to cross Sri Lanka off the list of countries requiring scrutiny. For real progress, now is the time to work with the government to ensure reforms are real and lasting.”

Siobhain pushes government for justice in Sri Lanka

25 September 2015

Siobhain brought together a number of other MPs to call for the UK government not to turn its back on international participation in securing justice in Sri Lanka.

Back in 2013, the Prime Minister publicly called for a ‘credible and thorough’ international war crimes inquiry via the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), citing the importance of independence in order to ‘[bring] justice and closure and healing’.

However, most recently, UK support for a strong international justice mechanism seems to have been diminishing, with the UK's present position being the support of a solely national 'political solution, mediated by the international community’.

Many do not feel as if this new position is good enough, given continued human rights abuses in Sri Lanka: the need for international participation, according to a most recent UN report, is clear. How can the Sri Lankan people have faith in a purely national mechanism, when key witnesses still do not have access to proper protection and are afraid to speak out? How can a national tribunal convened by a government whose members are themselves implicated in the crimes be expected to hold the right people thoroughly to account?

As Siobhain's letter states: 'Six years after the end of the brutal civil war, not one person has been prosecuted for war crimes, despite the fact that forty thousand Tamils died in the final stages of war alone. We cannot stand by and let limited national mechanisms fail to provide the victims of inhumanity the fairness and justice that they truly deserve.

The justice process must have people’s full confidence if it is to bring closure and a new beginning for the Sri Lankan people.'

You can read the letter, sent to the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, and the Minister of State (Hugo Swire) below:

Dear Prime Minister,

Justice mechanisms in Sri Lanka
We are writing to express our concern and disappointment regarding the UK’s changed position on Sri Lanka’s justice mechanism, and in the sincere hope that this position will be reviewed.

Back in 2013, the Prime Minister publicly called for a ‘credible and thorough’ international war crimes inquiry via the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), citing the importance of independence in order to ‘[bring] justice and closure and healing’. This was a position that we all supported, but we are distressed to learn that the UK’s official position now seems to be that of supporting a purely national mechanism in Sri Lanka, according to remarks made by the Rt Hon. Hugo Swire MP, Minister of State at the Foreign Office.

As the Minister stated in the Westminster Debate on the subject on 15 September 2015; ‘Our expectation is that Sri Lanka will now take forward the [UNHRC] report’s recommendations… [The new government in Sri Lanka] has our full confidence… We need to understand that there has been a sea change in Sri Lanka. We need to get behind the new administration.’

There is no doubt that the election of President Sirisena represents a considerable improvement and renewed hope for the country. But this is no reason to pass all responsibility for justice to the national government, and we do not share the Minister’s overwhelming optimism.

Change in Sri Lanka is slow, and confidence in the state apparatus is very low amongst Tamils. Even more concerning is the recent report from Freedom From Torture, Tainted Peace (2015), which has shockingly found that torture, mainly of Tamils, has continued well into the new government. As the report notes, there has been limited action from the new administration to tackle vested interests in the military, police and intelligence services. Furthermore, President Sirisena himself served as Defence Minister in the final days of the civil war, when most civilian casualties occurred. Meanwhile, many of the most senior government and military figures remain unchanged from those dark days.

How can the Sri Lankan people have faith in a purely national mechanism, when key witnesses still do not have access to proper protection and are afraid to speak out? How can a national tribunal convened by a government whose members are themselves implicated in the crimes be expected to hold the right people thoroughly to account?

There is no evidence either that a national mechanism alone will enable justice truly to win through, or that the new government’s good intentions will be strong enough, or that the administration is competent enough, to act. Indeed, Sri Lanka is not itself a signatory of the Rome statute, which means that its laws do not cover a number of the international laws that were clearly breached during the civil war.

The Tamil people themselves therefore support a hybrid mechanism which incorporates both national and international involvement. This is reflected in the request for UK assistance made by the Chief Minister of the Northern Province in July 2015, in order to reach a ‘political solution, mediated by the international community’.

The UK is in a position of huge importance on this issue, and it therefore has a moral obligation to push for the course of action that really brings justice to the Sri Lankan people. We can assert a position where we express hope in the new government without suddenly releasing ourselves from our moral responsibility.

Indeed, as the UNHRC report states:

"The Council welcomes the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Report on Sri Lanka and fully endorses all the recommendations, especially creating a Hybrid Court with International Judges, Prosecutors and Investigators."

"The Council further urges the High Commissioner to submit a report in the March, June, and September 2016 Sessions of the UNHRC about the progress in setting up the Hybrid Court and Prosecutions."

The Minister of State has suggested Sri Lanka simply needs a ‘credible domestic mechanism that meets international standards’ (Westminster Hall, 15 September 2015), but we do not agree that this is enough. Instead, the need for a hybrid mechanism that combines the best of national and international action to achieve the mutual goal of justice for the Sri Lankan people is clear.

We sincerely hope the UK government will turn away from its ‘hands-off’ approach, to reassert the importance of international oversight, and to call explicitly for the full implementation of the UNHRC’s recommendations. Full justice and accountability requires not just the use of existing national mechanisms but full institutional reforms and international supervision to ensure these crimes can never happen again.

Six years after the end of the brutal civil war, not one person has been prosecuted for war crimes, despite the fact that forty thousand Tamils died in the final stages of war alone. We cannot stand by and let limited national mechanisms fail to provide the victims of inhumanity the fairness and justice that they truly deserve. The justice process must have people’s full confidence if it is to bring closure and a new beginning for the Sri Lankan people.

We look forward to these matters being taken into account and the UK’s position on this important subject being reviewed.

Yours sincerely,

Siobhain McDonagh MPSenior Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils

Joan Ryan MPVice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils

Mike Gapes MP

Barry Gardiner MP

John Mann MP

Stephen Pound MP

Steve Reed MP

Virendra Sharma MP

Stephen Timms MP

TNA hails U.S.-backed resolution on Sri Lanka

A file photo of Tamil National Alliance leader, R. Sampanthan.

"This is perhaps the best possible resolution that could have been achieved at the UNHRC", says TNA leader R. Sampanthan.

T. RAMAKRISHNAN-September 29, 2015

The draft resolution on Sri Lanka tabled at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by the U.S. and other countries has addressed the main issues of accountability and reconciliation, according to the Tamil National Alliance leader, R. Sampanthan.

The involvement of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence counsel, prosecutors and investigators would give the judicial process “much greater degree of credibility”, the TNA chief told The Hindu on Tuesday. “You can’t blame the people who are sceptical [of the domestic judicial process] because the previous experiences were quite bad.”

The references in the resolution to the need to evolve an acceptable political solution and the proposed review of implementation of the resolution at the 32nd and 34th sessions of the UNHRC are “welcome features”, he said.

“This is perhaps the best possible resolution that could have been achieved at the UNHRC on the basis of a consensus.” Mr. Sampanthan also recalled that resolutions on Sri Lanka were adopted at the UNHRC during 2012-2014 through voting.

Asked whether he was confident of the full implementation of the resolution, the TNA leader said that a “honest implementation will become inevitable,” against the context of “a resolution based on consensus.” He urged all to join together to make sure that the resolution was “honestly implemented in the interests of the whole country and all people living in the country.”

Emphasising that an early settlement to the Tamil question should be found by next year, he said it must be “reasonable, workable and durable.” “Our people must feel that they have a new future where they honestly think that they belong to this country and this country belongs to them.”

Justice mechanism controlled by Sri Lanka will not be credible say Tamil parties, civil society and trade unions

29 September 2015

Expressing concern over the consensus resolution on Sri Lanka due to be tabled at the UN Human Rights Council, North-East civil society groups, trade unions and Tamil political parties, including three out of the four constituent parties of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) stressed that “a mechanism, which is by and large managed and controlled by the Sri Lankan state, will not in our opinion be deemed credible by the victims in Sri Lanka”.

Justice Mechanism Controlled by Sri Lanka Will Not Be Credible Say Tamil Parties, Civil Society and Trade U... by Thavam Ratna

Sri Lankans disabled by war, forgotten in peace

Mayuran Sivachandran, seen here in August 2015 in Mulaittivu District where fighting raged between Sri Lanka government forces and the Tamil Tigers, lost his leg in 2008 to a war-related injury.

A man permanently injured during the war is seen in August 2015 in Mullivaikal where the last battles were fought-Government soldiers who suffered permanent injury during the war are seen at a victory commemoration event in Colombo in May 2014

By Amantha Perera -29 September 2015

KARADIYANARU, Sri Lanka, 16 September 2015 (IRIN) - Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war ended six years ago, but it’s not over for many victims who suffered permanent injuries during the conflict.

Government soldiers can receive assistance packages for injuries sustained in service, including the continuation of salaries for those able to work at desk jobs, or long-term care in military-run facilities for those severely disabled. But there is no programme to help civilians and former Tamil Tigers who remain permanently affected by injuries during the war.

Sri Lankans Disabled by War, Forgotten in Peace by Thavam Ratna