Comm. officials verify arms, ammo stocks

By Skandha Gunasekara and Niranjala Ariyawansha-2015-10-29 

Officials of the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Massive Fraud and Corruption yesterday inspected the Avant Garde vessel which is anchored in the Galle Harbour.

Secretary to the Commission Lacille de Silva told Ceylon Today that five officials had been dispatched to Galle to inspect the......Avant Garde and to take a physical count of the stock of weapons stored within. De Silva added that the officials would remain in Galle till the end of today until completion of the mission.

The vessel was initially detained by the Navy on 6 October when it attempted to enter Galle Harbour.
At the time of the detention, a total of 33 individuals were aboard the ship. Five of them were foreign nationals.
It was suspected at the time that there were 800 rifles (T-56, T-84s) and 200,000 bullets on board.

Lanka Coal playing with fire

Oct 28, 2015

During the Rajapaksa era the tender procedure for the procurement of coal to operate the Norochcholai power plant was habitually marred with controversy.

The general practice used to be for the tender to be awarded, and then cancelled, then to be re-awarded to be cancelled again. Ravi Wijerathne according to sources was the front for Yositha Rajapakse and Noble Resources International Pvt. Ltd, this company benefited due to Yoshitha’s involvement.

We understand a few months back the cabinet approval was given for spot orders, because of a powerful VIP after two spot orders the spot orders were stopped and the cabinet approved an order for 2.25 million metric tons of coal for one year from Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises, which supplies coal from South Africa, a beneficiary in the past.

While it is alleged that the price given to Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises is high, the spot orders according to CEB sources was not practical given the seasonality of the product and the fluctuating prices.

CEB sources are now saying prompt action would have to be taken to import coal as soon as possible to prevent a shutdown of the plant due to shortage of coal and that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) will have to purchase power at higher rates from diesel power plants in order to maintain an undisrupted power supply to the people.

The sharks that supply diesel power are already hovering round sources say for the next kill, given the premium price they can command in crisis. We understand a stock of 8000 metric tons of coal is needed daily to operate all three phases of the Norochcholai power plant with the current stock sufficient for less than two weeks, the CEB will incur heavy losses if it has to shut down the power plant due to a shortage of coal, thanks to the bickering going on currently at Lanka coal.

Sources say six companies generally make bids for the tender to supply 2.25 million metric tons of coal per year. Many of them get disqualified at the evaluation and the evaluation was generally manipulated by officials during the Rajapakse time based on orders given from the top.

The latest tender awarded some weeks back has taken a twist because according to sources it is alleged that the current Chairman is standing in the way of the coal being ordered because he had allegedly got resources form Noble Resources International Pvt. Ltd as campaign support for the last general elections and he is heavily under obligation use delaying tactics to support Yositha’s company Noble Resources International Pvt. Ltd to get a stay order to prevent lanka coal from ordering the coal required to run the plant as per the cabinet paper. Both parties are expected to bring dirt of the past to court while the country suffers.

It is not the interest of our group to support any company but to promote transparency in state tenders. Nevertheless, we understand whoever wins the suppliers fight tooth and nail given the nature of the business. But it is ridiculous to note that while the newest tender fight between the supplier, Chairman lanka coal and the CEB is on fire, the innocent taxpayers of the country will have to continue pay for the collecting losses at CEB until the fire is doused for good by cleaning up the company. Until then three cheers to Yahapalana.

For good governance

The emerging two-tier food system and Dr. Mercola’s write up on “How GMOs and Glyphosate Impact Soil Biology”

by Chandre Dharmawardana (posted: October 2015)

 October 26th, 2015

The fear that what you eat is “poisoned” and it is not good for you have produced a two-tier market with the top tier, made up of  “organic foods”  catering to the rich, while the poor have to eat the food from the large warehouse sales centers, US examples being  Costco and Wall-mart. The clout of the rich social segment is such that its campaign is likely to endanger the food market of the poor, especially in developing countries where safe pesticides and fertilizers have been banned by  frightened politicians who are faced with various illnesses whose origins are often ill-understood, and hence simply blamed on “poisoned farming”. In Canada, a small group of people from Sri Lanka were trying to sell their “traditional rice” packets, and also collect money for their NGO, claiming that normal Sri Lankan rice is contaminated with arsenic (although there is no evidence to support such a claim).

(see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE_vjC0z-z4 )

The Emerging Two-tier Food System and Dr. Mercola’s Write Up on “How GMOs and Glyphosate Impact Soil Biolog... by Thavam Ratna

Russia’s “Bombing” of Syrian Hospitals: The Incredible Expanding Lie

By Tony Cartalucci-27 October 2015

In any war, collateral damage is inevitable. And no matter how careful Russia attempts to be, one cannot avoid eventually killing innocent civilians. That is why it is so important to make sure any war fought is justified to begin with – so that when a tragic mistake is made it is not compounded by the fact that the war within which it took place shouldn’t have been fought in the first place.

Russia’s “Bombing” of Syrian Hospitals the Incredible Expanding Lie by Thavam Ratna

Report says at least 200 Iran-linked fighters 

killed in Syria 

Revolutionary Guard leader says fighters from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan have entered Syria in response to call from President Assad
The 200 fighters acknowledged killed are reportedly Afghan refugees paid to fight in Syria (AFP) 

Wednesday 28 October 2015

An Iranian news site close to the country's elite Revolutionary Guard military force has acknowledged the deaths of at least 200 of its fighters in Syria, as fighting on the ground continues to intensify.

Farsi-language news website Tabnak, which was founded by a former Revolutionary Guard chief and is considered to be close to the group, said on Tuesday that 200 fighters from the Fatemiyoun Brigade have been killed so far fighting in Syria.

The Fatemiyoun Brigade is a force composed of Afghan refugees living in Iran, who are reportedly paid $500 a month and promised residency papers in return for fighting alongside Syrian government forces.

Iranian officials have so far declined to mention casualty figures arising from their participation in Syria’s civil war, which has seen regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia give their backing to opposing sides.

But the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard, a wing of the military established after the 1979 revolution to prevent foreign interference in Iran, admitted on Monday that casualties were on the rise.

“Our number of martyrs is not high,” Brigadier General Hossein Salami told Iranian state television on Monday, “but compared to before it is more noticeable.”

“This is because the Syrian army is occupied with reorganising its military – that is why Shia military forces from Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iraq have entered alongside our forces in Syria.

“Because of this we are seeing an increase in the number of casualties in military operations there.”

Salami said Iran had sent more military advisers and trainers to Syria in response to a call for help from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Assad’s campaign to reassert control over Syria after more than four years of civil war has faced setbacks recently, with the prime minister promising this month to raise army salaries to combat the large numbers of people fleeing to avoid military conscription.

However, forces allied to Assad, which include fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, recently received a boost when Russia began airstrikes to back up their movements on the ground.

There have also been reports that Russia suffered its first military casualty on the ground in Syria, after the reported death of 19-year-old Vadim Kostenko, who reportedly travelled to the country “as a contract soldier”.

Moscow has denied reports that Kostenko was killed in action, saying it was launching an investigation after a technical specialist took his own life in Syria.

- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/200-iran-backed-fighters-killed-syria-war-iranian-report-1567448953#sthash.qyc7nuU2.dpuf

One migrant's extraordinary journey from Europe to Syria

Abu Salah, who fled after his home town in Syria was destroyed by the Assad regime, documented his dramatic voyage to Europe. This is his story.

WEDNESDAY 28 OCTOBER 2015
Abu Salah was a blacksmith in Syria before fleeing the country.

His home town Al-Rastan was one of the first to rise up against the Assad regime. In retaliation, it was completely flattened by the Syrian army.

Abu Salah had been documenting with his camera the daily atrocities that took place in Syria's civil war in the hope of drawing attention to the bloodshed, and continued to do so after he left for Turkey with his wife and child.

"I don't like to film here with the blood. Believe me, I don't like it," he says, as he records another war fatality. "It’s easier for me to film bombs than see the blood."

Deciding the world wasn't taking notice of the Syrian people's plight, he stopped documenting the casualties and destruction in the war and decided to record his escape instead.

Leaving his wife and daughter in Turkey, he made the arduous journey from Syria to Belgium and recorded the events along the way.

Journey to Europe

Abu Salah captures his voyage alongside that of other refugees as they travel, braving the elements and authorities to reach their destination. The group sleep rough, risk injury as they travel by foot on railway tracks and shudder through the rain.

There is even a scene that sees Abu Salah - who has never been at sea before - piloting a boat to see 57 refugees safely to the shore of a Greek island.

"We need a life. We're obliged to do this." He says. "We have no choice."

Whilst his journey is compelling, it is in no way singular. So far this year, over 560,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Greece - and over 350 lost their lives attempting the same.

"We need a life. We're obliged to do this. We have no choice." 

Almost 140,000 people made it to Italy and Malta, with 3,000 people dying in the Mediterranean.

And though 4,000 people landed in Spain, more than two dozen perished making the arduous journey from North Africa.

In all, well over 3,000 have died in the process of making it to Europe. Abu Salah is one of the 700,000 people who made it alive and this is his story.

The US is “Making a Fool of Itself” in Syria. Bring Back Jimmy Carter!

By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts-October 27, 2015

Caught with its pants down in Syria, the US government is making a fool of itself.  By attempting to mischaracterize Russia’s actions against ISIS in Syria, Washington has admitted that the terrorists from outside Syria, who are attempting to overthrow the elected government of Syria, are “our guys.”  

In an interview with Fox “News,” a senior US government official said:  “Putin is deliberately targeting our forces. Our guys are fighting for their lives.”

Professor Michel Chossudovsky reports that “our guys” includes Western military advisers, intelligence agents and mercenaries recruited from private security companies.

 The defense official told Fox “News” that the Russians are “completely disingenuous about their desire to fight ISIS.”  According to the Obama regime, all of the hundreds of Russian air and missile attacks against ISIS are directed at US trained terrorists — all five of them — and their hundreds of Western advisors.

Evidently, the senior defense official forgot that General Lloyd Austin, who heads US Central Command, recently told the Senate Armed Services Committee that only 4 or 5 of the US-trained “moderate terrorists” remain on the battle field.  Obama has cancelled the failed $500 million waste of US taxpayers money to train “moderate terrorists” to overthrow the Syrian government. The trainees took the money and ran.

It is difficult to believe that even the incompetents who work for Fox “News” could really think that the Russians made hundreds of air strikes, supplemented with cruise missile strikes, against 4 or 5 moderate terrorists.  But the stupidity and ignorance of Fox “News” knows no limits.  (The most discouraging aspect of my existance is the knowledge that millions of dumbshit Americans sit before Fox “News” for their daily brainwashing.)

But that is the story that senior US government officials are leaking to a gullible, or paid for, Fox “News.”

The truth of the matter—which will never emerge from Fox “News”— is that Washington is using ISIS in an illegal attempt to overthrow an elected government that will not submit to being a Washington puppet.

In clear words, Washington in total violation of law is behaving as a war criminal and is attempting to overthrow an elected government in order to replace it with a vassal answering to Washington.

President Putin has said that Russia will not stand for any more war crimes from Washington in areas of the world that affect Russian national interests.  Russia has been asked for assistance by the legitimate government of Syria against ISIS, and the Russian air strikes are exterminating ISIS.  This has the Washington war criminals upset.  The senior US defense official told Fox “News” that the only role for Russia in Syria is to assist the US in overthrowing Assad.  I guess the dumbshit Washington official didn’t hear what Putin had to say.

The question that desperately needs to be asked will never be asked by the US print and TV media or by NPR.  That question is: What is the point of the incessant US government lies about Russia, its actions, and its intentions?  Are the warmongers in Washington trying to start World War Three?

Obviously the presidential candidates—both Hillary and all of the Republican dimwits—are determined to start World War Three.  Watch the Americans vote for World War Three in the next election.

The United States government no longer has any credibility outside its borders and very little within, as evidenced by recent polls that show that 62 percent of American voters are wishing for a third party in the hopes that it might represent the people instead of a half dozen vested interests that, thanks to the Republican Supreme Court, have purchased the US government, lock, stock and barrel.

The reason so many voters admire Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, even though both have no idea what really needs to be done, is that these two are the only candidates who are raising a fuss about a politial system that serves only a few.  Talk about dictators and disenfranchisement, the American voters are the most disenfranchised in human history.  Allegedly the US is a democracy, but there is no sign of democracy in the behavior of the government. Sound and careful studies show that the US voter has no input whatsoever into the behavior and decisions of the US government.  The US government is as far removed from the people, if not more so, than any dictatorship.  We desperately need to be liberated outselves!

As former President Jimmy Carter recently said, America is no longer a democracy.  America is an oligarchy.

Like so many things Carter was right about, but never given credit for by the corrupt American Establishment, Carter is again correct.

I say bring back Jimmy Carter.  The man is moral and intelligent.  He is a million times better than any presidential candidate in the running. At 90 years of age in a losing war with cancer, Jimmy Carter is our best bet.

Notes:  

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/10/14/official-russia-deliberately-targeting-us-backed-forces-in-syria/  

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-program-isis-fighters-syria-general-lloyd-austin-congress/  

http://www.globalresearch.ca/washington-accuses-putin-of-targeting-our-guys-including-cia-operatives-and-western-military-advisers-inside-syria-instead-of-isis-terrorists/5482475 

Winter Is Coming, and the EU’s Refugee Crisis Isn’t Ready

In an exclusive interview with Foreign Policy, the United Nations' refugee chief warned that the EU must put politics aside to prepare for winter weather conditions. 

BY SIOBHÁN O'GRADY-OCTOBER 28, 2015

Conditions are already dire for the millions of refugees who have fled war-torn Syria and sought a new home in Europe and other countries in the Middle East. Now, though, another enemy looms on the horizon: winter.

The United Nations refugee agency will present an $81 million “winterization” plan to the European Union this week in an attempt to better conditions for the thousands of asylum-seekers who cross European borders each day.

In an exclusive interview with Foreign Policy in Washington Tuesday, António Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said colder weather and rougher conditions at sea may temporarily slow down the movement of refugees from Syria to Europe this winter, but this will make more urgent the need to better coordinate humanitarian efforts as temperatures drop.

The UNHCR plan, which Guterres said he will present to the EU “in the next few days,” will address how to appropriately protect refugees already in Europe and better insulate welcome centers and other temporary holding areas to ensure they are warm enough for the refugees who will inevitably continue to arrive all winter long.

“Let’s not forget the crisis in Syria is going on, the fighting is being intensified, and the hopes of people are not being enhanced,” Guterres toldFP. “We believe that the pressure will go on, eventually with a decrease in numbers because of the weather but not a decrease in the anxiety and desperation of the Syrian people.”

A separate winterization program is already underway for the millions of refugees living in the Middle East, but its funding continues to fall short. What resources are available are being used in part to help insulate abandoned buildings or tents, where many refugees live, and pay for warmer clothing and fuel to heat refugees’ homes. The $66 million program in Iraq, for example, is funded at only 52 percent, which the UNHCR warned will leave almost half-a-million people without fuel this winter.

More than 700,000 people have arrived in Europe by sea this year, and another 3,000 have died on the dangerous trek across the Mediterranean. The daily arrivals have completely overwhelmed the European Union, which has failed to come to any kind of comprehensive agreement on how to deal with the migrants and refugees, many of whom are fleeing civil war in Syria and hope to qualify for asylum. Greece and Italy have been particularly overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who arrive on their shores each day.

Disagreement over proposed quota plans threatens to tear the bloc apart. Germany, for example, has acknowledged it will likely accept at least 800,000 refugees this year, while Hungary hastily built a fence to try to keep the refugees out. On Wednesday, Slovenia threatened to do the same if it does not receive immediate assistance from a new plan backed by some EU member states and leaders from the Balkans.

This summer, Berlin came under fire from right-wing EU leaders, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration announced refugees would be welcomed in Germany even if their passports had not been stamped in their country of arrival. Orban blamed the German announcement — which Budapest deemed illegal under EU law — for the tens of thousands of refugees who crammed Hungarian train stations and overwhelmed border crossings hoping to reach Germany in the weeks that followed.

But Guterres dismissed that notion. He told FP Tuesday that refugees have said their motivation for rushing to get into Germany was not political soundbites but rather the fear that all internal borders inside the EU would be closed.

“I’ve never seen any refugee saying they have moved because of any declaration of any German politician,” he said. “I think that some [border] closures have more impact in pushing people to move as quickly as possible than the welcoming attitude in a number of countries.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced in September that the United States would expand its refugee cap to 100,000 by 2017, but Congress may be reluctant to pay for it. At the U.N. General Assembly in September, Hungarysuggested that a worldwide quota system should be enacted in order to more evenly distribute refugees to countries in some way responsible for the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, which have contributed refugees to the crisis.

But Guterres said he welcomed Washington’s announcement that it planned to increase the number of refugees it accepts and dismissed the blame game as an unnecessary politicization of a humanitarian crisis.

“If you try to politicize these humanitarian questions, you will only undermine the possibility to provide adequate protection assistance and solutions to the people who need it,” he said. “It is not by bashing each other that the members of the international community will solve the problem.”

But the onset of winter has the EU and Syria’s neighbors in the Middle East urgently looking for a way to better organize the migration patterns.

One suggestion floated by Turkish officials is to stop migration before it begins by implementing a safe zone inside Syria where potential refugees could huddle without having to flee to neighboring countries or the EU. But several world leaders, including Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama, fear that plan would put the displaced at risk of being massacred there, especially given the difficulty of establishing a no-fly zone inside Syria now that Russian aircraft are supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The international community is still scarred by the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in what was supposed to be a safe zone in Srebrenica during the Bosnian War, and many are unwilling to risk a similar scenario in Syria. On Tuesday, Guterres voiced the same concerns.

“No safe zone can undermine the right to seek and enjoy asylum,” he said. “The worst thing you can do is to have a false impression of safety in an area where so many actors of such different natures are operating.”

Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images

Nepal's parliament elects nation's first female president

By ASSOCIATED PRESS-28 October 2015

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepalese lawmakers elected a longtime women's rights campaigner to become the country's first female president Wednesday, as the Himalayan nation pushes for more gender equality in politics and work life.

Bidhya Devi Bhandari, the 54-year-old deputy leader of Nepal's Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist, had lobbied actively for the new constitution to require that either the president or vice president be a woman.

Nepal has been trying to shift from a traditionally male-dominated society, where women are mostly limited to working at homes or on farms, to one in which women have equal access to opportunities and legal rights.

Bidhya Devi Bhandari of the Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist waves her hand after she was elected as Nepal's new president in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. Bhandari, 54, who has long campaigned for women's rights was elected Wednesday as Nepal's first female president. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Lawmakers cheered as Bhandari's name was announced as the new president. An ally and party colleague of Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, Bhandari had been considered the favorite for the largely ceremonial job.

Bhandari said her election — by a vote of 327-214 against Congress party leader Kul Bahadur Gurung — marked a first step toward assuring the new constitutional guarantees of equality are fulfilled. The constitution, adopted last month, also requires that one-third of the country's lawmakers be women, and that women be included in all government committees.

And last week, Onsari Gharti was elected as the country's first female Parliament speaker.

Bhandari has been a leading political figure since 1993 when her late husband, Communist party Madan Bhandari, was killed in a car accident.

She led demonstrations against the former King Gyanendra in 2006, helping drive the country toward ending his authoritarian rule and restoring democracy.

Bhandari is Nepal's second president since then. She replaces President Ram Baran Yadav, who was elected in 2008 for a two-year term that was extended when efforts to draft a new constitution stalled over seven years.

Presidential candidate and vice-chairperson of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) Bidhya Bhandari waves her hand after casting vote as lawmakers vote for a new president in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. The prime minister is Nepal's leader, while the president is the ceremonial head.The new constitution adopted last month requires Nepal to name a new president.(AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Bidhya Devi Bhandari, center, of the Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist smiles after she was elected as Nepal's new president in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. Bhandari, 54, who has long campaigned for women's rights was elected Wednesday as Nepal's first female president. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, center,prepares to cast his vote as lawmakers vote for a new president in Kathmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. The prime minister is Nepal's leader, while the president is the ceremonial head.The new constitution adopted last month requires Nepal to name a new president.(AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

South Sudan: 'a level of human suffering I have never seen anywhere else'

Children are paying the highest price for 22-month conflict that has displaced millions of people and pushed the world’s youngest country close to famine

In the schoolyard at the Malakal protection of civilians camp children sketch on slates with chalk. Photograph: Unicef

Sam Jones in Malakal-Wednesday 28 October 2015

Under a pink mosquito dome in a shack among the filthy alleyways of sector two of the Malakal protection of civilians (PoC) camp lies 11-day-old Pul.

Tiny, perfect, sleepy, and naked save for the beads around his neck and wrist, Pul is oblivious to the state of his homeland, a country born a little more than four years before him.

South Sudan 'a Level of Human Suffering I Have Never Seen Anywhere Else' by Thavam Ratna

As U.S. braces for Syrian refugees, mental health services lag

BY MEGAN CASSELLA AND SERENA MARIA DANIELS-Wed Oct 28, 2015

More than 20 years after Saddam Hussein's soldiers in Iraq killed his brother in front of him, Ali Alghazally still suffers from night terrors he blames on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a common problem among refugees often left untreated.

As the United States prepares to take in 10,000 or more Syrian refugees in the coming year, social service groups are urging more funding for mental health counseling for cases like Alghazally's, saying it makes resettlement easier.

The 48-year-old finally began undergoing psychotherapy last year in Dearborn, a southeastern Michigan city that is home to many Arab-Americans - but not before becoming addicted to anti-anxiety pills and leaving his job as a limousine driver.

"The best time to get treatment is once it's fresh and it's new," said Sharehan Ayesh, Alghazally's counselor at the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services in Dearborn, which calls itself the nation's largest social service agency for Arab-Americans.

"We're having to do 20 years' worth of repair that should have been done" earlier, Ayesh said recently.

President Barack Obama has pledged to take in thousands more refugees from Syria's civil war.

Many of those fleeing the violence - which has included barrel bombs, chemical weapons, gunfire and summary executions - will need mental health counseling.

But if history is any guide, few will get it.

Because it competes with basic needs such as housing, schooling and job placement, counseling for refugees often is neglected.

BACK TO NORMAL

This is the case even though refugees who learn to cope early on with PTSD tend to settle more easily into the United States and benefit more from other services, said officials from groups that will soon be assisting Syrian new arrivals.

"Folks really need to be able to get back to their lives: school, work, things that they were doing in their own countries," said Alison Beckman, clinical supervisor at the St. Paul, Minnesota-based Center for Victims of Torture, one of the largest treatment centers of its kind in the United States.

But refugees with PTSD or depression often cannot resume those aspects of their lives because their symptoms are so severe, she said.

Fear, uncertainty and trauma can combine in PTSD - an illness that can affect veterans and other survivors of wars or other major traumas - to cause violent flashbacks, an inability to trust others and other symptoms.

Between 15 percent and 20 percent of all refugees globally have mental health problems, but fewer than 1 percent of the total will get care for them, Mark van Ommeren, a public mental health adviser for WHO, said in an email.

In general, mental health care in the United States has long been criticized as inadequate. More than 43 million American adults experience mental illness annually, but nearly 60 percent of them did not receive care for it in the past year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, an advocacy group based in Arlington, Virginia.

MONEY TIGHT

A lack of funding is part of the problem. WHO estimated that for every $1,000 spent globally on humanitarian aid, only $1 goes toward mental health care, according to a 2011 study, the most recent year for which numbers were available.

"That is way too little," van Ommeren said. He said care is essential so that refugees can perform day-to-day activities, engage with their communities and hold down a job.

The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement added four more funded programs to its Survivors of Torture initiative this fiscal year, bringing the total nationwide to 34, spokesman Kenneth Wolfe said. But, despite calls from physicians and lawmakers to increase the agency's $11 million annual budget, it remains the same.

To treat traumatized refugees, programs typically offer talk therapy, group counseling and physical rehabilitation. Another key aspect is psycho-education - teaching refugees about mental health - to help combat cultural stigmas that often prevent them from asking for help.

Officials said many Syrians are expected to resettle in areas where their community is already being established: largely in Michigan, Texas and California, according to U.S. State Department data mapping the distribution of Syrian refugees so far this year.

(For a graphic on Syrian and other refugees admitted to the United States in fiscal year 2015, click on reut.rs/208UR7W)

The Detroit area, a common destination for the past 15 years for Iraqi refugees, is ready for a Syrian influx, said Hassan Jaber, executive director of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services in Dearborn.

At resettlement agencies, officials rush to meet basic needs while urging refugees to become self-sufficient as soon as possible, before government aid runs out.

"The clock starts ticking really right when they arrive," said Aaron Rippenkroeger, chief executive of Refugee Services of Texas, which has centers in five major cities in the state. He called the time pressures a shortfall of the U.S. resettlement model.

"There's not a lot of time for them to engage with the facts of what they've been through," he said.

(Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Stuart Grudgings and Jonathan Oatis)

Darusman Report inflated estimates- Maxwell Paranagama

by Manjula Fernando-Sunday, 25 October 2015

Chairman of the Missing Persons Commission, retired High Court Judge Maxwell Paranagama, said although it was extremely difficult to cite a definite figure of civilian deaths in the final phase of the war, the Darusman Report has greatly inflated estimates. On the Channel 4 footage, he said, "We are not shedding our responsibility merely on technical grounds. There should be other evidence to confirm if this incident actually took place. "

Excerpts :

Q: The final report on the second mandate of the Presidential Commission to investigate complaints regarding missing persons was tabled in Parliament by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday. Have you fulfilled the task up to expectations ?

A: I am satisfied because we have prepared it in a very balanced way. We have tried our best to set forth a platform to achieve the truth as to what has happened in the last phase of the war.

Q: How did you come to the conclusion that civilian deaths from January 1 to May 18, 2009 could be somewhere around 7,500 ?

A: We have been very truthful in this matter. We said the Darusman Report, which claimed 40,000 civilian deaths had no basis. We can definitely say that the civilian death toll cannot be as high as that. Our findings are based on a UN Country team report, leaked US embassy cables giving daily casualty updates, which estimated 6,710 as the civilian death toll and a survey conducted by the census and statistics shortly after the war among other reports. But we have also said that there is no way of knowing a definite figure.

Q: Can these civilian casualties be construed as collateral damage ?

A: A vast majority of these deaths can be construed as collateral damage but there have been isolated incidents that need further investigation. When the people were being moved, the Army established a ' No fire zone' for the safety of civilians. Armed LTTE cadres also moved in and fired on the military from among the civilians. The Army retaliated and civilians have died in the crossfire.

Q: On what basis did you reject the Darusman Report?

A: On many grounds. They have made allegations in that report and these allegations have not been corroborated by evidence. There was no basis. We also criticised their estimates on civilian casualties.

But the Commission took note of certain matters discussed in their report. We decided that further investigation is needed on some of their allegations, the Channel 4 claims, surrendees going missing, shelling and the white flag issue. We recommended further investigations on those incidents. I must say there were wrong and hasty interpretations to our findings for unknown reasons.

Q: Is it wrong to say that you have accepted that there had been war crimes during the final stages of the war. This news was given wide coverage in the media ?

A: The whole world knows about the excesses the LTTE committed - recruitment of child soldiers,the human shield they set up and so on. But the allegations of isolated incidents against the security forces need to be established.

Q: Have you come to the conclusion about the authenticity of the Channel 4 footage ?

A: No. We are not worried about the technicalities. We have taken what is mentioned in the LLRC on Channel 4. The allegations refer to crimes against humanity. The truth must be ascertained.

Q: There have been many interpretations to your findings, in the media, especially on the Channel 4 documentary.

A: The report cannot be read like a newspaper. It has to be studied in depth before criticising it.

We have analysed this footage. We have been critical of the program's failure to deal with the controversy on civilian deaths fairly and itsemphasis on the number 40,000. However, the footage is just a piece of evidence. There should be other evidence to confirm that the Channel footage is true. Similarly, wrong interpretations must not be given to what is mentioned in the report.

Q: The US led UNHRC Resolution on Sri Lanka proposes a criminal inquiry into the war crimes allegations. Sri Lanka's legal system provides for such a mechanism ?

A: We have set out a mechanism. We referred to a certain section in the constitution where it says, any crime committed before any law is enacted cannot be dealt with. In general there is no retroactive effect of Sri Lanka's law. A subsection of this article says notwithstanding that, any crime committed against community of nations must be dealt with.

If Sri Lanka's domestic law is not exhaustive, we can make use of that provision to bring in new legislation with retrospective effect. We have also proposed to set up a new High Court, for anyone to prove his innocence, and a 'Truth Commission' if a perpetrator wants to admit the wrongs he had committed and seek amnesty.

Q: To ensure closure of those serious allegations, have you suggested any action ?

A: We recommended to appoint a special investigating team. In April, on the President's approval, a five-member team comprising retired police officers and headed by a retired Supreme Court judge was appointed. They met all the LTTE detainees and displaced people in IDP camps to inquire about missing people. It also studied war-time hospital registries, going through 14,000 names. The team is currently probing six incidents of alleged war crimes under the second mandate. Once the investigation report is submitted it can be referred to the Attorney General for legal action.

Q: In what way did the international panel of experts headed by Sir Desmond De Silva QC assisted the Commission ?

A: Their contribution was vital. Sir Desmond, as a prosecutor on behalf of the UN, had first hand experience in applying humanitarian and Human Rights Laws, as well as the other members Prof. Sir Geoffry Nice and Prof. David Crane. The evidence collected by us had to be judged according to international law. Their expertise were sought in studying claims on genocide, shelling and starvation of civilians.

Q: Is there a separate report by the international advisory panel?

A: No. For the second mandate, which covered incidents that took place from January 2009 to May 18, 2009, there is only one report and that is the Paranagama Report. It had been prepared with expert advice from the advisory panel.

Q: The UN Human Rights High Commissioner recently made a statement where he said the Missing Persons Commission lacked credibility hence, it had to be disbanded. Your comments ?

A: I rejected that comment. No explanation was given for making this criticism. When we invite 25 people in the North to appear before the Commission for submissions, nearly 1000 people line up, amidst organised protests demanding foreign investigations. The best litmus test is the reaction of the people.

Q: What could have prompted that comment ?

A: I can't say anything without any reason. I don't know why he came to that conclusion.

The Commission also covered many issues outside the mandate, on a humanitarian note, regarding employment, livelihoods, pension claims, death and birth certificates.

Q: When can the Commission complete the first mandate where 19,000 cases of missing persons are being investigated ?

A: With two additional Commissioners appointed recently, we have five Commissioners attending sittings now. The Commissioners are sitting separately and we hope to conclude the work expeditiously.

14_August_Final_Version.pdf-Paranagama Report.pdf by Thavam Ratna