Non made-up grey hair fact: Scientists have found gene that causes them

The gene identified, IRF4, is known to play a role in hair colour but this is the first time it has been associated with the greying of hair. (Shutterstock)

IANS, London

Updated: Mar 02, 2016 

A billion ‘facts’ on greying hair and what causes them keep propping up from time to time but in a first, an international team of researchers has identified a gene, confirming greying has a genetic component and is not just environmental.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, analysed a population of over 6,000 people with varied ancestry across Latin America to identify new genes associated with hair colour, greying, density and shape.

The gene identified, IRF4, is known to play a role in hair colour but this is the first time it has been associated with the greying of hair.

This gene is involved in regulating production and storage of melanin, the pigment that determines hair, skin and eye colour, according to the study.

Hair greying is caused by an absence of melanin in hair so researchers want to find out IRF4’s role in this process. (Shutterstock)

Hair greying is caused by an absence of melanin in hair so researchers want to find out IRF4’s role in this process. Understanding how IRF4 influences hair greying could help the development of new cosmetic applications that change the appearance of hair as it grows in the follicle by slowing or blocking the greying of hair.

“We have found the first genetic association to hair greying, which could provide a good model to understand aspects of the biology of human aging,” Andres Ruiz-Linares from the University College London said.

“Understanding the mechanism of the IRF4 greying association could also be relevant for developing ways to delay hair greying,” Ruiz-Linares added.

Read: Premature grey hair? 10 natural remedies to fight it out

Another gene, PRSS53, which was found to influence hair curliness, was investigated by the University of Bradford’s Center for Skin Sciences as part of the study.

The team also found additional genes associated with hair including EDAR for beard thickness and hair shape; FOXL2 for eyebrow thickness and PAX3 for monobrow prevalence.

Adaikalanathan seeks help to combats Grasshopper scourge

Mar 03, 2016

TNA Parliament MP Selvam Adaikalanathan has seek President Maithripala Sirisena’s help to combat the grasshopper scourge faced by the farmers in the Mannar, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya districts.

MP Selvam Adaikalanathan has sent a written request to the President.

The full text of the letter as follows

March 3,2OLG
His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena 
President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 
President Office, 
Colombo

Your Excellency,

Eradication of Grasshopper Scourge faced by the farmers of Mannar, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya Districts

I am writinfl this letter to seek your kind assistance, on behalf of the farmers of the Mannar, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya Districts in eradicating out the grasshopper scourge. Thousands of farmers have been made helpless due to the voracious insects threatening the maturing paddy and other crops.

ln some areas the situation has gone out of control and they are faced with the loss of their entire year's work due to the devastation of paddy fields by this invading horde of crop destroyers. Further, they have abandoned the crop cultivation due to grasshopper invasion. And the poor farmers have fallen from frying pan to the fire due the insurance denial for compensation.

Therefore, I very earnestly request you to consider urgently

1. Providing compensation for the farmers whose cultivation was destroyed due to this menace.

2. Taking measures to eradicate and to stop the spread of the grasshoppers that are eating their way across the entire area.

Yours sincerely,

Selvam Adaikkalanathan,
Deputy Chairman of Committees

Families in Jaffna call for immediate release of Tamil political prisoners 02 March 2016 Families of Tamil political prisoners protested in Jaffna on Wednesday, urging the government to release them immediately.  The protest was organised by Komakan, who was released from prison two days prior by court order, after being.  Following the protest, Komathan visited the home of the Jaffna student who committed suicide in protest at the ongoing detention of political prisoners, Senthuran.

Tamils, the North and the State – Vishwamithra

“Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.”
-Charles de Gaulle

03/03/2016 

When we discuss in our high-sounding socio-political conversations of reconciliation or accommodation, we simply mean a genuine feeling of empathy, based fundamentally on compassion and kindness. Whether one is a Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim or a Burgher, reconciling oneself to the feelings, ambitions and desires of the other is not an easy human endeavour. Centuries-long myths have taken their toll and prepped the hearts and minds of our people. And it is not specific to Sri Lanka alone. All humankind has proven to be most receptive and consequently susceptible to the moods of the contemporary world. From the dawn of time, man has ventured out to be part of a group, family or a sect. Instead of living alone, he had realised that numbers give not only strength, they give a sense of belonging.

That sense of belonging gave man his desire and ambition to endeavour out together and conquer what was to be conquered. That desire for conquest is still going on unrelentingly.

That unrelenting ambition of man has helped land a man on the Moon; it has propelled him to carve out lush green fields out of desert sands; it has given us the smartphone and the fax machine and it continues to drive him through the proverbial peaks and valleys of victory and defeat. Man’s mastery of the universe, though not complete by any standard, is breathtaking and mind-boggling. And when the spirit of man continues to conquer everything around him, as Jawaharlal Nehru uttered in his Independence address: “a moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new; when an age ends; and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance”.

Yet, when one comes back to the basics of human decency and human graciousness, time and time again he has failed to contain his mean anger and primeval fears; he has resorted to the most wicked endeavorus of violence and man’s inhumanity to man has been well chronicled for all to see. In the words of Herodotus the father of history, “It’s impossible for someone who is human to have all good things together, just as there is no single country able to provide all good things for itself”. Man’s unyielding march towards bettering himself has given the world all wars and conflicts; it has left the world with more questions than answers, it has redirected the journey towards self-centred parochial ends. And in this pursuit of parochial ends and selfish goals, he has invented cocoons that nourish him; he has produced bubbles that protect him and patriotism, nationalism are essential parts of those cocoons and bubbles. To quote French President Charles de Gaulle: “Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first”.

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Societies, Constitutions and Social Dynamics

The constitution needs to stipulate mechanisms to maintain territorial integrity of a country that would avoid division of the country by circumventing forced and autocratic centralisation of communities. Perhaps this could be achieved by making room available for various smaller communities to enjoy autonomous rule based on genuine egalitarianism. There needs to be guarantees, that under any circumstances, a person cannot be detained indefinitely without trial.

by Lionel Bopage

( March 3, 2016, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) A constitutionally based system of governance in a society is about the politics that prevail in that society. Politics is about the people who rule and the people who are being subject to that rule. Academically speaking, a bourgeois democratic society should subject everybody in that society to its supreme law, which is its constitution. Of course, a constitution is a piece of paper on which the socio-economic and political objectives of the ruling elites are written. 

However, under the authoritarian regimes such as the one Sri Lanka previously had, constitutions may not worth the piece of paper on which they are written. Recently, a question a former minister and Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka had raised during a parliamentary debate on the process of creating a constitution was subject to intensive discussions. The MP had asked “Is the Constitution for eating?” If MPs do not respect and recognise the Constitution of the land, one cannot complain about the lack of respect of the ordinary people for it.

Contribution the constitutions of 1972 and 1978 have made to the mayhem that prevailed in the country during the last few decades is verifiably evident. Lack of rule of law had been the hallmark of the previous regime, though the situation that prevailed cannot be totally and solely blamed only upon the previous regime. The successive governments we have had since 1948 increasingly disregarded the supreme law of the land. This was done through wanton disregard of the constitution, flouting it through other means available to the ruling elite of the day, or bringing in new legislation that would contradict basic tenants of social justice. Since the new regime came to power last year, the lack of respect and disregard for rule of law has slightly diminished, though on many occasions, politicians, bureaucrats and security forces can be still found flouting its tenets.

Rightly, the former regime’s Minister’s cynicism had been taken to task. These are the very people who supported and practised authoritarianism. As has been correctly pointed out legislative, executive and judicial branches of the system of governance and its people need to abide by the constitution. It is said that under bourgeois democracy, a constitution becomes a social contract between the rulers and the ruled. Yet, historically this equilibrium of a social contract has not remained an absolute, or held true for all time. When relations of production prevailing in a bourgeois democratic society hinder further development of its productive forces, its democratic form usually gets replaced with dictatorial or autocratic practices   

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Sri Lanka Constitution Reform is Very Open, Very Transparent Process – Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne

Dr. N.M. Perera, stood for a new constitution from 1978-----What did Mr. Chelvanayagam say in the Constituent Assembly?

(Speech made by Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne in Parliament on 23.02.2016 on the Resolution for setting up a Constitutional Assembly, as a Committee of the whole House.)

03/03/2016 

Hon. Presiding Member,

Today, a golden opportunity has opened up for us to build a new constitutional edifice, with the broad support of the people and various political parties. We take the first step towards that today. Why do I say so? Have we not made constitutions before with the support of the people and all political parties?

The 1947-48 Constitution was not made by us. It was given to us by our colonial masters, the British. It is true that the Soulbury Commission heard the views of the people to some extent and that the Ministers’ Draft was considered. But, finally, it was a constitution imposed on us by the British. That is why it was opposed. There was considerable interest in adopting soon, a constitution rooted in our soil, an autochthonous constitution, as other countries that emerged from colonial rule did.

There were several issues. Could we have repealed the Soulbury Constitution was a whole, acting through Parliament? Dicta of the Privy Council in several cases raised doubts about that. Also, a two-thirds majority for any party seemed impossible to achieve. So, the United Front, at the general elections of 1970 asked for a mandate from the people to adopt a new constitution, acting through a Constituent Assembly outside Parliament. Quite unexpectedly, the United Front obtained more than a two-thirds majority. However, because of the legal issue mentioned earlier, a new constitution was not attempted through the Parliamentary process. Most people do not know that when the Members of Parliament were invited to meet at the Nava Rangahala, all 157 MPs, representing the Government and the Opposition, attended the first meeting. The Federal Party, Tamil Congress, United National Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Communist Party- they all attended. There was thus the unique opportunity to build a constitution with the participation of all parties. Mr. Chelvanayagam was an active member of the Steering and Subjects Committee.

It is regrettable that the Constitution that Sri Lanka got was one that the United Front wanted, not one built with the support of all. This is evident through a reading of the Constituent Assembly debates. We, of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, took part in the exercise. One of our leaders, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, was the Minister of Constitutional Affairs; that is a different issue. We need to look at what happened objectively. Looking back, that is the lesson to be learnt.

Hon. Presiding Member, the best example on the national question is the proposal made by Mr. Dharmalingam, the father of our Hon. Siddarthan. He proposed federalism on behalf of the Federal Party and said: “We ask for a Federal State. But if you cannot accept federalism, can you not at least abolish the Kachcheri system and set up bodies at District level as the parties belonging to the United Front promised at successive elections?”

Sir, that is stated in Column 429 of Volume 1 of the Constituent Assembly Debates of 16th March 1971 and I quote:

“If this Government thinks that it does not have a mandate to establish a federal Constitution, it can at least implement the policies of its leader, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, by decentralizing the administration, not in the manner it is being done now, but genuine decentralization, by removing the Kachcheris and in their place establishing elected bodies to administer those regions.”

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Proposals for the new constitution: People’s Democratic Centre

Photo courtesy ConstitutionNet

• by Peoples Democratic Centre 
• - on 03/03/2016 

We wish to present the following proposals   for the Constitution

Nature of the State

The Sri Lankan Constitution should provide the basis for a strong constitutional commitment to plural democracy, multiculturalism, gender equality and justice, secularism, the rule of law and the devolution of political power to the Provinces. The state should be inclusive of all the communities and   their cultures in the country and without such an inclusiveness they do not feel that they belong to this country. The state should protect and foster the values of plural democracy as a hallmark of the Sri Lankan state. The Sri Lankan state should underpin the values of gender equality and justice and this is essential owing to the fact women now represent more than half of the Sri Lankan population. The Sri Lankan state should reclaim its previous constitutional status of secularism, which disappeared in the 1972 Republican Constitution. No one religion should have   a special constitutional favor. Such constitutional guarantees discriminate other communities and faiths and that would affect the harmony essential for the peaceful coexistence of the multi-cultural and multi- religious communities in the country. The Sri Lankan state should be committed to the rule of law and the Constitution should make strong provisions to protect our people’s right to exercise the rule of law.

Due to the centralization of political power at the center during the colonial times and its continuation after independence despite the opportunities of dismantling it we have paid a heavy price. Both the Constitutions of 1972 and 1978 failed to address the issues of centralization and its harmful effects on community cohesion as far as the regional democratic aspirations are concerned. Therefore, regional power sharing needs to be non- reversible part of the state and   the Constitution should make a strong commitment to power sharing.

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Recent developments in Sri Lanka

The Government of Sri Lanka has no doubt that as the necessary political and economic reforms take place, investment and trade and ultimately jobs, growth and economic development will follow. But as the relationship between peace and development is holistic and dynamic, the faster the peace dividend the greater and faster the likelihood and durability of peace. In a nutshell, the people’s purses must feel the benefits of reconciliation, peace and ethnic harmony. And they must feel them fast.

Following article adopted from the remarks by Mangala Samaraweera , Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka at the 20th Meeting of the Governing Council of the Community of Democracies Geneva, 2 March 2016

( March 3, 2016, Geneva, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is an honour to be invited to the Community of Democracies, since my distinguished predecessor Lakshman Kadirgamar addressed the Inaugural Ministerial Conference of the Community in Warsaw in June 2000.

As you all know, democracy in its modern form began to take root in my country over a century ago when the basic forms of participatory democracy were introduced by the colonial government at the time. These systems evolved until, in 1931, Universal Adult Franchise was introduced in Sri Lanka, long before many other countries in the world. In 1948, with Sri Lanka becoming Independent, our Parliament was established.

We have a multi-party system, and despite some draw backs and setbacks over the years, one could state with confidence that democracy is very firmly and deeply rooted in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka clearly falls into the category of countries which believes that democracy, however flawed, is absolutely essential. There is no substitute for it. Democracy is in the lifeblood of our people. The voting habit is so deeply ingrained that I cannot possibly imagine a situation where any attempt to take it away from the people would be tolerated. This was evident even in the historic January 2015 Presidential Election when, in the face of imminent defeat, last minute efforts were made by the former regime to subvert the democratic process, such attempts were clearly resisted by the Army, the Police and the Attorney-General.

We have not seen any serious attempts at overthrowing our democracy in our 68 years of independence, except an attempt in 1962 which was aborted in a few hours. The quality of our democracy, over time, has ebbed and flowed, but Sri Lanka’s voter turnout at every election has been one of the highest in the world. The people of Sri Lanka are proud of their active and practising democracy, and if I may so, our democracy is also one that is firmly rooted and one that has also been tested.

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Deputy Secretary Antony Blinken Delivers National Statement at Human Rights Council

FINAL AS DELIVERED 

Deputy Secretary Antony Blinken
Human Rights Council National Statement

Wednesday, March 2, 2014
Geneva, Switzerland

Mister President of the Council, distinguished delegates, it is an honor to represent the United States here at the Human Rights Council on its 10^th anniversary.

The United States’ commitment to the mandate and mission of this Council runs deep into our nation’s history, where it is engraved into our founding values and etched into standards we strive to hold ourselves to every day. When the United States engaged with this Council under the leadership of President Obama, We made that decision not only because we share the aspirations of this Council—but because the world does. The fight for greater freedom, greater respect, greater dignity is a unifying narrative of our humanity in all its diversity, and we are proud to join this Council in upholding our common responsibility to this universal pursuit. That is why I am very pleased today to reaffirm the United States’ intention to seek reelection to the Council.

The principled, balanced, proactive leadership of this Council is needed now more than ever before in a world where a growing number of countries are laying siege to civil society. It is a world where violent extremism thrives in the shadows of marginalization and transforms some of those who feel cast aside, left behind, or repressed into slavers and executioners. And it is a world where unprecedented refugee and migrant flows are making more people—especially women and children—vulnerable to predation, trafficking, and abuse.

In Russia, a little more than a year after former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov’s murder in central Moscow, the Russian government’s attempts to suffocate civil society, suppress political opposition, and stigmatize members of minority groups continue unabated.  As we approach the two-year anniversary of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, we remain gravely concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation inUkraine’s Donbas and in the occupied peninsula.

Raids, arrests, baseless prosecutions, and torture have become regular facts of life for civilians, especially for those in the Tatar community. Occupation authorities and Russian-backed separatists have moved systematically to suppress dissent and impose a new repressive way of life in these parts of Ukraine. Russian-supported separatists in the Donbas prevent Ukrainian residents from accessing humanitarian assistance, leaving civilians without sufficient food and shelter. This is simply unacceptable. We welcome the Council’s continued attention to these egregious abuses and call on Russia to do its part by putting an end to this behavior.

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Minister Kiriella Must Know A Thing Or Two

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –March 3, 2016

Shyamon Jayasinghe

According to Derana (3/3/16), Higher Education Minister Lakshman Kiriella had been nasty and uncouth to a journalist who questioned him with regard to his controversial order to Head of the political science department at the Kelaniya University to appoint a lecturer to the University. The report states that the Minister had claimed he had the authority to direct the VC on a matter like this. He had castigated the journo in “unprintable language” and reminded him that the journo is simply a guy with a pen in his hand.

I am hoping the Derana report isn’t correct because I am one those who wrote relentlessly against the abuses of the Rajapaksa regime. January 8th was a great day of relief to writers like us,too. Everybody who has read theColombo Telegraph columns knows my stand on this.

There are many things dead wrong about the Minister’s alleged behaviour. Bravo to FUTA for having put its foot forward and cried foul when Kiriella gave the direction. Lakshman Kiriella must know that the kind of order and direction he can give the University Board has necessarily to be restricted to general policy matters touching on government policy. He has no right to give directions relevant to the day-to-day running of Universities. If he doesn’t know this he should resign and hand over his portfolio to someone more intelligent. Kiriella should ask himself a test question: If the Minister can give directions regarding an administrative act then what is the whole purpose of University autonomy? Universities all over the world get this autonomy on a platter. Every University has its own culture. Universities are esteemed and dignified places of learning and research.

Kiriella also states that the person he had recommended was “qualified.” Let us accept that for the moment. But what about other potential candidates for such a position? If they are far more qualified what should a University do? And what is the plight of the more qualified candidate who was rejected? This is far far away from Yahapalanaya. It is very close to the Marapalanaya, which the people rejected at the polls twice in succession.

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GMOA mafia doctor leaders who obstruct even providing ambulances to patients kayoed by Director General of health

(Lanka-e-News -02.March.2016, 11.30PM) The vicious stories and old wives’ tales spread by mafia leaders of the GMOA , namely doctors  Padeniya, Nalinda Silva and Soysa , better known now as ’killers,’ against the ambulance service that is to be gifted by India to Sri Lanka (SL) was clearly and categorically repudiated by Director General of the health service   medical specialist Palitha Mahipala .

These Doctors alias killers of the GMOA mafia ring were carrying on this campaign against this service despite clarifications and announcements made that no fees will be levied in respect of this service , and an emergency telephone number will be made available to  the people in their best interests  to enable them to  utilize this service freely. 

Mahipala who said ,he   is the chairman of this project went on to explain , to begin with 88 ambulances will be put in use to cover western and southern provinces as a pilot project. These comments were made by Mahipala when answering a question posed by a journalist during a media conference held on the  1 st  at Health education Bureau.

This service is  being provided as a grant by India. There are 1000 ambulances of the health ministry engaged in hospital services .The new ambulance service will not be linked to the fleet serving the hospitals. This new service will transport victims in an emergency or in an accident from the scene of tragedy to the nearest hospital, Mahipala pointed out.

The killer doctor Nalin De Herath ,the secretary of the GMOA mafia gang convening a press briefing recently however said , when India is unable to build a road , she gifting  ambulances to SL is therefore suspicion ridden. Besides, since the data of the patients are going into the hands  of the Indians who are coming along, it is a threat to national security.

(Mahipala yesterday categorically stated Indians are not coming along).

Nalinda Herath  who said , India is unable to build a road , could not say  how  India is launching rockets which go as far as the highest  regions of the sky. Nalinda is so clueless about what he is saying that he  could not explain how the data of the patient who is being transported in an emergency to a hospital  by ambulance can go out. Selfish self seeking Dr.   Nalinda Herath also could  not say ,how  to a genuine doctor who had taken the  sacred oath of Hippocrates,  national security can become  more important than the life of a patient .

These three killer doctors of the GMOA mafia ring , Padeniya , Nalinda Herath and Soysa are the only doctors perhaps in the whole wide world who have created a most ignominious record in the medical world as medical practitioners who obstruct even  ambulances being provided to patients

The views expressed  by deputy minister of foreign affairs , Dr. Harsha De Silva at yesterday’s press briefing in this regard can be viewed by clicking hereunder.
http://www.lankaenews.com/news/1171/en

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by     (2016-03-02 19:31:20)

A Father’s Love That Brought Oceans Of Tears

Roshen Chanaka shot dead by police during a protest by FTZ workers in Katunayake

Three innocent children – Avinash, Ahimsa and Aadesh believe it was nothing but divine justice that led to fall of one of the most tyrannical regimes, exactly on the sixth death anniversary of their loving father and founder Editor-in-Chief of The Sunday Leader – Lasantha Wickrematunge

by Dinuk Samarasinghe-Thursday, March 03, 2016

January 30th was a red letter day in Sri Lankan history. This marked the arrest of an offspring of a former executive president for the first time in the history of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka Navy Lieutenant Yoshitha Rajapaksa – son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and de-facto chairman of the Rajapaksa family-owned Carlton Sports Network (CSN) along with its CEO Nishantha Ranatunga and the former President’s Spokesman Rohan Weliwita were arrested by the Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) over alleged financial irregularities relating to the channel and money laundering charges amounting to a staggering Rs. 234 million.

Posts on Facebook showing a photo of Mahinda Rajapaksa shedding tears after Yoshitha was arrested went viral during last week. As any father would weep if his offspring was thrown into prison or remand, Mahinda shedding tears was nothing extraordinary considering the oceans of tears shed by fathers, mothers, sons and daughters of hundreds of innocent citizens allegedly attacked, maimed, killed or disappeared by the Rajapaksas.

Trincomalee quintuple youth murder 

However, the public had not forgotten the rivers of tears shed by the parents of five budding youth – Thangathurai Sivanantha (Engineering student of the University of Moratuwa), Logithasan Rohanth, Shanmugarajah Sajeenthiran, Manoharan Rajeehar and Yogarajah Hemachandran of Trincomalee killed in cold blood in 2006.

According to former DIG and JHU member H. M. G. B. Kotakadeniya, the STF team in question was sent to Trincomalee just before Christmas 2005, with the approval of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Shortly after the murders, journalist Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan was shot dead after publishing photos showing the bodies of the five students with point-blank gunshot injuries, disproving government claims that they were killed by a grenade explosion, according to Tamil Guardian.

Although President Mahinda Rajapaksa pledged publicly and to the Donor Co-chairs in Tokyo that the perpetrators would be brought to justice, irrespective of rank and a dozen members of the Special Task Force were placed under restraint pending inquiries; they were effectively discharged later on.

In a leaked US Embassy cable from Colombo in October 2006, the then US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert O. Blake met with the then Senior Presidential Advisor and former MP Basil Rajapaksa. The cable stated,

“Speaking with surprising candor, Rajapaksa explained the GSL’s efforts to prove that members of the Special Task Force (STF) murdered five students in Trincomalee in January: “We know the STF did it, but the bullet and gun evidence shows that they did not. They must have separate guns when they want to kill someone. We need forensic experts. We know who did it, but we can’t proceed in prosecuting them.”Read More

Culpability Of Public Servants Acting Under Orders

By Somapala Gunadheera –March 3, 2016 

Somapala Gunadheera

As a retired public servant, I am concerned with actions being taken currently against some of my former colleagues in the Public Service. I make no bones if they are being dealt with for acts of commission or omission taken on their own. But some indictments appear to be on actions taken under superior orders. That context places their cases under the Nuremberg Principle: “The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”

The legal defence to this charge is that the defendant was “only following orders” and is therefore not responsible for his or her crimes. This defence was put forward in the matter of Lieutenant Karl Neumann, a captain responsible for the sinking of a hospital ship.  Even though Neumann admitted to having sunk the ship, he stated that he had done so on orders given to him by the Admiralty and for that reason, he could not be held liable for his actions. Germany’s Supreme Court acquitted him, accepting the defence of superior orders as a grounds to escape criminal liability. Declaring, “… that all civilized nations recognize the principle that a subordinate is covered by the orders of his superiors.”

More recently, Article 33, titled “Superior orders and prescription of law” of the Rome Statute agreed upon in 1998, as the foundational document of the International Criminal Court states:

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HIV rumour: Mother files FR petition

2016-03-03
A mother, resident of Kuliyapitiya filed a fundamental rights violation petition complaining that her child’s school admission to grade one had callously been denied to all the schools in Kuliyapitiya zone due to falsely circulated rumour that her child was HIV positive.

 Petitioners, the mother and her child (names are withheld on the ground of ethics) cited Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Provincial Director of Education J.G.N. Thilakarathna, Zonal Director of Education A.S.K. Jayalath, the Principals of Bohandiya Primary School, Illukhena and Sripathi Royal College, Diyakalamulla as well as the Education Ministry Secretary, IGP and the Attorney General as Respondents. 

Petitioner mother states that she and one Silva were in a de facto marriage since 2009 and the child was born on 17.09.2010 and that father of the child died of Sepsis Tuberculosis on 24.09.2015.
 She laments a false rumour was circulated by persons with vested interests that the child is HIV positive and his father died of HIV/AIDS. 

The Principals of both schools indicated unwillingness to admit the child purportedly due to the aforesaid false rumour and the protests by some parents.

 She state notwithstanding the fact that there was no obligation to do so, in view of the compulsions arising from the exigencies of the attendant situation, her child was subjected to an HIV test which confirmed that her child was not HIV positive. 

She bemoans that she desperately visited a number of schools in the area, beseeching the respective principals to admit her child but those principals did not admit her child as the Principal of Bohandiya Primary School had informed them not to admit. 

She pleads that fundamental rights of her child to equality and equal protection of the law, that no citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion, place of birth or any one of such ground and the freedom from torture, cruelty, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the right to the freedom of movement including the right to choose his residence within Sri Lanka are infringed by the Respondents. 

She is seeking the Court to direct the IGP to take all necessary steps to ensure that her child’s right to a formal education and school attendance is not disrupted or obstructed or impeded by any person or persons and to conduct an investigation as to whether any one of the respondents are acting under duress or coercion or undue influence of any form or manner. 

She is seeking a declaration from the Court that her child is entitled to be forthwith admitted to Grade One in a government school within two miles of her residence. (S.S. Selvanayagam)