Friday, April 8, 2016

Ending Human Violence Is A Task For Each Of Us

By Robert J. Burrowes-April 7, 2016

Do you think that ending human violence is impossible? Do you believe that even aiming to do so is unrealistic? Well, you might be right. But you might also be interested to know that there are a lot of people around the world who are committed to trying. And, if you think the aim is worthwhile, you could be one of them.

The most casual perusal of the media will confirm what most of us suspect: violence takes many forms and it is absolutely pervasive. But what the media might not report regularly is that there are some phenomenal people and organizations out there that are doing everything they can to tackle one or more aspects of this violence. And as they identify themselves as part of one or more worldwide networks working on violence, they acquire a fuller appreciation of what is being achieved.

Let me tell you about one such network – ‘The People’s Charter to Create a Nonviolent World’http://thepeoplesnonviolencecharter.wordpress.com – which has participants in 93 countries who are committed to developing and implementing nonviolent solutions to each and every violent problem in our world. Some of these people work locally, some work nationally, some work regionally and some work globally. Some work on domestic violence, some are working to end war, some are tackling exploitation and poverty, some work on national liberation struggles and some work on one or more environmental issues. But each of them is committed to developing a way out of the violent mess in which we now find ourselves. Here are some of them.

Zaure Khizatolla lives in Kazakhstan. Motivated since a young age by her ‘mission in life’, she has sought to answer the question ‘What should I do to make the World better?’ Well, Zaure is now a mother, lawyer, poet, writer and peacemaker and in each of these roles she seeks to reduce the violence in our world. As a poet, for example, she is highly productive and among her many poems she has written 153 about love! You can read her poems herehttp://www.stihi.ru/avtor/zaureha and read more about Zaure and see some photos of her here. http://www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=466

Enrique Ramirez Guier of Costa Rica is a biologist whose work is focused on terrestrial and marine ecology projects in Costa Rica, several other countries in Central and South America and beyond. From 2003-2008 he was Executive Director of the Tropical Science Center in Costa Rica, a not-for-profit NGO established in 1962 for natural resource management, private conservation of natural resources, environmental assessment and management planning, project development and implementation, and environmental education. His responsibilities in this position included management supervision of 5 biological preserves, including the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, which is the world’s best known, and iconic, cloud forest and home to a staggering 2.5% of world biodiversity! If you like, you can see something about this beautiful cloud forest here.http://www.cloudforestmonteverde.com/

Australian Anahata Giri is a yoga and meditation teacher who remains committed to practising nonviolent parenting as part of her personal pledge to making our world nonviolent. If this sounds obvious and easy, you might find it more challenging after reading her brilliant article ‘I have never punished my child: parenting for a nonviolent world’.https://www.transcend.org/tms/2015/11/i-have-never-punished-my-child-parenting-for-a-nonviolent-world/

North Korea unveils home-made engine for missile capable of striking U.S.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a demonstration of a new large-caliber multiple rocket launching system in a photo released March 22 by the official Korean Central News Agency. (© KCNA/Reuters)

By Anna Fifield-April 8

TOKYO – North Korea has unveiled what it said was a domestically designed engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States, the latest in a steady drumbeat of threats coming from Kim Jong Un’s regime.

Saturday’s announcement, through the official Korean Central News Agency, could not be immediately verified. But analysts said Pyongyang’s constant boasts of military advances sent a clear

message to the United States.

“With all the missiles they’re building, the ranges are getting longer and they’re going to be able to throw more stuff further,” said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif.

“It seems pretty clear that they’re sick of us making fun of them, and they’re going to shove it down our throats,” Lewis said.

North Korea recently unveiled a KN-08 road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, also known as a Rodong-C, but with engines that did not look like those that had powered other recently launches. This left nuclear scientists scratching their heads.

[North Korean restaurant workers defect en masse to South Korea]

Saturday, KCNA said that North Korea had successfully tested a new “indigenously designed” engine, under Kim’s supervision, at the Sohae missile launch site near the country’s west coast.

“Dear Comrade Kim Jong Un said now we can mount an ever more powerful nuclear warhead on a new intercontinental ballistic rocket and put the den of evil in the United States and all over the world within our strike range,” the news agency said.

Previous estimates of North Korea’s firepower had it just able to reach the continental United States, but if it had successfully manufactured an 80-ton-booster – as the Treasury department recently claimed in sanctions against North Korea – it would put the American mainland within relatively easy reach, analysts said.

Since North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test in January, Kim’s regime has crowed about a whole range of technical leaps and bounds, from road-mobile multiple rocket launchers and solid fuel rocket engines to being able tomake a nuclear warhead small enough to attach to a missile.

Saturday’s announcement, through the official Korean Central News Agency, could not be immediately verified. But analysts said Pyongyang’s constant boasts of military advances sent a clear message to the United States.

“It seems pretty clear that they’re sick of us making fun of them, and they’re going to shove it down our throats,” Lewis said.

[North Korean restaurant workers defect en masse to South Korea]

Saturday, KCNA said that North Korea had successfully tested a new “indigenously designed” engine, under Kim’s supervision, at the Sohae missile launch site near the country’s west coast.

South Korean government officials this week said they thought North Korea had now mastered this technology, while Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, and Adm. William Gortney, head of the U.S. Northern Command, have both said the same.

“I assess that they have the ability to put an ICBM in space and reach the continental United States and Canada,” Gortney said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month.

North Korea’s boasts come at a sensitive time on the peninsula. The United States and South Korea are conducting joint military drills, which Pyongyang views as a pretext for an invasion, through the end of this month, while North Korea is preparing for its first Workers’ Party Congress in 36 years.

The regime has been laying the groundwork for the meeting next month, where Kim is expected to try to bolster his legitimacy as the young, third-generation leader of North Korea. Being able to crow about a strong nuclear deterrent would be a good way to do that, analysts say.

Read more

North Korea has new rocket system that could strike Seoul this year, South Korea warns

N. Korea boasts of big leap in arms with solid-fuel rocketry

EM-dummyText North Korea threatens to ‘scorch’ South Korea’s presidential offices

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Anna Fifield is The Post’s bureau chief in Tokyo, focusing on Japan and the Koreas. She previously reported for the Financial Times from Washington DC, Seoul, Sydney, London and from across the Middle East.

Two airman shot dead in 'workplace violence' at Texas air base

Military and law enforcement personnel are seen inside Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas April 8, 2016

The Annex Gate is seen at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas April 8, 2016.

BY JIM FORSYTH-Sat Apr 9, 2016

Two airmen were killed in a "a workplace violence incident" on Friday at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, military officials said, with media outlets reporting that an airman shot his commanding officer and then himself.

Two weapons identified as Glocks were found at the scene, Brigadier General Robert LaBrutta, Commander, Joint Base San Antonio, told a news conference. LaBrutta said the two men were the only casualties and he declined to provide further details such as a possible motive.

"This was a workplace violence incident and not the result of a terrorist attack," the U.S. Air Force Joint Base San Antonio said in a statement.

The Air Force Times, citing internal Pentagon communications, reported the commanding officer of a training squadron at the base was shot by an airman who then apparently killed himself in a classroom building.

A Pentagon official, speaking on condition on anonymity, told CNN that the airman shot his commander.

Military officials would not confirm the reports. The Bexar County Sheriff's office described the deaths as a likely murder-suicide.

LaBrutta said individuals are not allowed to carry weapons on base unless they are in security forces or the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations.

"This morning we received one of those calls you never want to receive," LaBrutta told reporters.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to the families that are going to be affected by this tragedy," he said.

LaBrutta said that after an initial report of a shooter, security officers rushed to the scene within three minutes. Both men were found in an office. The shootings occurred at the Medina annex, where operations such as military dog training take place.

(Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin and Lisa Maria Garza in Dallas; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Grant McCoo

Students protest SOAS director’s meeting with Israeli envoy

Mark Regev presented his credentials as Israeli ambassador in the UK Monday. (Embassy of Israel, London)

Students at SOAS, the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, protested on Thursday over an unannounced meeting between their institution’s director and Mark Regev, the new Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Previously the Israeli prime minister’s spokesperson, Regev is a familiar face on television screens where he has often defended military attacks on Palestinians.

View image on Twitter

Follow

Mark Regev ‎@AmbMarkRegev

A good meeting with @ValerieAmos @SOAS today

11:52 AM - 6 Apr 2016

He started his new role as ambassador in London on Monday.

On Wednesday, Regev posted on Twitter a photo of himself posing with SOAS director Valerie Amos, after they had had what he termed a “good meeting.”

Dozens of students gathered outside SOAS Thursday chanting: “BDS go! Amos and Regev no!”

A Facebook page set up by protest organizers stated that “by accepting the ambassador’s visit, Valerie Amos and SOAS as an institution are complicit in … ongoing colonialism.”

Apology demanded

Students also protested outside Amos’ office, calling for a free Palestine.

'Hey Valerie you will see, Palestine will be free. ' #SOAS pic.twitter.com/Cje7FlaMsQ
— Friends of Al Aqsa (@FriendsofAlAqsa) April 7, 2016

Follow

Friends of Al Aqsa ‎@FriendsofAlAqsa

Students outside office of Director of SOAS, V Amos in protest of her meeting Israeli ambassador to UK Mark Regev

10:25 AM - 7 Apr 2016

A coalition of student societies issued a statement condemning the meeting, saying they considered it “a flagrant violation of the principles of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which the SOAS Students’ Union overwhelmingly voted to support in the largest student referendum ever held at SOAS last year.”

The groups demanded an explanation, and for Amos “to apologize for meeting with Mark Regev … and to accept our invitation to work together on applying the result of the democratic BDS referendum to the university.”

In an emailed response to the student union, Amos said: “I met the Israeli ambassador to follow up on a letter I had sent him about the detention and treatment of a SOAS research student at Ben Gurion airport.” She added that she saw this “as an important part of my responsibility as director.”

But Zeid Shuaib, a Palestinian student at SOAS, told The Electronic Intifada that “this visit has a political message. This is an attempt to undermine BDS, and specifically the SOAS community’s relentless support for BDS.”

An Israeli journalist on a visit to the London embassy recently reported on the “war room”-style map which details “the main campuses, the deployment of pro-Israel activists and the location of the ‘enemy forces.’”

It seems likely SOAS students are considered among such “enemy forces.”

Boycott

In February last year, SOAS students celebrated a huge victory after a referendum to endorse an academic boycott of Israel.

An overwhelming 73 percent voted in favor.

But the coalition of student groups protesting the Regev meeting charged the administration with disregarding the result.

“The student societies that supported the BDS referendum have made effort after effort to engage management to ensure that the governance of the university is kept democratic and have only been met with intimidation and aggression,” the groups said.

Relentless

While Regev was the Israeli prime minister’s chief spokesperson, he relentlessly justified Israel’s wars to the world’s media, including in the UK.

Whether it was the 2006 invasion of Lebanon, or its repeated “mowing the lawn” massacres in Gaza, Regev was there to excuse Israel’s killing of civilians.

SOAS student Roba Salibi said, “we will continue to mobilize and put pressure on the management to turn our BDS referendum result into actions, and ensure that such an offensive and outrageous act does not happen again.”

Muslim-Americans file class-action lawsuit against terror watch list

Lawyers filed two lawsuits this week accusing US officials of violating thousands of American citizens’ constitutional rights

Nihad Awad (2nd R), Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), speaks about the growing Islamophobia in the US (AFP)

TORONTO, Canada – A group of Muslim-Americans filed a class-action lawsuit against the United States’ use of a terrorist watch list, which they say has created “an injustice of historic proportions”.

Eighteen plaintiffs, including a four-year-old known simply as Baby Doe, say their constitution rights were violated after being placed on the federal terrorist watch list.

The lawsuit, initiated by the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Michigan Chapter (CAIR-MI), was filed against several high-ranking US officials, including Christopher Piehota, director of the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC).

Established in 2003 under the administration of the FBI, the TSC maintains the Terrorist Screening Database, otherwise known as the terrorist watch list.

The plaintiffs, all of whom are American citizens, have been “falsely stigmatised as ‘known or suspected’ terrorists” and “denied a meaningful opportunity to challenge their designation on the federal watch list,” the lawsuit states.

Gadeir Abbas, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told Middle East Eye that being on the watch list has turned thousands of Americans into second-class citizens.

Individuals on the list have had their bank accounts closed without warning, been denied the ability to make wire transfers, suffer delays and interrogations at airports and other border crossings, and cannot work certain jobs, Abbas said.

The US government also disseminates its watch list to state and local agencies, including police and security forces, both in the US and abroad, he said.

“Being on the federal watch list [creates] second-class citizenship status because not only are you unable to live your life as other innocent Americans are, but you’re unable to travel internationally without substantial risks to your life and liberty,” Abbas said.

“The federal government is saying to countries all across the globe that these innocent Americans … are dangerous, are known or suspected terrorists, when they are no such thing.”

Broad authority Read More

Watch: Russian National Guard Practices for a ‘Moscow Maidan’

BY REID STANDISH-APRIL 8, 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise announcement this week during a televised appearance: The country’s law enforcement bodies would be overhauled, and a new National Guard agency would be created. The new unit would be tasked with fighting terrorism, taking down organized crime, and suppressing “mass disturbances” — leading to speculation that the new National Guard would be used to quell protests in the Russian streets.

The new law enforcement agency may already be getting ready for such a scenario. A video released Friday shows National Guard units shooting stun grenades, firing rounds, and using crowd control techniques against mock protests on the outskirts of Moscow.
The video was released by Open Russia, a civil society group founded by Russian dissident and former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and it shows a large-scale training exercise simulating a popular protest in the streets of a major city. The protesters carry flags and chant slogans as National Guard units in riot gear fire water cannons and divert the protesters as they march. According to Open Russia, the footage was taken by one of its staff in the town of Lyubertsy, about 13 miles from Moscow, and shows a “secret training exercise for the National Guard” in what the group calls a “Moscow Maidan,” referencing the protests in Ukraine that ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.

The new National Guard has grabbed headlines across Russia — and the world — due to the sweeping powers it may be given, including the right to shoot or use force without warning and detain people on sight. The bill establishing the National Guard still needs to be signed by the State Duma, the Russian legislature, but the law enforcement shake-up is expected to be embraced warmly by lawmakers. Once approved, the agency could number up to 400,000 people and have access to tanks, heavy artillery, and even attack helicopters.

Viktor Zolotov, the former chief of the president’s security service and Putin’s former judo sparring partner, will be the head of the National Guard. Its units will be reshuffled from Interior Ministry troops and will report directly to Putin, according to his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

Putin’s popularity remains high and has not dipped below 80 percent since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. But slow growth, coupled with falling oil prices and Western economic sanctions, have hurt the Russian economy and seen living standards drop sharply. Parliamentary elections are slated for September and are seen as the first test on the Kremlin’s control of political life since the country’s dire economic outlook took effect.

The last time Russians took to the streets en masse was after the 2011 parliamentary elections when thousands of demonstrators in Moscow and other cities protested allegations of ballot-rigging and electoral fraud. The emergence of the National Guard and the approaching parliamentary elections in September were not lost on the prominent Russian newspaperVedomosti, which remarked in an editorial that the new law enforcement agency was meant to keep Russians under control:

“The appearance of a superpower agency can be considered as the official recognition of the significance of a new threat — the threat of the internal enemy,” the newspaper said.

Photo credit: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images

Argentina's president Mauricio Macri fights back after Panama Papers reveal offshore links

Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri, is among scores of international politicians and business figures named in the leak of Mossack Fonseca documents. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

Jonathan Watts Latin America correspondent and agencies

Friday 8 April 2016

Macri says he has nothing to hide after prosecutor calls for investigation into his links to an offshore company

Lawyers for the Argentinian president, Mauricio Macri will present a writ to a judge on Friday to deny allegations that he secretly benefited from an offshore company named in the Panama Papers.

Prosecutors have called for an investigation of Macri’s ties with the Bahamas-based company, Fleg Trading, which were revealed by the leak from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Macri – who was listed as a director of Fleg Trading from 1998 until 2009 – did not mention the company in his 2007 financial declaration, when he became mayor of Buenos Aires, or in his 2015 declaration when he became president.

In a televised address on Thursday, the president denied the allegations. “I know there are people who are concerned about the accusations,” he told the nation. “I have acted in accordance with the law, I have told the truth and I have nothing to hide.”

He said he was not legally obliged to declare his connection because he never had a stake in the company nor received any income. Fleg Trading was created by his father - an Italian-born business tycoon - to make investments in Brazil. It is now closed.

Macri said he would ask a court to certify his declaration of assets in order to clear up any doubts. To prevent conflict of interest, he also promised to put his assets in a blind trust. Critics have demanded a more detailed explanation of his involement with Fleg Trading and his alleged connection with another offshore company, Kagemusha SA, registered in Panama.

“All these companies are created as vehicles to launder assets, evade tax or commit other crimes,” lawmaker Norman Dario Martinez noted in a complaint filed earlier this week. “They are registered in tax havens like the Bahamas to protect the financial secrets of directors and shareholders, and hide their operations.”

State prosecutor Federico Delgado asked the judiciary on Thursday to investigate if Macri’s failure to declare his connection with the offshore company meant he had “maliciously failed to complete his tax declaration”, a crime which carries a sentence of 15 days to two years.

Judge Sebastián Casanello must now decide if there is sufficient evidence to open a probe. Among those likely to testify are the tax authority and anti-corruption office. Macri’s appearance in the Panama Papers and the way his administration has handled the matter has cast some doubt over his 2015 campaign pledge to fight corruption.

The head of the Argentinian anti-corruption office, Laura Alonso, a member of Macri’s party, swiftly defended the president after the leak emerged, saying that creating a company in a tax haven was not a crime. Opposition lawmakers called for her resignation on the grounds that her job was to root out corruption, not defend the president.

The scion of one of Argentina’s wealthiest families, Macri is a member of the city’s white, rich, Catholic, conservative elite. He has previously served as Buenos Aires mayor and president of the Boca Juniors football club. His pro-business stance has prompted political rivals to label him a representative of “savage capitalism” but his Cambiemos (Let’s Change) party is usually described as “centre-right”.

Last November, they won power, breaking a 12-year-hold by leftist governments. Since then, Macri has cut agricultural taxes, loosened currency controls and slashed thousands of public sector jobs. The Panama Papers, however, have focussed attention on his promises to introduce a new era of clean, transparent government.

In a victory speech last November, he condemned the previous leftist administration of Cristina Fernández Kirchner for “lying and deceiving with false information” and declared he would be “implacable” against corruption by officials.

Proclaiming himself a champion of disclosure, he has since overhauled the state statistics agency – which had been widely criticised under Fernandez for obfuscating the true condition of the Argentinian economy – and pledged greater independence for the judiciary.

As in neighbouring Brazil, this has led to a corruption investigation that has targeted several prominent businessmen and politicians, including senior members of the previous administration. Responding to the growing scandal last month, Macri said he felt “the same as the majority of Argentines: rage, disenchantment and helplessness,” and promised, “there will not be a repeat of this kind of embarrassing corruption, these abuses of power.”

This week the president launched a freedom of information bill to allow the public greater access to official documents, even as he rebutted claims that he has been covering up his own offshore business connections.

Poisoned Water in Bangladesh

( April 7, 2016, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Each year, 43,000 Bangladeshis die as a result of drinking arsenic-contaminated water, a figure which has not significantly altered since steps were taken to clean up Bangladesh’s water supply at the turn of the century. It is estimated that up to 5 million Bangladeshi children born between 2000 and 2030 could die after being exposed to arsenic in their water supply.

Corruption and international neglect are to blame for the fact 20 million people in Bangladesh are still drinking water contaminated with arsenic, more than a decade after the extent of the problem was made clear, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch(HRW). There is a high level of naturally occurring arsenic in Bangladeshi groundwater, as there is across South Asia. This does not normally affect the quality of water in large cities such as the capital, Dhaka, where water is drawn up from untainted aquifers deep in the ground, or purified before distribution. But in rural areas, around 10 million hand pumps still draw up potentially contaminated groundwater. The poison can cause cancers of the skin, liver kidney, bladder and lungs, as well as cardiovascular and lung disease.

The World Health Organisation has called the government’s failure to reduce the level of naturally occuring arsenic in its water “the largest mass poisoning of a population in history”. The HRW survey said there was “little or no evidence of concerted efforts” to improve the situation for rural villagers. The problem is compounded by international indifference and the failure of NGOs to address the issue, according to the report. They suggest that NGOs such as UNICEF have blindly provided funding to government clean-water initiatives, despite evidence that the government’s water testing methods “barely function”, and that the government expends “considerable resources in areas where the risk of arsenic contamination is relatively low”.

“Politicians undermine the allocation of new government water points by diverting these life-saving public goods to their political supporters and allies,” the HRW report claimed. In one recent project, 50 per cent of pumps were allegedly constructed in locations intended to benefit government officials.

Full Report Here;

bangladesh0416web_0.pdf by Thavam Ratna

Download (PDF, Unknown)

New bill on assisted dying won't be as permissive as parliamentary committee urged

Legislation won't extend doctor-assisted death to mature minors, dementia patients

The Liberal government is preparing to table new legislation around doctor-assisted death to try and meet a June 6, 2016 deadline imposed by the Supreme Court of Canada. (Shaun Best/Reuters)

By Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press Posted: Apr 08, 2016

The Trudeau government won't be taking a permissive approach to medically assisted dying in new legislation to be unveiled as early as next week, The Canadian Press has learned.

Sources, who aren't authorized to speak publicly about the imminent bill, say it won't adopt some of the most controversial recommendations from a special parliamentary committee.

That committee urged the government in February to place few obstacles in front Canadians who want medical help to end their suffering.

The legislation, likely to be introduced late next week, is expected to stipulate that only competent adults should be eligible to receive a doctor's help to end their lives.

No advance requests for dementia

It will not allow people diagnosed with competence-impairing conditions like dementia to make advance requests for medical help to die, which the committee advocated.

Nor will it include mature minors, to whom the committee recommended extending the right to choose assisted death within three years.

In rejecting those recommendations, the government appears to be sticking to the strict letter of a Supreme Court ruling, which concluded last year that Canada's ban on assisted suicide violates the right to life, liberty and security of the person.

The court gave the federal government until Feb. 6, 2016, — later extended to June 6 — to come up with a new law that recognizes the right of clearly consenting adults who are enduring intolerable physical or mental suffering to seek medical help in ending their lives.

The parliamentary committee, by contrast, tried to encompass what Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, the committee chair, described as the "spirit" of the court ruling, anticipating future charter challenges that could arise if the new law is too restrictive.

Competent to consent?

On that score, the committee concluded that denying those with dementia the right to make advance directives would mean leaving them "to suffer or end their lives prematurely" while still sufficiently competent to consent.

"This situation was exactly what the (Supreme Court) decision sought to avoid," the committee's final report said.

Similarly, the committee noted that the top court has already recognized the right of mature minors to make some end-of-life decisions and expressed concern that denying them the right to medically assisted death would violate their charter rights.

Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould is expected to table new legislation on doctor-assisted death that will be less permissive than what was recommended by a parliamentary committee. (CP/Fred Chartrand)

The committee also recommended that a new law should apply to Canadians enduring intolerable suffering from grievous and irremediable medical conditions, including terminal and non-terminal physical and psychological conditions.

The new law is expected to spell out more stringent eligibility criteria. Although sources say it will not require that an illness be terminal, the legislation is expected to be particularly cautious about psychological conditions.

Protecting the vulnerable

Critics of the parliamentary committee's permissive approach, including Conservative MPs, have argued that people with mental illnesses are particularly vulnerable and need to be protected from coercion or making life-and-death choices while not competent. They've urged the government to require psychiatric assessments for anyone seeking a medically assisted death.

The federal legislation is also expected to affirm that doctors have the right to refuse to provide assisted death but it will leave it to the provinces to figure out how to ensure that doesn't leave some Canadians without access to the service.

The committee recommended that conscientious objectors be required to provide "effective" referral for patients to another doctor who would help them.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Report on Land Occupation in Northern Province

The British High Commission funded a report on land mapping in the Northern Province and a documentary on returnees.

British High Commisisoner James Dauris

GOV.UK7 April 2016

The British High Commission in Colombo through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) funded a report on land mapping in the Northern Province and a documentary on returnees to Sampur by the Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Below are excerpts from a speech by H.E James Dauris at the launch of the report;

“We will all agree on the importance of reconciliation and of achieving just solutions to problems and issues that have arisen over time as direct and indirect consequences of conflict.

We are pleased to support this research and documentary on ‘Sampur’ which reflects our ambition and willingness to help Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans address complicated post-conflict challenges society faces. This is done both through sharing experiences and supporting work locally. Our support for work done by The HALO Trust to clear land of landmines is another example we are proud of.

Land is deeply and emotionally linked to family and identity. It is not just a socio-economic issue. Land issues unresolved can become major sources of discontent and inhibit efforts to reconcile people and heal wounds.

We warmly welcome the return of land by the Sri Lankan government to its rightful owners.”

The Documentary on Sampur can be viewed here