Securing America’s International Business Future

This article was originally published in the March 2016 issue of Marketing News 

By: Michael R. Czinkota and Peter R. Dickson

The greatest threat to future U.S. prosperity and job prospects is the insufficient interest our leaders have in deploying resources to ensure that American engineers, managers and entrepreneurs are the best in the world at commercializing innovations and improving business processes.

Twenty years ago we presented a process-learning perspective on what was needed to ensure that America continues to be a winner in free trade markets and a shining city on the hill. Drawing on how Great Britain lost its lead in was the creation of well-paying jobs through superior commercialization of innovation. 

Since then, individuals such as Michael Porter have been outspoken about the need for a major public policy-driven innovation initiative, but little action has resulted. Interest in the topics of learning and innovation has actually declined in public discourse over the past 11 years, as meas​​​​​ured by Google trends. It should have increased instead. 

Meanwhile, the world moved on. The extraordinary growth of Asian economies, in particular China’s, over the past 20 years has dramatically changed the challenges and raised the stakes. According to the World Bank, in terms of port container traffic the Chinese economy has grown logistically from being about equal to the U.S. in 2000 to being four times larger in 2015. 

Judging by these traffic flows, a lot more experiential learning is being done in the Chinese economy​—and it’s not just learning how to move containers. It is learning how to develop, market and distribute new products to the market. Learning-by-doing has made many sectors of the Chinese economy more capable and competitive than their counterparts in the U.S. This enormous learning advantage gained by active international traders, many of them from Asia, appears to have been insufficiently recognized by the political and business leadership of the U.S. Failure to learn because of not doing will lead to diminished results for the U.S. economy. It will bring lower wages and greater income inequality to the United States over the next several decades. We propose a number of public/private sector initiatives that can be implemented rapidly by a new administration to rebuild the nation’s competence and confidence in its process-learning capabilities and commercialization of innovation. 

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Thailand asking foreigners for bank account, social media, and hangout details

19th April 2016

THAILAND’S Immigration Bureau is formally asking foreigners who live in the country to provide their bank account numbers as well as information about their social media use and places they often visit.

The government justified the controversial move on grounds of national security, citing concerns about terrorism. The new, seemingly intrusive request is likely to face stiff resistance from Thailand’s large expatriate community, which had previously faced leaks of their personal information.

Reporting on internal immigration documents that it acquired, Khaosod English said that forms with the aforementioned fields would apply to visa extensions and the routine 90-day reports needed for legal stay in Thailand.

Here’s a look at part of the form:

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In addition to bank account numbers, the form asks foreigners about the social media they use and the vehicles they drive as well as places they frequent – “such as club, restaurant, shop, hospital and other places.”

While the form seems to imply that the information is mandatory, the government said otherwise.

“We won’t force them to fill it out,” said Chatchawan Wachirapaneekhun, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau’s crime suppression unit, according to Khaosod English.

“We won’t bother with their social media – if they aren’t doing anything wrong.”

His comments are likely to add to a confusing situation. Thailand’s expats might wonder why the new fields were included in the first place.

Chatchawan attributed the new information request to “national security.”

“Considering entering the ASEAN community and the increasing terrorism problem, some people escape after committing a crime, and we cannot track them down,” he said.

In any case, the new move is bound to be viewed skeptically by Thailand’s expat community, which is still reeling from two data leaks of their personal information in late March.

The first leak exposed names and addresses of foreigners living in the southern Thailand. Thesecond leak, which happened shortly after, revealed – among other things – names, addressed, passport and flight numbers, and most recent vaccine shots. That leak mostly affected persons originating from South American countries.

Both incidents raised sharp questions about the Thai government’s ability to protect the personal data and privacy of foreigners in the country. Thailand has come to acquire a reputation for lackluster cybersecurity, with government websites repeatedly hacked and information stolen from them.

Security software company BitDefender previously ranked Thailand as having the 5th highest risk in Asia for cybersecurity threats.

Given the government’s poor record in defending against hacks and leaks, Thailand’s expats may wonder why they should provide any additional information at all.

Skin cancer: Pair of drugs 'eliminate 20% of tumours'

Melanoma is a dangerous and aggressive type of skin cancer

By James Gallagher-19 April 2016

A fifth of people with advanced melanoma have no sign of tumours in their body after treatment with a pair of immunotherapy drugs, a study shows.

The first survival data on using ipilimumab and nivolumab in combination showed 69% of patients, in a trial on 142, were still alive after two years.

UK doctors leading the trial said the results were "very encouraging".

Melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, is the sixth most common cancer in the UK
It kills more than 2,000 people in Britain each year.

Data from a separate melanoma study on Merck's immunotherapy pembrolizumab also showed an increase in survival.

The drug also works by cutting the immune system's brakes.

The results of an early stage trial, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed a third of patients lived for 12 months with no sign of the tumour growing.

Immunotherapy revolution

The immune system is a powerful defence against infection. However, there are many "brakes" built in to stop it attacking our own tissues.

Cancer - which is a corrupted version of healthy tissue - can take advantage of those brakes to evade assault.

Ipilimumab and nivolumab are designed to cut the brakes.

Both have become standard therapies in melanoma, but most researchers believe combination therapy will be essential.

The trial showed the survival rate after two years for ipilimumab alone was 53% and no patient's tumours had completely disappeared.

The equivalent figures for combination therapy were 69% and 22%.

However, more than half of patients had severe to life-threatening side effects which stopped their treatment.

Dr James Larkin, who ran part of the trial at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, told the BBC News website: "It is very encouraging to see that survival rate.

"It will be important in terms of working out the benefit of these treatments in the longer term, but nevertheless it's a relatively small study still."

A much larger trial involving nearly 1,000 patients has already started releasing data, but has not run for long enough to produce survival figures.

Image copyrightRoyal Marsden

Vicky Brown, 61 and from Cardiff, was diagnosed with malignant melanoma that had spread to her lungs and breast in April 2013.

She started the combination therapy later that year.
"It worked within a month. There were lumps I could actually feel and they disappeared quite quickly," she told the BBC.

She did face severe side effects including an upset liver and inflamed bowels and a year later the cancer returned.

She is now on her second course of combination immunotherapy, which again seems to have shrunk the tumours.

"My granddaughter is now coming up to four and I now have a second grandchild and not to have been part of their lives would have been heartbreaking, so I'm really thankful," she added.

Melanoma before and after therapy

Image copyrightRoyal Marsden-Image captionMelanoma before and after therapy

Historically, when a treatment fails and a cancer starts to grow again then that drug has become useless. But Dr Larkin thinks "we're dealing with something different here".

He added: "This combination of drugs alters the balance of immune system, two years down the line the immune system might have stopped recognising the tumour.

"To me it is extremely encouraging that giving the combination again we can reintroduce recognition by the immune system - it is like a booster dose."

Both drugs were developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Prof Richard Marais, from Cancer Research UK, said the results were "exciting" and "offer new hope to melanoma patients and their families".

However, he added: "It's important to remember that there's an increased likelihood of severe side effects when these drugs are combined.

"We need to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from this combination and also which patients are most likely to experience the side effects.

"That will help doctors to ensure each patient gets the best treatment they need."

Follow James on Twitter.

PROJECT EXILE: CRITICIZING SRI LANKA WAR LEADS TO EXILE

Alex Derosier-18 April 2016

When columnist and human rights activist Sunanda Deshapriya criticized the Sri Lankan government’s war against Tamil rebels, he didn’t know he wouldn’t be able to return to his country for six years.

Sunanda Deshapriya (courtesy image)

Deshapriya was in Geneva in May 2009 when the Sri Lanka’s army defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), ending a 26-year civil war marred by alleged atrocities by both sides. The freelance journalist and activist had traveled to Geneva to voice his concerns about the Sri Lankan government’s war conduct and post-war treatment of Tamil people by the Sinhalese majority to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Deshapriya, who is Sinhalese, had been advised to leave Sri Lanka by his colleagues. He decided to stay in Switzerland to avoid reprisals for what some fellow Sinhalese considered traitorous actions. At the time, threats against journalists could lead to fatal consequences: 22 journalists were killed in the country from 2004 to 2009, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Deshapriya started his career as a journalist in the late 1970s as a freelancer. He edited a newsletter called Justice in the 1980s and helped transform it into a monthly and then weekly paper. By the 2000s Deshapriya became more involved in human rights and media freedom activism. He writes a column that appears regularly in the Sinhalese-language newspaper Ravaya Sinhala.

He was able to return to Sri Lanka in 2015 after a new government took power, but says it will be a while before press freedom and democracy are realized in the country. Deshapriya now spends half the year in Geneva and the other half in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. He spoke with Global Journalist about challenges he faced as an exile and those facing the press in Sri Lanka.

Global Journalist: Was the climate for journalists always difficult in Sri Lanka?

Sunanda Deshapriya: Yes. We had a very difficult time in the early 1990s. I was editing a magazine in those years. In the 1990s we had…a really authoritarian government, so it was an uphill battle to even print. Our printing press was burned and sealed and a case of criminal defamation was filed against me. After the regime change in 1994, things started to change.

GJ: So if the situation for journalists in Sri Lanka improved after 1994, what made you leave the country in 2009?

Deshapriya: I have been a leading figure in the free media movement and an anti-war activist. I led several movements against the war and for press freedom. I was one of the major targets of the regime but I still tried to manage and live in the country, in hiding.

A number of our colleagues were killed and assaulted, some of them were kidnapped. In the late stages of the war, there was a lot of pressure for us to leave the country, mainly from our colleagues. I went to India for two months, then Nepal and then came to Geneva. I come from the Sinhalese and Buddhist community, and when they were celebrating [the end of the war] in the country I was in Geneva speaking against the war. That kind of made me the No. 1 traitor in the country. It became impossible for me to go back for some time.

GJ: After the Tamil Tigers surrendered in 2009, did the climate for journalists and human rights activists improve?

Tamil areas of southern India and Sri Lanka (Wikimedia Commons)

Deshapriya: The situation did not really change. Journalists were kidnapped and assaulted even until 2010. The threats stopped, but the media suppression continued until the regime change two years ago.

GJ: What was challenging about practicing journalism in exile? 

Deshapriya: You get disconnected from the country. Once you are in exile, you have to find a way to live, you have survival issues, you have language issues. I was able to continue my writing but most others had to give up, become things like chicken farmers.

GJ: What was your return to Sri Lanka like? 

Deshapriya: I returned as soon as the regime changed. I gave up my asylum status here [Geneva] and returned for two months. Reintegration is difficult if you want to go into media or even other sectors. I still went back and tried to involve myself with media and civil society groups that work for media freedom in the country. I am Sinhalese and well known in the country, so in that sense I am privileged. Some Tamil journalists may still face problems if they come back.

GJ: Since you have returned, has the climate for journalists improved?

Deshapriya: After the regime change, four popular Tamil websites that have been working from outside of the country have now started offices in Colombo — legally. That shows that there is a space for dissenting voices. Prominent Tamil journalists who speak up still face problems. The intelligence operators that have been there for 20 years are still there…that has to be addressed. Demilitarization has not completely taken place in the north. There is progress, but there is a lot to be changed before journalists in the north feel they are free.

65,000 HOUSES SAGA: TNA REQUESTS A REVIEW OF THE CONTRACT

18/04/2016

Leader of the Opposition and Tamil National Alliance R. Sampanthan has written to the President and the Prime Minster requesting a review of the contract given to Arcellor-Mittal Construction France to build 65,000 houses in North and east of Sri Lanka.

The letter follows:

Initiative to construct 65,000 Houses for Conflict-affected Families in the Northern and Eastern Provinces

I write consequent to a unanimous decision of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentary Group to raise very serious concerns in respect of the above matter.

The housing needs of the North and East are indeed dire. It is estimated that 137,000 houses are necessary to meet the housing needs of the North and the East following the devastation of the war. This issue must be addressed. The TNA thus welcomes the Government’s recognition of this, and its resolve to initiate a project to provide housing for conflict affected families. However, the serious concerns relating to the initiative in question repeatedly raised by a wide ranging group of civil society activists, professionals, and politicians cannot be ignored. This includes the recent report of experts of the University of Moratuwa on the suitability of the above mentioned steel houses. Following are some of the primary concerns that have been raised:

a)    Concerns relating to the tender process selecting Arcellor-Mittal Construction France
Several concerns have been raised with regard to irregularities in the abovementioned tender process.  Of particular concern is the fact that the decision to award the contract to the abovementioned company seems to have been made long before the tender process even commenced, as far back as August 2015.

b)    Concerns relating to the durability of the houses
Several concerns have been raised in this regard.  Experts state that the proposed prefabricated houses will not last for more than 10 years. Indeed, the model houses of this scheme which were erected recently have already – in a matter of a few weeks – started coming apart.

For the conflict affected communities in the North and East, a house is not merely a means of shelter, but an inextricable part of their culture. A house passes down from generation to generation; parents build a house with the hope of one day giving it to their children. For the Tamil People, a house is thus part of one’s culture, history and heritage, and is expected to last for several generations. Thus, these concerns relating to durability are a matter of especially great concern.

c)    The environmental unsuitability of the proposed houses
The proposed houses are to be built of steel, instead of brick. This makes the houses extremely unsuitable for a tropical country like Sri Lanka. This is particularly so given the rapidly rising temperature and humidity levels.

d)    The cost of each house:
Under the present scheme, the cost of each house is estimated to be Rs. 2.1. million. This is 2-3 times more than the more environmentally suitable, durable, permanent brick house provided under the Indian housing scheme which provided 50,000 houses in the North. This fact is of greater concern in a context where the housing need exceeds 130,000 and the Government is offering 65,000 – half of that number.

e)     Implementation of the said construction project (employing local labour)
Similar to housing, another serious concern in the North is unemployment. In these circumstances, serious consideration must be given to use the opportunity provided by such a construction project to facilitate the use of available local labour.

In these circumstances, the TNA strongly recommends that the Government undertake a review of the initiative in question, and properly address all of the above concerns in implementing this, or any other initiative to address the housing crisis in the North and East.

The Government’s resolve to address the housing need of the North and East is indeed commendable. However, all such efforts must take into consideration the needs and culture of the people themselves, and long term implications the initiative will have on the community. It is only then that such efforts can be an effective part of reconciliation. Such efforts must not, instead, fall prey to corruption and become a means of benefiting a powerful few.

The present Government has been public in its commitment to bring about reconciliation. Initiatives to help conflict affected communities rebuild their homes and lives are important opportunities in this regard. However, merely using such opportunities for political mileage and disregarding the true needs of the Tamil People of the North and East can only be reflective of an unwillingness to effectively honour this commitment.
On behalf of the TNA and the Tamil People, I urge the Government not to waste this opportunity. If the Government is committed to reconciliation, then its actions must reflect that. For its part, the TNA remains committed to constructively engaging with this Government in order to bring about true reconciliation in this country.

R. Sampanthan

Leader of the Opposition
Tamil National Alliance

18th April 2016

Will Sri Lanka Follow The Example Of Nepal?

By Veluppillai Thangavelu –April 18, 2016

Veluppillai Thangavelu

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has consistently called for power sharing arrangements in a merged Northern and Eastern Provinces based on a Federal structure in a manner acceptable to the Tamil Speaking Muslim people. In all the elections held since May, 2009 voters have given a clear  mandate to the TNA’s manifestos calling for a federal form of government giving  Northern and Eastern provinces maximum autonomy.

In the parliamentary elections held in April, 2010 within a year after the war ended and thousands of internally displaced persons confined to camps and  the occupied armed forces and pro-government armed groups calling the shots, the TNA still obtained 233,190 votes (2.90%) nationally and won 14 out of 225 seats in parliament. In the parliamentary elections held in August, 2015 the TNA increased its share of votes as well as seats dramatically by polling 515,067 (4.62%) votes nationally and winning 16 out of 225 seats. This is an increase of 281,967 (54.75%) over votes polled during 2010 elections.

Contesting the second election for the de-merged Eastern province in 2012, the TNA received 193,387 votes (30.59) and won 11 out of 37 seats. It conceded the bonus seats to the UPFA by a narrow margin of 6,217 (0.99) votes.

At the 2013 Northern Provincial Council election, the first since 1988, the TNA secured 78.48% of the votes and won 30 of the 38 seats. C. V. Wigneswaran, TNA Chief Ministerial candidate was sworn in as the first democratically elected Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) on 7th October 2013.

The following Table 1 shows the details of voting in elections held in the Northern and Eastern provinces since May, 2009.

Thus, TNA has steadily increased its vote bank as the grip of the army and para – military groups hold on the people began to diminish.  It may be recalled that both the Northern and Eastern provinces were virtually under military rule with retired Sinhalese army commanders functioning as Governors with executive powers. This situation continued till January, 2015 when civilians replaced the military governors.

The TNA also proved its dominant role in politics when at the 2015 presidential election it decided to support common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena. Table 2 below shows the results of the voting in the Northern and Eastern provinces in support of the common candidate Maithripala Sirisena with comparative figures for the previous elections held in January 2010.

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Continuing need for civil society pressure on government

By Jehan Perera-April 18, 2016, 7:01 pm 

The political reforms taking place at the present time are subject to a major constraint. This stems from the fact that the government of national unity is a composite that includes a large number of members of the previous government. Many of them were part and parcel of the misgovernance and ethnic nationalism of the previous government. While a few of them joined President Maithripala Sirisena in leaving the government at the last moment, it is likely that they would be held legally and morally accountable if an investigation into the past would be conducted. The nature of the present government therefore precludes a clear break with the past.

In these circumstances, a danger to guard against would be the gap between new laws and institutions and their implementation. The previous government set up new mechanisms, such as a missing persons commission and military courts to investigate human rights violations that had taken place during the war. However, these failed to deliver justice to the victims and appeared to be stage managed for public relations purposes with the international community. They did not convince the victim communities or the international community, and gave further confirmation that the former government was not to be trusted.

The electoral and governmental changes since January 2015 have begun a process towards political reform that seeks to address the divisions and grievances of the past. The success of these measures depends on genuine engagement from key actors and local communities on both sides of the conflict divide. Perhaps in view of the controversial nature of going back to the divided past, the government is inviting civil society groups to undertake wide ranging consultations on its transitional mechanism. The success and effectiveness of the Sri Lankan transitional justice process will be contingent on increasing the general public’s awareness, interest and participation, both to promote and widen support for the process.

IMPLEMENTATION GAPS

The principles of transitional justice that undergird the reconciliation process need to be made known to the general public if their support is to be obtained. However, the government itself is not too forthcoming about what its own position is. This stems from two factors. The first is the highly controversial issue of transitional justice, in particular those of war crimes and a political solution to ethnic power sharing, which the government prefers to delay dealing with. The second is the dualist nature of the government in which the past and present are blended together for the sake of stability and to ensure a parliamentary majority. This can be seen not only in relation to transitional justice issues, which include dealing with the past war, but also with regard to more basic good governance issues, on which there is no controversy.

The gap between new laws and mechanisms and their implementation can be seen in regard to the 19th Amendment which was the flagship reform of the present government in the interim period between the presidential elections held in January 2015 and the general elections held in August 2015. The 19th Amendment set up a method by which appointments to key institutions of state, such as the public service, police and judiciary, would be through a bipartisan process that would lead to persons of independence and integrity being appointed to those high positions. Accordingly the 19th Amendment set up a constitutional council which consists of nominees the prime minister, leader of the opposition, speaker, a nominee of the president and a nominee of the minor parties and five others (including three from civil society) to be nominated jointly by the prime minister and leader of the opposition.

The problem with the 19th Amendment is the assumption that the government and opposition would actually be on opposite sides of the political divide. This is not true at the present time because the government and opposition, or rather the official opposition, are more or less on the same side as they have come together in a government of national unity. As pointed out in an Island editorial, most of the members of the constitutional council are united by a common political agenda, as they are members of the government of national unity.

POLICE APPOINTMENT

This issue has come to prominence with regard to the appointment of the next Inspector General of Police. It has been reported in the media that those who are front runners for this important post have been engaging in lobbying. This was also the case with the last important appointment by the constitutional council, which was with regard to the attorney general. Here too there were reports of lobbying. While lobbying can be considered to be a fact of life, what is necessary is that the basis of the decision should be transparent. The Island editorial points out that the constitutional council has not yet taken the necessary actions to empower itself and make its decision making processes more transparent.

The editorial states that the constitutional council has failed to fulfil two constitutional requirements in keeping with the 19th Amendment. The first requirement is that "The procedure in regard to meetings of the [Constitutional] Council and the transactions of business at such meetings shall be determined by the Council, including procedure to be followed in regard to the recommendation or approval of persons suitable for any appointment under Article 41B or Article 41C." The second constitutional requirement that has gone unfulfilled is in respect of rules: ‘The Council shall have the power to make rules relating to the performance and the discharge of its duties and function. All such rules shall be published in the Gazette and be placed before Parliament within three months of such publication."

The overt absence of agitation in civil society in regard to the tardy implementation of the 19th Amendment is likely to be due to the continued satisfaction with the general trajectory of the government of national unity. The improvement in all aspects of governance in comparison to the period of the previous government is so marked that civil society and the international community are both prepared to give the government the time and space to meet the higher standards it set for itself during the election campaigns. However, the government’s shortcomings need to be pointed out as done by "The Island". Such public pressure would be helpful in strengthening the hands of the more reform minded members of the government of national unity as against those who are less amenable to change.

THE STRUGGLE FOR RIGHT TO INFORMATION IN SRI LANKA: IS IT LEAVING VICTIMS BEHIND?

18/04/2016

( Jaffna based journalist Ramachandran disappeared after taken in by military check point years ago, No investigation has launched yet)

By Gehan Gunatilleke.

Sri Lanka is on the brink of a historic moment. Following a long struggle spanning over a decade, a Bill on the Right to Information (RTI) was tabled in the Sri Lankan parliament on 24 March 2016. The current version of the Bill has been hailed as one of the best in the world. The Sri Lankan public and civil society are thus keen to see its passage. However, as explained in this article, the new law appears to disregard the critical absence of information concerning victims of enforced disappearances.

Once enacted, the new RTI law will enable citizens to access information held by public authorities. Any citizen could submit an RTI request to the relevant authority and receive information free of charge. Moreover, an information request cannot be refused if the public interest in the disclosure outweighs any perceived harm. The new law thus promises to advance public accountability and combat corruption—two major platforms on which the current government waselected.

Meanwhile, another protracted struggle for information continues to take place in Sri Lanka. Thousands of families have endured indescribable grief and indignity throughout the country’s history of enforced disappearances. An insurrection in Sri Lanka’s south during the late 1980s saw the disappearance of thousands of people. The recently concluded civil war in the north and east similarly witnessed the disappearance of thousands more. In the latter case, many disappeared after surrendering to security forces. A presidential commission of inquiry appointed in 2013 received over 24,000complaints on missing persons, 5,000 of which were made by the families of military personnel missing in action. If there is one experience that tragically unites Sri Lankans across ethnicity and geography, it is the trauma of not knowing the whereabouts of a missing relative.

Despite its obvious merits, the current RTI Bill is unconscious of the deep conceptual relevance of RTI to the issue of enforced disappearance. Oblivious to this relevance, section 25(3) of the Bill provides: ‘Where the request for information concerns the life and personal liberty of the citizen making such request, the response to it shall be made within forty-eight hours’ (emphasis added). Thus a citizen can seek an expedited response to an information request only if it applies to her own life and liberty. But this right does not extend to information that concerns the life and liberty of someone else—a missing relative perhaps.

Cynics might insist that in any event a standard RTI request is unlikely to help a family obtain information on a missing relative. Instead, an Office on Missing Persons, once established, could provide such information. Yet, should we not feel some discomfort with the fact that Sri Lanka’s national discourse on RTI fails to engage the community that needs this right the most? Sri Lanka’s RTI campaign has carefully avoided an association with enforced disappearances—perhaps out of a sense of political expediency. Linking the campaign to a deeply contentious issue may have ultimately undermined it. Yet can a campaign that seeks to overcome a culture of secrecy disregard one of the most infamous ‘secrets’ in the country? The irony of failing to invite such introspection is not lost on this RTI advocate.

The families of those missing are accustomed to being pushed to the margins. The total absence of public spaces to commemorate the disappeared certainly reflects such marginalisation. Despite repeated calls for public memorials, these families have only an unofficial site on the wayside in Seeduwa—a small town located a few miles from Colombo—to remember their missing loved ones. They will not be surprised by the current RTI Bill’s insensitivity to their cause. It is just a cruel reminder of their reality.

Nevertheless, it is not too late to restore the integrity of the national discourse on RTI in Sri Lanka. The Bill is now in the hands of parliamentarians. They can still move to revise section 25(3) of the Bill to ensure that there is an expedited response to requests concerning the life and liberty of any person, and not merely of the applicant. RTI advocates must lobby this revision, which at least acknowledges the relevance of the disappeared to Sri Lanka’s demand for RTI. Such acknowledgement could finally end the deep disconnect between the clarion call for more information and the lived experience of those in most need of it.

 Author profile

Gehan Gunatilleke is a human rights lawyer based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and the Research Director of Verité Research. He is the author of The Right to Information in Sri Lanka: A Guide for Advocates (2014). He is also a Commonwealth scholar at New College, University of Oxford. Follow him on twitter @GehanDG

Citations (OxHRH Blog)