Somalia’s Presidential Election Is Postponed Again. What Now?

BY EMILY TAMKIN-NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Somalia’s presidential election, which had already been postponed, was scheduled to be held on Wednesday of this week. It will not be.

On Monday, the Somali electoral body postponed the vote yet again. Why? Because members of parliament are supposed to elect the president, and parliamentary elections have not yet been completed, complicated, as they were, by corruption. The beleaguered electoral body is currently investigating malpractice.

The electoral body has issued assurances presidential elections will indeed take place before the end of 2016, but did not specify a date. Back in September, Somalia announced elections would be moved from October to November. That prompted Michael Keating, the United Nations special representative for Somalia, to warn the U.N. Security Council.

“The renewed delay raises a number of fears,” Keating said back then. “Let me name just two: that the process is being politically manipulated, and that this delay may only be one of yet further ‘rolling delays.’” Clearly, those fears were not unfounded.

September’s delay was blamed on security concerns — specifically, on al-Shabab, which has increased attacks in particular parts of Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu. (The United States government recently empowered itself to make “collective self-defense” strikes in Somalia against Shabab). These security concerns were also, at least in part, the stated reason that legislators, and not Somali citizens, were charged with electing the president.

And so Somalia is left not only with rampant security concerns, but also by corruption so pervasive that it could believably be the reason for postponing presidential elections and an electoral body that at least one U.N. special representative seems to distrust.

But there is at least one person who benefits from the perpetual postponement: Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who is up for reelection.

Photo credit: SIMON MAINA/AFP/Getty Images

German spy chief says Russian hackers could disrupt elections

Cyber-attacks aim to delegitimise democratic process and elicit political uncertainty, says Bruno Kahl

Bruno Kahl and Chancellor Angela Merkel have warned about the impact of cyber-attacks in the run-up to next year’s elections in Germany. Photograph: Reuters

Kate Connolly in Berlin-Tuesday 29 November 2016 

The head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service has warned that next year’s general election could be targeted by Russian hackers intent on spreading misinformation and undermining the democratic process.

Bruno Kahl, president of the Bundesnachrichtendienst, said Russia may have been behind attempts during the US presidential campaign to interfere with the vote.

“We have evidence that cyber-attacks are taking place that have no purpose other than to elicit political uncertainty,” he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung in his first interview since he was appointed five months ago.

“The perpetrators are interested in delegitimising the democratic process as such, regardless of who that ends up helping. We have indications that [the attacks] come from the Russian region.

“Being able to attribute it to a state agent is technically difficult but there is some evidence that this is at least tolerated or desired by the state.”

Kahl said the suspicion was that a large proportion of attacks were being carried out simply to demonstrate technical prowess. “The traces that are left behind in the internet create an impression of someone wanting to demonstrate what they are capable of,” he said.

Kahl joins a range of leading voices in Germany who have recently expressed their concerns over Russian interference, particularly through the spread of fake news stories.

Hans-Georg Maaßen, president of the domestic BfV intelligence agency, said in an interview that cyberspace had become “a place of hybrid warfare” in which Russia was a key player. “More recently, we see the willingness of Russian intelligence to carry out sabotage,” he said.

Maaßen said Russian secret services had been carrying out attacks on computer systems in Germany which, as far as his agency had been able to ascertain, were “aimed at comprehensive strategic data gathering”.

Only when people were confronted with the fact the information they were receiving was untrue would “the toxic lies lose their effectiveness”, he said.

Recent Deutsche Telekom outages are believed to be part of a worldwide attempt to hijack routing devices. Photograph: Reuters

Hackers were said to have been behind attacks on Deutsche Telekom on Sunday and Monday that disabled internet and phone access for almost a million customers in Germany. The company said the security breach was part of a worldwide attack on routers. Security experts said the hackers may have been Russian but they had no proof.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said on Tuesday she did not know who was responsible for the strike but “such cyber-attacks, or hybrid conflicts as they are known in Russian doctrine, are now part of daily life and we must learn to cope with them.

“We have to inform people, and express our political convictions clearly,” she said, calling on the population to not allow themselves to be irritated by such rogue operations. “You just have to know that there’s such a thing and learn to live with it,” she said.

Arne Schönbohm, president of the Federal Office for Information Security and known as Germany’s ‘“cyber sheriff”, called the Deutsche Telekom attacks worrying: “It shows to what extent cyber-attacks can affect every citizen. We need to get used to the idea that in future computer attacks, both comparable and far worse, will increasingly take place.”

In 2015, an attack on internet in the German parliament was blamed on Russian hackers by German intelligence. Russian officials have strenuously denied the accusations.

Germany faces a heated election campaign next year, largely due to the pressure Merkel is under over her liberal refugee policy, along with the rise of rightwing populists Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which is on track to enter the Bundestag for the first time.

Public disenchantment towards Merkel – under fire also for her critical stance towards Russia over its annexation of the Crimea – is ripe for exploitation by her political opponents, several of whom, including the AfD, have reached out to the Kremlin and vice versa.

Merkel has also warned that populists and social media platforms spreading propaganda were in danger of causing unprecedented damage to democracy.

Speaking to the Bundestag last week, she said: “Today we have fake sites, bots, trolls – things that regenerate themselves, reinforcing opinions with certain algorithms, and we must learn how to deal with them.”

A report published this month by the Atlantic Council on Russian Influence on France, Germany and the UK, pointed to an extensive Russian “disinformation campaign” being carried out in Germany, which it said had “opened opportunities for the Kremlin to influence German politics and the public debate”.

The Pegida anti-Islam movement has repeatedly hammered home the message at its rallies that the influence of President Vladimir Putin’s Russia in Germany is a welcome alternative to the imperial designs of the US and Brussels.

Prison regime ‘possibly the very worst’ ever seen by inspectors

Simon Israel-

29 NOV 2016

Suicides double in five years, five ambulance calls out a day to a prison in Bristol because of drug use, and a sixth death in one London prison alone in the past year. And if it couldn’t get any worse it does. Today, yet another damning report by the prison inspectorate into a failing prison which will test Liz Truss’s resolve on how quickly she can respond.

In fact, everything happening in the jail system is now a test of how quickly the Ministry of Justice can respond. Lives are at stake. Yet the prison service is simply treading water.

Hindley HMP outside Wigan used to be a young offenders institution, but was converted into cat C prison two years. Its first unannounced inspection over 11 days in July is within millimetres of labelling it the worst prison in England and Wales.

The regime for over 500 prisoners, it states is “possibly the very worst inspectors had ever seen in this type of prison.”

The report states that it is “far easier” to get hold of drugs than clean clothes, sheets or books from the library.

The situation it went on was “actually disabling and disempowering the aspirations of prisoners and many staff alike.”

Inspectors found most prisoners were locked in their cells for more than 24 hours. Residential wings in landings and cells were mouldy and filthy.

Levels of violence were very high, over 20 assaults a month. Self harm incidents were running at three a week.

20-year-old Stephen Connell was found hanged in his cell in Hindley in February this year – one of a record 102 prisoners who have taken their own lives this year. The inspectors found recommendations to improve safety for vulnerable prisoners at Hindley still had not been implemented.

The Justice Select Committee is embarking on its major inquiry into prison reform today. But that too can’t respond quick enough. The Justice Secretary Liz Truss has really only one short term option, reduce the prison population or too many more will die.

Michael Spurr, the chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, said, “Since the inspection a detailed improvement plan was developed to address the weaknesses identified by inspectors and this is being closely monitored.

“Progress has been made to improve safety and purposeful activity with more prisoners engaged in high quality work and training opportunities.”

Follow Simon Israel on Twitter @simonisrael

Thousands 'miss out on stroke treatment'

SP-LImage captionIn the UK, nearly 90,000 people each year are admitted to hospital following a stroke

By Smitha Mundasad-29 November 2016

About 9,000 stroke patients a year are missing out on a treatment that can prevent disability following a stroke, say UK experts.

Clot retrieval can restore blood flow to the brain, preventing some lasting damage, but currently only 600 patients a year get this therapy, they estimate.

A national stroke audit reveals part of the problem is a lack of skilled staff to do the procedure.

NHS England says stroke patients are receiving high quality care.

During a stroke, the blood supplying vital parts of the brain is interrupted.

The most common reason is a clot blocking a major blood vessel in the head, although some strokes are caused by a bleed.

The longer a part of the brain is starved of blood, the more likely lasting damage - such as paralysis and speech problems - will occur.

Expanding mesh

While many people with a stroke caused by a clot currently get drugs to help dissolve the blockage, this does not always work completely.

Thrombectomy - or clot retrieval - is another method, which aims to remove the clot mechanically.

It is a highly skilled operation, and stroke services need to be set up to be able to deliver the treatment.

A thin metal wire housing a mesh is inserted into a major artery in the leg and, under X-ray guidance, it is directed to the site of the problem in the brain.

The mesh is then expanded, like a miniature fishing net, to trap and remove the clot.

'Once the clot was out, the damage stopped'

Alice Felix-Donyai used to be a catwalk model. She had a stroke aged 38.

She remembers putting her baby daughter to sleep and chatting to her husband.

He noticed her face was dropping and her speech was slurred. And then she couldn't walk and collapsed.

She says: "He [my husband] placed me on top of the bed and that's the first time I realised that there must be something really wrong with me, because he's so stressed out."

Alice had a thrombectomy at Charing Cross Hospital just hours after her stroke. She was part of a trial of the procedure.

She now has trouble moving her left arm and leg, but says it could have been much worse.

"Once the clot was out, the damage stopped," she says.

"There are a lot of limitations. I can't run, I can't clap my hands. If I want to pick my daughter up, I have to tell her to put her arms around my neck and then I grab her with my right side.

"It is very sad not to be able to pick up my daughter.

"I do as best as I can."

Researchers from Newcastle University, Northumbria University, Oxford Academic Health Science Network and the National Institute for Health Research looked at thrombectomy data and stroke statistics in the UK to work out how many patients might benefit from the procedure.

In a presentation given to the UK Stroke Forum national conference, they estimated one in 10 people admitted to a hospital with a stroke could be eligible for thrombectomy.

Investigator Dr Martin James, at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, said: "Delivering the procedure to the 9,000 people who need it will require major changes to the configuration and skill sets of existing acute stroke services.

"We must work quickly to establish what needs to be done so that more people in the UK can benefit from a treatment which can dramatically reduce disability after a stroke as well as cutting associated costs to the NHS and social care."

Thrombectomy has already been deemed safe and effective by the health watchdog the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence.

NICE says the treatment should be carried out only in places that have trained specialists and the necessary support staff and equipment.

Consultant shortages

The Royal College of Physicians said: "There is a major shortage of appropriately trained staff to undertake thrombectomy, particularly outside of London, and it will take time to train up enough doctors to undertake this skilled procedure."

The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme for England, Wales and Northern Ireland says staffing levels across stroke care in general are a "concern".

"Current nurse staffing levels are insufficient to provide good care for everyone who needs it, and as we implement guidelines, more skilled nurses will be required rather than less," it said in a statement.

There were also problems with recruiting consultants, with 40% of stroke services having an unfilled stroke consultant post - up from 26% in 2014.

Prof Tony Rudd, national clinical director for stroke at NHS England, said: "NHS stroke care and stroke survival are now at record levels.

"We recognise the potential effectiveness mechanical thrombectomy could have for about 5% of stroke patients and are currently drawing up a policy for its possible use across the NHS."

ANY LEGAL ACTION AGAINST LANKA-E-NEWS SHOULD BE FAIR AND JUST – FREE MEDIA MOVEMENT

( FMM Statement)

28/11/2016

The Free Media Movement’s (FMM’s) attention has been drawn to the situation arisen in relation to the issuance of an Interpol order on 25th of November by Gampaha Magistrate Mrs. Kavindra Nanayakkara to arrest Mr. Sandaruwan Senadheera, Editor of Lanka E News, for the allegation of the contempt of court. This is the first incident of issuing an international warrant against a Sri Lankan journalist.

Sandaruwan Senadheera was threatened at several occasions under the previous Rajapakse regime and left the country as a result.

A lawyer had lodged a petition in the Supreme Court accusing that a contempt of court has been occurred by some news articles published by Lanka E News. Meanwhile, the Gampaha Magistrate has given this order regarding with a matter related to the assault of Upali thennakoon, the ex-editor of Rivira newspaper.

There are several issues that FMM takes into consideration within this process. Before given the above order, the Minister of Justice has made a statement in the Parliament about the action taken by the Government against the Lanka E News editor. Also, leading politicians of the government has been continuously taking a stance of blaming media. Apparently, the government is attempting to control electronic media according to their choice, avoiding the preparation of a streamlined policy for regularizing. This clearly indicates that the government has taken up a policy of controlling media by intimidating.

If the action taken against the Lanka E News editor is noted as an extension of continuous implied and direct statements of threatening issued by government leaders recently, it does not deliver a positive message to the world on good governance. If there is an issue with his media practice, we emphasize that the action taken should be fair and transparent.

Further, there are numerous ethical issues with media practice and Lanka E News edited by Mr. Sandaruwan Senadheera is also criticized for this matter. The Free Media Movement, which emphasizes the necessity of ethical media practice to establish a free media culture with social responsibility urges all journalists to be cautious on this.

Seetha Ranjanee – Convener

C. Dodawatta – Secretary

Devolution of ‘Land Powers’: A Comment

by G. H. Peiris-November 28, 2016, 7:58 pm 

Among the writings published in the wake of release of the report submitted to Parliament by the Constitutional Reform Sub-Committee on ‘Centre-Periphery Relations’ are those that appeared in recent issues of The Island –C. A. Chandraprema’s ‘Analysis’ of the report, and a more general piece titled ‘Constitutional reform and devolution of power’ by Harim Peiris. The former, needless to say, is an incisive critique written at a level of expertise which the ‘Panel of Experts’ that served the sub-committee appears to have lacked. The latter, I respectfully submit, is a feeble attempt containing misrepresentations, intended no doubt to reinforce the recommendations made by the sub-committee on ‘devolution’.

This paper is being written with the twin objective of supplementing Chandraprema’s criticisms with a few sets of information relevant to a study of ‘Centre-Periphery Relations’ in a multi-ethnic polity such as ours, and to highlight with special reference to Harim Peiris’ article, the superficiality typical of the on-going campaign intended to emaciate the unitary character of the nation-state of Sri Lanka. This campaign is also represented by recent publications such as the reports produced by the ‘Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reform’ (chaired by Lal Wijenayake) and the ‘Constitutional Reform Sub-Committee’ referred to above, alongside the sustained literary efforts by self-professed "Sri Lanka experts" in India ̶for example those associated with the ‘Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies’ of the University of Madras̶ whose barely concealed objective all along has been that of promoting the hegemonic interests of India in the South Asia Region.

The Indian ‘Model’

Those who prescribe for Sri Lanka a constitutional arrangement similar to the ‘federal’ or ‘quasi-federal’ system in India tend to overlook several irrefutable facts of utmost significance. The foremost among these facts is that at the eve of the British withdrawal from the Indian sub-continent, the ‘Raj’ was no more than a conglomerate of disparate nationalities the terrestrial and maritime boundaries of which had remained ill-defined. Sri Lanka in contrast possessed almost throughout recorded history a clear geographical identity. Unlike in the case of most modern nation-states, Sri Lanka is not a product of imperial intervention.

Unlike in ‘British Ceylon’, during the formative stages of the Indian nation-state – i.e. the final phase of decolonisation in South Asia – British control over the areas that came to constitute the Republic of India was not uniform. The ‘Provinces’ under direct British rule accounted for no more than about 49% of India at independence. A large part of the remaining territory consisted of more than six-hundred ‘Princely States’ over most of which British rule had been nominal, and several coastal colonies of the Portuguese and the French. There were, in addition, the extensive Himalayan tribal tracts that had been designated ‘Excluded’ or ‘Partially Excluded’ (from Delhi’s direct control) under the constitutional dispensation of the Simon Commission of 1935. Their outer peripheries remained ill-defined, and, in that sense, they constituted a ‘buffer zone" between the British Indian Empire and the interior of continental Asia.

As mentioned in Chandraprema’s study, an appraisal of the federal system of India as a ‘model’ for emulation must also be placed in the context of the extraordinary territorial and demographic dimensions of India which entail, among other things, a degree of "remoteness" of a large segment of its population from central government institutions, which one does not find in small countries with representative forms of government such as ours. The size of a national entity is, of course, not the only determinant of the "distance" between the government and the governed. Nevertheless the significance of the size factor from present perspectives which has tended often to be overlooked could be illustrated with reference to the fact that Sri Lanka (with a population equivalent to less than 2% of that of India), had it been a component of the Indian union, would have been represented in the 545-member Lok Sabha by only about nine members with, say, the entire Colombo District or the Central Province constituting single-member constituencies. It could thus be argued that, given the enormity of the Indian "scale", sub-national institutions of government, sharing power with the central government, is far more vital an ingredient of democratic governance (in order to provide even a semblance of popular participation in the direction and control of the daily lives of the people) in that country than they are in tiny and spatially compact nation-states like Sri Lanka.

Another relevant but frequently overlooked consideration is that the evolution of the present geographical mosaic and the power-sharing arrangements of the Indian federation represents a long drawn-out and tortuous process, the initial impulses of which could be traced back to the Swaraj Movement. Even more importantly, since independence, this evolutionary process has been regulated by a powerful government at the Centre, which, though never entirely unresponsive to the more important sub-national electoral pressures, has always had both the capacity to retrace its steps when costly blunders were made as well as the strength to overwhelm (through recourse to military power when necessary) any serious resistance to its fiat, with hardly any external challenge barring the past Chinese links of the Nāga rebels and the allegedly continuing Pakistani links of the Kashmiri rebels. Unlike in many other federations India’s federal arrangement has been, in that sense, the product not only of trial and error but also of compulsion from the Centre and, at least occasionally, involuntary obedience from the States.

There is controversy among researchers on the relative success of ‘devolution’in India from the viewpoint of expected objectives of democratisation, national consolidation and peaceful coexistence among its diverse nationalities. The best illustrations of this are provided by the mutually irreconcilable assertions on the related issues found in abundance even in some of the most authoritative commentaries on India such as those by Arend Lijphart (1977& 1996), Myron Weiner (1978, 1979, 1996), Donald Horowitz (1985), Rajni Kothari (1989), Paul Brass (1990, 1991, 1994, 2002), Atul Kohli (1990), Christophe Jaffrelot (1993), Dipanker Gupta (1997), Dreze & Sen (2002) and Ashutosh Varshney (2004). While most scholars evaluating India’s record tend to take a stance of qualified commendation rather than outright condemnation, it would be tenuous to claim on the basis of India’s excessively turbulent experiences of the past seventy years to say that its constitution has achieved anything even approaching consociational power-sharing among its people.What this implies more than all else is that the Indian federation is not a model to emulate from the viewpoint of promoting greater intergroup harmony in Sri Lanka.

Devolution of ‘Land Powers

The tendency for statutory powers over ‘land’ to be equated with the rights of people living in different parts of the country to use the physical resources of their habitats in conformity with their needs. In certain extreme formulations of the ‘devolutionist’ discourse the vesting of ‘land powers’ in the Central government is made to appear as a depriving the legitimate agrarian rights of an impoverished peasantry. This is a fallacy. Constitutional and other statutory measures pertaining to ‘Land’ extend over a much wider range of concerns of governance such as territorial rights and security considerations of the nation, entitlements of its people, environmental conservation and the allocation of physical resources between different needs and uses, and the balanced development of all segments of the economy. The ongoing agitation for enhancement of powers and functions of the Provincial Councils of the ‘North-East’ by some of the formidable but "moderate" Sri Lanka Tamil leaders in mainstream politics is intended to appear as constituting an innocuous but vitally significant component of their commitment to promote the aspirations of the people whom they represent mainly in respect of their socioeconomic needs. In the formulation of a constitutional response to this agitation, however, there are several considerations that should not be ignored.

The most obvious among such considerations is that the demise of the LTTE battlefield leadership in mid-May 2009 has not marked the abandonment of the Eelam struggle. The surviving collaborators of that secessionist effort here and abroad have in fact been more strident than ever before in their demands, made ostensibly to promote ethnic reconciliation, and lasting peace. Their package of demands includes:

(a) the merger of the northern and eastern provinces to constitute a single spatial unit of devolution;

(b) the removal from the ‘North-East’ of government installations and manpower for national security and defence, along with the redistribution of the land occupied by the military bases among the civilian population (this demand is coupled with a globally disseminated falsehood that the ‘North’ has continued to remain "militarised" after the battlefield victory over the LTTE achieved in 2009); and

(c) the vesting of powers and functions over land and law enforcement in the Provincial Council of the re-constituted ‘North-East’ also empowered to engage in foreign relations, by-passing the central government);

— in short, the same demands for internal and external self-government demanded by the LTTE in the heyday of its Eelam War.

To be continued

Who Is Former STF DIG K. L. M. Sarathchandra?

By S. V. Kirubaharan –November 28, 2016

S. V. Kirubaharan

The POLICE stand for politeness, obedience, a listening ear, investigations, consultations, trust and maybe other meanings too. Are all these respected in today’s policing? In Sri Lanka, one cannot say that the whole of policing is in jeopardy – there are good and bad eggs. The problem in Sri Lanka is that politicians as well as the wealthiest trouble-makers manipulate the police. History has proved that this doesn’t work in the long run. ‘The mills of GOD grind slow but sure’. Presently two DIGs and some other high-ranking Police officers are remanded in custody and another DIG has been sentenced to death.

On 23 November, I was not surprised to read of the arrest of K.L.M. Sarathchandra who was the former co-ordinating secretary of the Security Division of the former President and former Special Task Force (STF) Commander for misusing a state vehicle. The Sri Lankan press has failed to give any details of his ‘misuse of a state vehicle’, where and for what?

Those who don’t know the history of Tamil militancy may not know who Sarathchandra is. There are many reasons for the birth of Tamil militancy, but one should not forget that it intensified due to mis- handling by then governments as well as by the police.

Now-a-days, the majority of the people and some politicians in the South, as well as the security forces blame Pirapaharan without analyzing the root causes that gave birth to and intensified militancy.

I knew this Sarathchandra in the late 70s as the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of Annaikoddai Police station in Jaffna. Then he was a sub-inspector of Police. He was a tyrant not only in his designated policing area, but in the whole of Jaffna. To be frank, people in Jaffna then knew more about him, than about Pirapaharan – I am not exaggerating.

Here I will quote only a few incidents to show how he took the law into his own hands and his tyranny encouraged Tamil youths to become militants.

One evening, in his policing area, four school-going students were chatting on the door-steps of the library, as they leaving after studying there. This gentleman came in civil clothes with another two policemen in a car borrowed from a rich man and started to beat up all those students for no reason. I saw this incident. He beat them mercilessly until his baton broke into pieces. It is to be noted that after a few years two of those students died at a young age. These were natural deaths but his beating may have contributed to their death, for example by causing undiagnosed internal injuries.

Read More

SRI LANKA: TNA’S DIPLOMACY

28/11/2016

An important meeting between President Maithripala Sirisena and Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarians, led by Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan, took place in Parliament last Thursday (24).

The TNA played a tremendous role in ousting the Rajapaksa regime and establishing the National Unity Government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in January 2015.

Later, with the guidance of R. Sampanthan, the TNA as the main Opposition in Parliament played a responsible role to deal with Tamil political issues as well as voicing on national issues.

Last Thursday’s meeting saw various unresolved issues in the Northern and Eastern Provinces being discussed.

Unlike during the separatist war, the TNA’s approach to deal with political and humanitarian issues in the North and East remains non-confrontational.

By learning a bitter lesson in adopting a tough stance in the past, the present TNA leadership is cautious in spearheading its political activities and in the past year, the alliance has proved its commitment to strengthening peace and reconciliation in the island.

The meeting took place a couple of days after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe submitted the reports of six subcommittees to the Constitutional Assembly. With TNA already making its suggestions to draft the new Constitution, it expects that the longstanding ethnic crisis could be settled in the new Constitution.

Based on the reports of the six subcommittees to the Constitutional Assembly, an interim report is expected to be released in Parliament on 10 December and the report is likely to outline how far the new Constitution would be drafted in favour of fulfilling the political aspirations of the people in the North and East.

The present political atmosphere in the North and East, with several unresolved humanitarian issues such as the prolonged detention of Tamil political prisoners, delays in resettling Internally Displaced Persons, excessive military presence, ignoring investigating into disappearances and alleged war crimes, remain thorny issues for the Tamil National Alliance with civilians affected directly due to the separatist war even expressing their disappointment over the present National Unity Government.

Northern Chief Minister, C.V. Wigneswaran, at his Colombo media briefing last week, even pointed out that the ‘Arise Tamil’ (Eluha Tamil) demonstration held a month ago in Jaffna, was a reflection of the government’s negligence in solving political and humanitarian issues in the North and East.

A mass demonstration was also held last week in Batticaloa against the communal outrage of Ampitiye Sumanaratana Thera of the Mangalaramaya Vihara, Batticaloa.

Despite the negative conditions gradually snowballing in the North and East, the Tamil National Alliance, under the able leadership of R. Sampanthan, is determined to safeguard its commitment to strengthening peace and reconciliation, while averting any confrontational approach with the National Unity Government.

Another meeting between the TNA leadership and President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe is due to take place in a week’s time before the interim report of the Constitutional Assembly is to be released on 10 December.

In the meantime, the government should prepare itself to face the 34th session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission which will evaluate extensively Sri Lanka’s pledges made in October 2015 as co-sponsor to the UNHRC resolution on resolving various issues.

At the 34th session, which is scheduled to take place from 27 February to 24 March, around four reports are expected to be submitted on the findings and the progress made to strengthen peace and reconciliation in the island along with resolving humanitarian issues since Sri Lanka became a co-sponsor to the UNHRC resolution.

Therefore, at this juncture, the government should not underestimate the non-confrontational approach of the TNA and take its stand for granted.

The able leadership of R. Sampanthan, as Leader of the Opposition and as TNA Leader, has given a good opportunity to the government to deal with minority issues in the country. The ball is now in the government’s court!

Editorial, Ceylon Today

UN body grills Sri Lanka over torture allegations

Delegation says Sri Lankan government has zero tolerance for torture, but critics say police 'enjoy impunity'

Buddhist monks in Kandy sign a petition organized by Kandy Diocese's Human Rights Office against torture on June 25. (Photo by K.W. Nissanka)

November 25, 2016

The United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) is in session in Geneva, Switzerland from Nov. 7 - Dec. 7 and Sri Lanka has been called to account for allegations of ongoing abuse.

The Sri Lankan government sent an 11-member delegation led by Attorney-General Jayantha Jayasuriya on Nov. 16-17 to respond to the accusations that there is regular use of torture. During the two-day sessions at the fifth periodic review, the Sri Lankan delegation was publicly grilled about the accusations by members of the U.N. committee.

Addressing the committee, Jayasuriya said that Sri Lanka has conducted measures over the last two years in order to fully investigate torture accusations. He reiterated that Sri Lanka has a zero tolerance policy on torture.

However, Father Nandana Manatunga, head of the Human Rights Office in Kandy Diocese, said that the government is in complete denial about routine torture by police.

"We requested the government to indict torture perpetrators but nothing has happened even after the change of government," said Father Manathunga, who is currently handling 60 torture cases.

"If the perpetrators are indicted and brought before the law and punished then things would change drastically. As for now they enjoy impunity and this encourages other police officers to continue torturing suspects," the priest told ucanews.com.

"In order to indict torture perpetrators the special investigation unit should once again be activated to investigate police officers who are suspected of torture," said Father Manathunga.

"We hope to continue our signature campaign calling for the government to activate the torture act and punish the perpetrators," the priest added.

Jayasuriya informed the U.N. committee that Sri Lanka is still working on its National Human Rights Action Plan due to be completed in 2021. He said that the ongoing process will help the nation come into line with its international treaty obligations, according to a Daily News report. 

Philip Disanayaka, executive secretary of the Right to Life Human Rights Center, who participated in the UNCAT review, said that the Sri Lankan government's report on torture cases had been contradicted by figures from the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission.

The Sri Lankan police admitted they tortured 30 people from 2011-2014 but the Sri Lanka Human Rights commission said that 2,210 people were abused. This clearly indicates that torture is a routine method used to force confessions from suspects, Disanayaka said.

"Even though the government has taken a few steps, it is not enough to eradicate this menace from society," he added.

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka also reported they received 413 complaints of police torture in 2015.

Brito Fernando, chief of the Families of the Disappeared, who also participated in the UNCAT review, said that the Chief of National Intelligence, Sisira Mendis was deliberately evasive when questioned.

Mendis oversaw the police Criminal Investigation Department during the last part the country's civil war from March 2008 until June 2009. His units have been named by a U.N. investigation as being responsible for torture and sexual violence during the period, according to a Foreign Affairs report. 

Even so, Fernando was hopeful that the U.N. review would have a good affect back home.

"This meeting offered the new government of Sri Lanka a major opportunity to signal a break with the past — to acknowledge the appalling scale of torture, and to demonstrate a genuine willingness to take the steps necessary to end its use," he told ucanews.com.

People in Kandy on June 25 sign a petition by Kandy Diocese's Human Rights Office against torture. (Photo by K.W. Nissanka)

Deal with problems before they escalate

Jehan Perera-November 28, 2016, 8:03 pm 

There are indications of political maneuvering behind efforts to disturb the peace in the country and to bring ethno-religious nationalism to the fore. The rising number of incidents of hate speech and local level acts of violence that appear to have communal undertones has prompted former President Chandrika Kumaratunga to issue a strong statement that received national coverage. In her statement she noted the rise of hate speech in Sri Lanka in the recent past, which challenges the initiatives being taken by the government to heal the country after decades of bloodshed and destruction. She said that "Hate filled expressions and actions by groups with vested interests, resulting in demeaning, denigrating and inciting violence against fellow citizens of various ethnic, religious backgrounds has no place in Sri Lankan society."

Video footage of religious clergy engaging in vitriolic attacks on those of other ethnic and religious groups has gone viral on the social media. Ethno nationalist organizations have been engaging in hate campaigns and intimidating those of other communities at the local level. Most notably in the North and East, there are clashes being reported on inter religious grounds. There are many incidents of religious clergy getting involved in expansionist projects, such as religious conversions, destruction of ancient sites or building places of worship in areas where they are less numerous. It is important that the government acts without delay to utilize the law to mete out legal sanctions against those who seek to gain political advantage by accentuating the divisions in society.

President Maithripala Sirisena has publicly stated that anyone who violates the law would be dealt with by the law enforcement agencies. On the other hand, there are also tensions that arise between the communities due to a failure of communication. A different approach is required in these cases. The Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation A H M Fowzie is making arrangements to hold programmes to promote national reconciliation. Minister of Justice and Buddhasasana, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe has said that all ethnic and religious groups are welcome to participate in the dialogue. He said various groups, including the Bodu Bala Sena and Ravana Balaya, had agreed to participate in the effort to resolve issues through dialogue.

STUDENT CLASHES

In July this year there was a clash between Tamil and Sinhala students at Jaffna University. The immediate cause of the conflict was whether a Sinhala cultural dance could be added to a welcome ceremony for incoming first year students. The student association decided against it and opted for the traditional Tamil cultural dance only. This led to a violent clash. One of the outcomes was the temporary closure of the university and departure of Sinhala students from Jaffna due to their fear of further incidents. However, the quick intervention of the government, and notably President Maithripala Sirisena who got the student leaders on both sides to meet with him, enabled the restoration of normalcy.

In addition the university administration decided to ensure that the healing of relationships between the Tamil and Sinhala student bodies should be of more sustainable nature. Therefore they organized a relationship building exercise for the approximately 600 students of the science faculty who had been involved in the clash. They sought the services of external facilitators who were from the National Peace Council and Centre for Communication Training. Dr Joe William and I were part of the team of facilitators. It seemed to be a daunting task as the student body was a large one, and there could be hardliners amongst them who would scuttle an effort at reconciliation. The prospect of this large number of students, who had already clashed before, turning hostile during an event meant to promote healing of relationships was a possibility. Students with their energy and idealism can both be a constructive force for change or, if they get suspicious or provoked, can be disruptive.

However, this worst case scenario did not materialize. The students did not show any sign of aggression. The 500 or so students who did attend the programme came in good spirits and left the same way. About half of them were Sinhala students, with almost the same number of Tamil students and a lesser number of Muslim students (in the ratio of 4:3:1). As part of the day’s events the students received a crash course on non-violent communication and thereafter were divided into 45 groups of 12 students each. In order to ensure a maximum of interaction between the different communities, they were assigned to the groups that were mixed by ethnicity (Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim) and by their years (first year, second year and third year).

CULTURED NATION

It was clear that the students appreciated the opportunity to interact with each other in a structured way. If they had been left to themselves, they would probably have interacted only with their own community members. But when they were put into mixed groups and asked to discuss between themselves they did so with interest and zest. They were asked to give answers to three questions: what were the burning issues they faced, what could the university authorities do to address them, and what could they as students do to help resolve those problems. As most courses in universities are now conducted in the English language, the discussions took place in English. Each group was asked to choose one member of their group to come up onto the stage and present the outcome of the discussions to the rest of the student body and to the members of the university administration who were also present.

The main issues highlighted by the students in their group presentations related to the need for better infrastructure facilities for their studies. They asked for free Wi Fi facilities to enable them to access the worldwide web, which is available in universities such as Moratuwa University. They asked for a study hall for science students. They asked for a second canteen to purchase their meals as there is currently only one canteen in the university to service over 5000 students and 1000 staff members. They asked for a gymnasium that is available in most other universities and for a swimming pool as found in Sri Jayawardenapura University. They asked for better hostel facilities, and that these hostels should accommodate students of all years, and not only first year and final year students.

In addition the students asked for improved language training facilities so that they could bridge the language barrier. They asked for more intercultural and social activities so that they could interact more with each other. They asked for more interaction with students from other faculties through sports. They also asked for spaces in the university in which those of minority religions in Jaffna could worship. None of the ideas put forward by the students were immoderate or unreasonable. They were not confrontational or hostile. This suggests the value of engaging in dialogue with others and consulting with them before problems become aggravated. It is important that the university authorities are responsive to the needs of the students and to their dreams. Even a swimming pool is not too much for the state to invest in students who will form the backbone of a plural, educated and cultured nation.

Looking at Some Important Issues in Sri Lanka

Taylor Dibbert- 11/27/2016

Gehan Gunatilleke is the Research Director at Verité Research, a think tank based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

This interview has been edited lightly.

What’s your general take on the performance of the coalition government?

We in Sri Lanka tend to understand this government purely as a coalition of political parties. But I think this is also a coalition of ideologies, and what’s interesting is that the ideological fault lines don’t neatly fit the party divisions. So ideological differences don’t exist merely between the [United National Party] UNP and the [United People’s Freedom Alliance] UPFA faction in government. It’s clear to me that even within the UNP, there are certain fundamental ideological differences, and these differences are ultimately going to shape the reform agenda of the government. The recent proposals on a new counterterrorism law illustrate this problem. Attempts to enact legislation that denies suspects prompt access to legal counsel is another example. These proposals are not emanating from the UPFA — they are being championed by actors from within the UNP.

So in this context, I think the coalition government’s performance has been mixed. On the one hand, it has engaged the international community, enacted progressive legislation such as the [Right to Information] RTI Act, and has ratified international instruments such as the enforced disappearances convention. On the other, it has attempted on a number of occasions to enact repressive legislation. This bipolarity is becoming a regular feature of this government. Meanwhile, it has made very slow progress on combating corruption and prosecuting past crimes, including international crimes committed during the war, and crimes against religious minorities. So a culture of impunity still prevails under this coalition government.

Colombo’s reform agenda is wide-ranging, but let’s turn to transitional justice. On that front, are you satisfied with the government’s performance thus far?

The enactment of the [Office of Missing Persons] OMP Act was a positive move. It now needs to be operationalized, and that requires the president to assign the subject of the act to a particular minister. That minister will then need to appoint a date on which the act comes into operation as per section 1(2) of the act. So I’m afraid we are still a fair distance away from having even the first of the four promised mechanisms established. It is therefore obvious that progress has been slow — particularly in terms of ensuring accountability for international crimes.

However, we need to place the transitional justice agenda in context. I believe we are making steady progress in terms of constitutional reform. So rushing the transitional justice process to meet the March 2017 deadline is not prudent if it means compromising on substance. It is better to be sensible and defer the process for a further period of time, and ensure that all the mechanisms including the judicial mechanism is delivered together to the satisfaction of those actually affected. Let us not forget that we began this process to deliver accountability — not anything that falls short of it.

Do you have any concerns that the government may not be fully committed to implementing a credible, comprehensive transitional justice program?

As mentioned above, my concerns relate to the ideological factions within government. A lot depends on which faction prevails. If those who champion the counterterrorism law prevail, I am certain we will not see a credible transitional justice program. But if a more progressive faction within government is empowered to deliver on its promises made in Geneva [at the UN Human Rights Council] last year, we could still see this process put back on track.

I hope local civil society and international actors understand these dynamics and act strategically over the next few months. They must understand that this government and the constituent political parties are not homogeneous. Transitional justice will ultimately depend on whose voices in government are empowered.

How involved should international actors be in Sri Lanka’s transitional justice process?

I’m starting to wonder about this. Let me say at the outset that international actors have been an indispensable part of getting Sri Lanka on the international agenda and putting pressure on the government to commit to a transitional justice agenda. But this involvement has given us diminishing returns over the last year or so. Some international actors have not understood the dynamics at play and have at times overestimated the government’s sincerity. A good example is the discourse on sequencing. Local civil society actors have been pressing for sequencing that does not place accountability on the back burner. But this has not been the consistent view of international actors and advisors. I’m afraid the lack of deference to local demands has cost this process important momentum in terms of establishing an accountability mechanism. So I think it’s time international actors trust and defer to local civil society actors and play more of a supportive role. At the end of the day, Sri Lanka’s transitional justice process has to be locally owned and driven.

Negotiations are currently underway for Sri Lanka to regain the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+). How has the application process been progressing? What do you expect to happen?

Sri Lanka applied for the GSP+ facility and is now awaiting the European Commission’s (EC) assessment of the application. There is some expectation within government that the assessment would reap a positive result. However, two major challenges remain.

First, the government must undertake legislative reform to ensure suspects are granted prompt access to legal counsel — which means access from the point of arrest. The recent proposals to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure Act fell short of this expectation, as it only granted access after the first police statement is recorded. I’m pleased that those proposals have been shelved, as the status quo under our law is better. Rules were issued in 2012 under the Police Ordinance to give lawyers the right to meet their clients in any police station. While this is not the same as giving suspects prompt access to counsel, it is better than what was proposed recently by the Minister of Justice.

Second, regaining GSP+ will depend on reforming the [Prevention of Terrorism Act] PTA. The EC highlighted a number of problematic provisions in the PTA in a letter sent to the government in 2010. Among the concerns raised was the admissibility of confessions to a police officer and unduly prolonged detention. Until the government takes steps to reform the PTA along these lines, it is difficult to see the EC providing a positive assessment of Sri Lanka’s application for GSP+.

Intended to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act, Sri Lanka’s draft for new counterterrorism legislation has received considerable criticism — both domestically and internationally. Why is the draft so problematic? Do you anticipate that the draft legislation will be modified significantly before it’s eventually passed?

Continuing the point made above, reforming the PTA is a vital part of regaining GSP+. However, the recently unveiled policy and legal framework for a new counterterrorism law is deeply problematic and does not meet international standards. So I have doubts as to whether Sri Lanka can secure GSP+ if it continues to pursue the counterterrorism proposals in their current form.

The counterterrorism proposals have been criticized for a number of reasons. But I think three of them stand out. First, the proposals deny suspects prompt access to counsel. A suspect arrested under the proposed counterterrorism law would be given access to counsel only after the police statement is recorded. It is curious that the language is almost identical to the proposed amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure Act. It can be assumed that the same actors are involved in influencing the drafting process. Second, the proposals make confessions to a police officer admissible. This is hugely problematic given the widespread practice of torture in the country. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka recorded 420 torture complaints in 2015 alone. So the practice has not ended despite the government change in January 2015. This is why civil society actors have insisted that the new counterterrorism law not make confessions to police officers admissible.

Incidentally, a set of proposals on national security legislation prepared by the Law Commission of Sri Lanka earlier this year recommended that confessions be made admissible only when made to a magistrate, and that access to counsel should not be denied to suspects. These proposals by the Law Commission, however, were unfortunately discarded.

Finally, the new counterterrorism proposals have an extremely wide range of offenses. I’m yet to see such a broad list of offenses in any other counterterrorism law. The most problematic of these is the offense on speech and writing that ‘threatens unity.’ I’ve written on this issue here — so I won’t repeat the arguments on why this offense is deeply problematic in terms of safeguarding the rights of journalists and political dissenters in Sri Lanka.

I honestly believe the policy and legal framework for a new counterterrorism law should be discarded and the Law Commission proposals taken up as a base document for replacing the PTA. But I doubt this would be the case. The new counterterrorism proposals are now before the parliamentary sectoral oversight committee on national security. I expect this committee will at least consider the Law Commission proposals, and recommend substantial revisions to the existing policy and legal framework for a counterterrorism law.

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