In parts of Asia and Middle East, female genital mutilation a hidden ritual

Indonesian Students read the Quran. (File photo) Pic: AP.

30th January 2017

A GLOBAL drive to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM), a custom commonly associated with Africa, will fail unless efforts are extended to tackle the hidden ritual in parts of Asia and the Middle East, campaigners have warned.

Activists attending a major conference on FGM opening in Rome on Monday called for U.N. agencies and governments to start focusing attention beyond Africa.

“It seems to be a much, much larger problem than people thought it was five years ago, said Isis Elgibali of WADI, a German charity working to end FGM in the Middle East.

“I have the feeling that it happens all over the world, but it’s not always easy to conduct research.”

FGM usually involves the total or partial removal of the external genitalia. Sometimes the vaginal opening is also stitched closed. Other forms common in parts of Asia involve pricking or nicking the clitoris.

SEE ALSO: Indonesia renews campaign to end female genital mutilation

The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF estimates that worldwide around 200 million girls have undergone FGM, which often causes serious physical and psychological problems.

But campaigners say this is an underestimate because it is only based on data from 27 African countries along with Yemen, Iraqi Kurdistan and Indonesia.

“I know I’m not included in that statistic of 200 million,” said Mariya Taher, co-founder of Asian anti-FGM group Sahiyo, who was cut as a seven-year-old in India.

“Being included is being able to have your story told, and there may be millions of women out there whose stories aren’t told.”

Survivors of FGM in India and Singapore have recently broken the silence around the practice in their communities, while academic studies have revealed the ritual also exists in parts of Iran and Dagestan in Russia.

Elgibali said her work with refugees arriving in Germany indicated some Syrians also practised FGM.

RELIGION, CULTURE

FGM is rooted in the wish to control female sexuality but practices and beliefs vary enormously.

It may be done in the name of religion or culture. Many believe it confers social status and is a pre-requisite for marriage. Others may cite reasons of hygiene. Some see it as a rite of passage, others not.

Anti-FGM group Orchid Project lists 10 Asian countries and nine Middle Eastern countries where there is evidence FGM exists including Pakistan, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Malaysia and Thailand.

More than 30 organisations have launched a petition calling on the United Nations to examine the impact of FGM in Asia.

World leaders have pledged to eliminate FGM by 2030 under the U.N. global development goals agreed in 2015.

“We need to count it (FGM) in all countries,” said Taher of the group Sahiyo. “If we don’t look at what’s happening in every country we can’t achieve that goal.”

Delegates attending the three-day BanFGM conference in Rome include grassroots activists from across the world, ministers, U.N. agencies and legal experts.

SEE ALSO: Almost half of Indonesian girls under 15 have undergone genital mutilation – UN report

Asian and Middle Eastern campaigners urged the United Nations, governments and donor countries to fund data collection and research in their regions.

“Right now in India our biggest problem is that we do not have any data,” said Indian activist Masooma Ranalvi, who was cut at 7 years old and is now pressing India to pass a law banning FGM.

“Data collection and research is essential because the entire discourse on FGM up to now has centred on Africa.

“Africa of course needs attention but maybe there are other places where the focus can be spread to.” – Thomson Reuters Foundation

 

Shark-inspired drug may help treat fibrosis, researchers say

A blood sample was extracted from a wobbegong shark, similar to this one 

30 January 2017

Australian scientists hope a drug that mimics part of a shark's immune system may help treat an incurable lung disease.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) scars lung tissue, causing breathing to become progressively harder.

It kills more than 5,000 people each year in the UK alone, according to the British Lung Foundation.

Researchers hope a new drug, inspired by an antibody in the blood of sharks, can begin human trials next year.

The drug, AD-114, was developed by researchers at Melbourne's La Trobe University and biotechnology company AdAlta.

Initial testing successfully targeted fibrosis-causing cells by creating a human protein that imitated the shark's antibody, according to Dr Mick Foley, from the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science.

"Fibrosis is the end result of a lot of different insults and injuries," he told the BBC.

"This molecule can kill the cells that cause fibrosis."

Debilitating symptoms

IPF symptoms include shortness of breath, especially during exercise, which gradually gets worse, and a persistent dry cough.

There is currently no cure so treatment focuses on trying to relieve symptoms and slow its progression.

Image copyrightBRITISH LUNG FOUNDATION

The US Food and Drug Administration this month designated AD-114 an "orphan drug" - a move which gives tax breaks to companies attempting to find treatments for diseases.

Dr Foley, who is also AdAlta's chief scientific officer, said the company had raised A$10 million (£6m; $7.5m) since being listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in August.

It intends to use the money to take the drug to human trials in 2018.

AD-114 does not involve injecting shark blood, which the human body would reject, Dr Foley said.

Other potential uses

In laboratory tests, the drug also showed potential to treat other forms of fibrosis.

This included, for example, people suffering from liver disease and age-related eyesight degeneration, Dr Foley said.

He added no sharks had been harmed in the process. A single blood sample was extracted from a wobbegong shark at Melbourne Aquarium, .

"It would be very nice to say one day that 'this person is alive because of what the sharks told us,'" Dr Foley said.

Reporting by the BBC's Greg Dunlop

Education and empowerment: the journey of Sri Lankan refugees

Featured image courtesy Tehelka.com

MAYURAN JEEVARATHINAM on 01/29/2017

Sri Lankan refugees living in the camps of Tamil Nadu in India have been able to take control of their uncertain future through education. The story of their journey inspires many refugee communities who wait in uncertainty for a durable solution to their plight.

Education and empowerment.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

DESALINATION - OR A RIVER FOR JAFFNA?

Restored Thondamannar Barrage – Part of the River for Jaffna

A River for Jaffna Project Area

Restored Ariyalai Barrage – Part of the River for Jaffna

by Thiru Arumugam-January 28, 2017, 6:49 pm 

Proposed Desalination Plant in Jaffna

In 2010 the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a total loan facility of 130 million US dollars for the "Jaffna and Kilinochchi Water Supply and Sanitation Project". The local costs of 26 million dollars were to be met by the Government of Sri Lanka. The project involved providing safe drinking water for 300,000 people in Jaffna Town and surrounding areas and sanitation facilities for 80,000 people in Jaffna Town. The source of raw water was to be Iranamadu Tank in Kilinochchi. Water was to be pumped from here to a treatment plant near Pallai in the Jaffna Peninsula, and treated water distributed to consumers from there.

From the outset there were protests from the farmers of Kilinochchi who said that there was presently only enough water in Iranamadu Tank, in an average rainfall year, to cultivate only 30% of the paddy fields for the Yala crop and if water is pumped to Jaffna, then there would be no water left for any Yala cultivation.

In view of these protests, it would now appear that Iranamadu Tank as a source of raw water has been abandoned and the source of water is to be a Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant sited in the Jaffna Peninsula sea coast at Thalaiyadi, near Maruthankerny, with a capacity of 24 million litres per day (Mld). The original loans appear to have been reduced to 94 million dollars in view of the cancellation of the need for pumping water from Iranamadu to Jaffna and the sewage treatment plant for Jaffna Town has been dropped.

However, Desalination Plants are very expensive to build and run and additional loan facilities amounting to 120 million dollars have been earmarked by the ADB to meet the cost of this plant, making the total loan facilities for this project 214 million dollars plus local costs to be met by the Government of Sri Lanka. Tenders closing on 02 May 2017 have been invited from Contractors to Design, Build and Operate (DBO) a 24 Mld Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) Desalination Plant at Thalaiyadi in Jaffna Peninsula.

Desalination Plants are expensive to build mainly because of the high cost of the membranes that are used. Powerful high pressure pumps are also required to pump the water through these membranes and they consume a lot of electricity. A 24 Mld Desalination Plant will probably consume about five to six megawatts of electrical power.

A ball park idea of the cost of desalinated water can be obtained by comparing it with the 100 Mld Minjur Desalination Plant near Chennai, South India where bulk electricity charges are about the same order as in Sri Lanka. The plant was commissioned in 2010 and is operated by Chennai Water Desalination Ltd (CWDL) who sell the treated water to the Chennai Water Supply and Sewerage Board. The contracted selling price of the water negotiated in 2005 is 1.03 US dollars per kilolitre.

Water produced by the proposed Thalaiyadi Plant will be more expensive than this, firstly because the above-mentioned price was negotiated in 2005 and secondly because the Thalaiyadi Plant capacity at 24 Mld is about a quarter of the size of the Minjur Plant and therefore the cost per kilolitre would be higher. A not unreasonable assumption would be that the water produced at Thalaiyadi will cost about 1.20 dollars per kilolitre or 180 Sri Lankan Rupees at current rates of exchange.

The 2013 Annual Report of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB), the latest to be posted on-line, states that the average cost of water production for all their plants is 28 Rupees per kilolitre. In other words, the cost of water produced by the proposed Thalaiyadi Plant will be more than six times the average cost of water produced by all the other NWSDB plants, and will have to be sold to consumers at a fraction of the cost price, thus incurring substantial losses to the Board.

There is however a cheaper alternative source of raw water called "A River for Jaffna Project". This is a scheme designed by local engineers and the capital cost is less than one-tenth the capital cost of a Desalination Plant. Running costs are negligible because there is no pumping involved.

A River for Jaffna

The River for Jaffna (RFJ) Scheme was proposed over 50 years ago. Work was started on the scheme at that time and it was partially completed. It is a scheme to improve the fresh water availability in the Jaffna Peninsula underground aquifer, thereby reducing salinity in the Jaffna wells and also make cultivable thousands of acres of land previously uncultivable due to soil salinity. It will also improve the water quality in 30% of the wells in Jaffna which are presently saline, thus making additional water available for agricultural pumping. It consists of the following parts:

(a) Reconstruction of the Thondamannar Barrage to prevent salt water access inland, thereby making Vadamarachchi Lagoon (VL) a fresh water lagoon.

(b) Constructing a new barrage at Ariyalai to prevent salt water access inland, thereby making Upparu Lagoon (UL) a fresh water lagoon.

(c) Blocking the openings under the Elephant Pass road and rail bridges and constructing a new dam and spillway at Chundikulam at the eastern end of Elephant Pass Lagoon (EPL), to make EPL a fresh water lagoon.

(d) Constructing new 4 km long Mulliyan Link Channel to convey water from EPL to VL and UL. Controlled discharge would be made from EPL to VL as the water level in VL dropped due to percolation into the aquifer and evaporation.

All water flows in the RFJ are gravity flows and there is no pumping involved. Items (a), (b) and (c) above were completed about fifty years ago, thus making EPL, VL and UL fresh water lagoons. However due to lack of funds, Item (d), the Mulliyan Link Channel was never completed. Thus water from EPL was never conveyed to VL. After a few years the Chundikulam Dam in EPL breached due to heavy floods. Also the wooden stop logs in the Thondamannar and Ariyalai Barrages perished and all three lagoons reverted to their former condition of salt water lagoons after a few years.

In subsequent years the Irrigation Department tried repeatedly to obtain funds to complete the RFJ scheme but was never successful in obtaining the funds to carry out the necessary repairs and complete the scheme. However, about five or six years ago funds were released for the restoration of Thondamannar Barrage and subsequently for restoring Ariyalai Barrage. This release of funds was consequent to the passing of unanimous resolutions by the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka and Pugwash Sri Lanka calling on the Government to complete the scheme. The work on the two Barrages was successfully completed and Vadamarachchi and Upparu are fresh water lagoons once again. Elephant Pass Lagoon, however, remains a salt water lagoon.

The present position is that the Australian Consulting Engineers, SMEC, were asked to produce a National Water Use Master Plan of 30 water projects all over the country. These projects are to be implemented over the next twenty years. A Project Review Committee then studied SMEC’s reports on the 30 projects and rated River for Jaffna as the No. 1 priority project. SMEC were then asked to prepare the Terms of Reference for a Feasibility Study for River for Jaffna, which they have completed. SMEC have estimated that the cost of completing RFJ is Rs 1,412 million or 9.4 million US dollars at current rates of exchange.

ADB’s Final Report on the Jaffna Kilinochchi Water Supply Scheme, Executive Summary, dated March 2006, quotes in Table 10 that the available recommended abstraction rate from the Jaffna aquifer is 25 Mld, which is more than the 24 Mld capacity of the proposed Thalaiyadi Desalination Plant. However, the ADB Report disregards the Jaffna aquifer as a source of raw water as it states that it will require a minimum of 103 borehole/well pumps (page 6). It must be noted that this estimate of 25 Mld was before Vadamarachchi and Upparu were converted into freshwater lagoons, and this together with the similar conversion of Elephant Pass lagoon will increase the water available extraction even further. Borehole/well pumps are appropriate for deep water sources, whereas in Jaffna where the fresh water lens in the aquifer is shallow, the appropriate method would be to use collector wells, because if borehole wells are drilled deep they will tap saline water. Collector wells are large diameter wells about five metres in diameter and the depth of the well should not go into the saline water layer which is below the fresh water lens. From the bottom of the well horizontal adits or tunnels of large diameter are drilled radiating like spokes from the well. These adits act as collectors and increase the available water for extraction several fold over a conventional well. A Sri Lankan Company, Mini-Well Systems has perfected this method and has constructed collector wells with capacities of over 2 Mld each in Biyagama, Horana, Kosgama etc and proposed a scheme for Kattankudy with a yield of 10 Mld. These include collector wells for the NWS&DB. Further details can be seen in the book by V Tharumaratnam and D V Canyon, Sustainable Water from Collector Well Systems in Sri Lanka, Pingelly, West Australia, 2008. Therefore it can be seen that strategically located collector wells in the Jaffna Peninsula can provide the raw water requirements of the Jaffna Water Supply Scheme without having a very expensive Desalination Plant.

In 2009, the writer corresponded with ADB Manila and suggested completing the River for Jaffna Project and drawing water from the Jaffna aquifer as source of water for the Jaffna Water Supply Scheme. Alternatively, Elephant Pass Lagoon could be considered as the raw water source after conversion to a fresh water lagoon. A reply was received dated 20 July 2009, signed by the Director, Urban Development Division, South Asia Department, ADB stating inter alia that "We agree with you that the proposed River for Jaffna would provide benefits primarily for agriculture and ground water recharge........... The River for Jaffna should be further considered.......".

The irony of the situation is that if the Thalaiyadi Desalination Plant is completed and the River for Jaffna is not, for several months of the year there will be fresh water from Kanaganarayan Aru flowing into Elephant Pass Lagoon and gushing out to the sea at Chundikulam and diluting the sea water over a large area. Meanwhile about a couple of kilometres to the north at Thalaiyadi there will be a Desalination Plant labouring and expensively converting the diluted sea water back to fresh water !!!

The Northern Provincial Council is holding a Northern Province Water Resources Development Colloquium in Jaffna from 28th to 30th January 2017 and it is hoped that this matter will be considered in depth at the Colloquium.

Sustained Concerns About Torture in Sri Lanka

More concerns about torture and impunity in Sri Lanka.

By Taylor Dibbert-January 28, 2017

Torture remains a major problem in Sri Lanka. A new report from the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment has reminded us of that. The report presents a grim picture of systematic torture and the concomitant impunity which continue to plague the island nation. The report also lays out a number of thoughtful recommendations and conclusions.

The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) has issued a strong press release about the report. Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka has also written about it. Freedom from Torture has weighed in too. The document, however, appears to be receiving little attention in the Sri Lankan press.

“What struck me was his [Juan Méndez’s] description of the collapse of the very system meant to investigate and prosecute torture in a country with a backlog of thousands of cases and more people being tortured daily. What Juan Mendez’s report shows is the huge effort it will take to tackle the systemic problems of the police, the judiciary, the security sector and what we are instead getting is box ticking – at best,” says Yasmin Sooka, ITJP’s executive director. “Singing the national anthem in Tamil isn’t going to stop the ongoing abductions and torture. It’s time the denial stops: of course, the violations continue if you don’t do anything to stop them. The obligation to prevent torture is that of the state; if they don’t tackle institutional reform and security sector reform seriously then the international community must start to put them on terms.”

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Since the ouster of Mahinda Rajapaksa in a January 2015 presidential election, the international community has heaped significant praise on the new administration, an uncomfortable power-sharing alliance that’s led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Two years on, there’s no question that international actors moved far too quickly to support Colombo, relying on a carrot-heavy approach that reflected neither the realities on the ground nor the government’s true intentions regarding its own reform agenda.

Sri Lanka “should set up an independent investigative body with international support modeled on the [International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala] CICIG approach,” notes Sooka. “It must be independent of the Attorney General’s office and the police or it will fail. Start vetting public officials – as promised in [UN Human Rights Council] resolution 30/1 – you don’t need a special court to do all these things. They are already two years behind the curve.”

National Question and grievances faced by a minority 

2017-01-30

In a recent article in the Daily mirror of January 5, 2017, titled “Let’s make Sampanthan’s New Year wish come true, the writer refers to the fact that the Opposition Leader has pinned his hopes for a peaceful and prosperous country in 2017 on a resolution of the National Question. The writer poses the question, ‘What is the National Question’. He takes the view that it boils down to, what the grievances are of the Tamil people, which he says should be spelt out.   
In this article, I am attempting to list out some of the grievances, and would like to quote from the LLRC report which states as follows. “The Commission takes the view that the root cause of the ethnic conflict lies in the failure of successive governments to address the genuine grievances of the Tamil people”-Chapter 9 para 184. This is the conclusion of a very eminent panel after an exhaustive examination of the subject, and has to be treated with due respect. The Commission’s statement hardly fits into the writer’s notion of “tired ethnocentric narratives typical of Tamil nationalists”.   

If the leader of the Opposition wish is to come true, a prerequisite is that the citizens of the country belonging to all communities feel that they are equal and that the State provides services to all equally. This would require;   

1. That the official languages policy is implemented in full, and this includes the Central ministries, and that Tamil-speaking citizens (and Sinhala-speaking citizens living in North and East) are able to communicate with and receive communications from the State in their language in any part of the country. Although the Tamil language has been one of the official languages of the country from 1987, and this is set out in the Constitution, this provision is still to be implemented fully. This fact is mentioned in the LLRC report as a grievance
to be rectified.   

2. That all citizens must have equal access to services and opportunities, and this includes employment in the government services. As of now, the number of Tamil persons in the Central ministries, armed forces police etc is very low. Colombo the capital city which is 52% Tamil-speaking, is a telling example where there are very few public officials (example Grama Niladaris or police officers able to speak and provide services to the Tamil-speaking public in Tamil. The long wait for a solitary Tamil-speaking officer who is expected to double up as a translator is a familiar experience of most Tamil-speaking public who cannot communicate in Sinhala or are unable to take someone with them to interpret.   

3. That justice is administered to all citizens equally, and that all citizens are equally subject to the law. At present the public perception is that certain categories of persons, are given immunity. It is an obligation of the State to investigate and take action on complaints made. In this context I refer to the crime of ‘enforced disappearance’ which is one of the most heinous crimes. Although numerous Commissions have been set up to hear such complaints there is little in the way of action taken.
The Paranagama Commission which was the last such Commission, heard and recorded 23 thousand complainants the large majority of whom were Tamil civilians who had been caught up in the armed conflict in the northern and eastern provinces. Many of the complainants while repeating their sad stories were also able to give specific details of to whom and where they had handed over their loved ones, or who the persons were who took them away (being public officers of the armed forces, the police or the STF as well as Tamil para military groups associated with the armed forces). However, no meaningful action has been taken apart from and I here quote from an article by Kishali Pinto Jayawardene, in the Sunday Times on January 8, 2017, “A stuttering Office of Missing Persons and a victim-protection system which includes members accused with good reason of terrorizing witnesses in the previous regime”. The LLRC Report Chapter 9.146 states “The government is duty bound to direct the law enforcement officers to take immediate steps to ensure that these allegations are properly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. It will be recalled that this report came out quite a few years ago, but evidently these recommendations have fallen on deaf ears.   

4. Furthermore a justice system requires that indictments should be duly filed in respect of those held in detention whether they be ex combatants, terrorist suspects or ordinary criminals and they be tried for their crimes, and depending on the verdict either released, rehabilitated or further imprisoned. However so many years after the end of the armed conflict many ex-combatant and terrorist suspects remain in limbo without being brought to trial. Although the numbers of such persons have reduced the proper administration of justice and not the numbers affected is still the issue, and the perception of discrimination is still to be erased.   

5. Transitional justice requires that citizens adversely affected by war and ethnic conflict as in the case of those whose properties have been destroyed, or who have been disabled or have lost the support of their family members should in the aftermath of the war be given some form of reparations by the State. In the aftermath of the armed conflict there are in the Northern Province approximately 50,000 women who have been widowed and who are now the breadwinners of their families, i.e. women-headed households. Similarly in the Eastern Province. These persons need livelihood support, as also psychosocial support and counselling for the trauma hey have undergone. Government resources are not being adequately allocated towards alleviating the hardships of these people. As these women are subjected to exploitation and sexual harassment the observation made in the LLRC report that the women need to live in a safe environment is a pertinent one. This requires the provision of more police stations and Tamil- speaking policewomen. The absence of sufficient and adequately-staffed police stations in the North is also allowing free reign for criminals and gangsters.   

6. That the State returns to the rightful owners lands and properties taken over for the military or other purposes. Security concerns can be met by setting up such establishments in state land and releasing the people’s property. Although this process is taking place it remains extremely slow and there are still IDP camps across from Army camps or farms run by the Army, where the original owners can see others making use of their property to which they themselves have no access? 7. Ever since independence, there has been little State-sponsored economic development of the northern and eastern provinces.

"If the leader of the Opposition wish is to come true, a prerequisite is that the citizens of the country belonging to all communities feel that they are equal and that the State provides services to all equally"

The exceptions such as the cement factory at KKS, Paranthan Chemical Factory, Kanthalai and Hingurana sugar factories and the paper factory in Valaichennai (all now defunct) set up in the D.S. Senanayake era. Among a few garment factories and the Trinco port are the only evidence of any State sponsored development, and even these need to be revived. There have similarly been no major irrigation schemes for the development of agriculture in the northern province. In the eastern province such schemes have been largely with a view to aiding colonization by persons from outside the province rather than looking to the interests of the farmers of the province. Similarly there has been no development of the fisheries sector in comparison with the rest of the country. Today the northern fisherman are struggling to make a livelihood, the farmers are doing likewise as so many small tanks destroyed during the war have still to be repaired. Development in the north has remained confined to a few sectors especially the service sector, hotels and promoting tourism in which the military and wealthy businesses from outside the province have the major share. This does not bring benefits to the ordinary people who are crippled by debt and unable to move forward with their lives because of an absence of employment opportunities.   
8. We now come to the issue of devolution. Non-implementation in full of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution especially in its spirit is probably the most obvious example of how the state has failed in its commitment to respond to the demand for greater and more meaningful devolution.   

Can effective devolution resolve the grievances? We must recognize that the grievances though largely pertaining to the Tamil-speaking people are not confined to them or one part of the country. There are other provinces in the South too which have not seen much economic development. The manner in which justice is being administered and the culture of impunity are also adversely affecting people in all parts of the country. Poor urban dwellers in Colombo and farmers in Monaragala and Hambantota find themselves being disposed, just as the IDPs in the North.  Hence instead of confining the subject to an ethnic dimension the’ National Question’ could be viewed from a broader perspective. Will devolution be good for the country as a whole, and can the delivery of services be better provided by a decentralized system.   
Some guidelines on this were given by Former President Mahinda Rajapakse in 2006, during his opening address to the Experts Committee which he had constituted to advise the APRC (All Party Representative Committee) on the resolution of the National Question, he said that people in their own localities should be able to guide their own destinies. True democracy functions where there is sharing of power and empowerment of the people. However devolution must be subject to two riders. Devolution must not be confined to the Provincial Councils alone.   

It must also result in empowering the local government institutions to ensure greater peoples participation. Furthermore as pointed out in the LLRC Report the shortcomings in the functioning of the Provincial Council system must be taken into account in devising an appropriate system of devolution, which addresses the needs of the people. The LLRC Report states “The effective functioning of the democratic system within the framework of devolution will also provide the answer to the grievances of the minorities”.  
 However, I would submit that some of the grievances cannot be addressed only at the Provincial level and this calls for power sharing at the centre and the establishment of a second chamber comprising representatives from the provinces so that they too have a voice in the legislative decision making process. So, yes, a new Constitution which seeks to address these questions through greater sharing of power with citizens leading to a fairer distribution of resources and improved service provision will address not only the grievances of the Tamil-speaking people but of a large majority of people of all communities and thus address what is truly a national question.  

Delay In Signing Mine Ban Treaty Keeps Sri Lanka In The Red

by  Roshani Nathaniel-Sunday, January 29, 2017

• Sri Lanka has now distanced itself from the international disarmament community 
• There are more sophisticated and technological ways today of combating mines laid by terrorists
• These forms of weapons today are considered as inhumane weapons of destruction

After the change of regime on January eighth, 2015, the Sri Lanka Campaign to Ban Landmines (SLCBL) was hopeful that post-war Sri Lanka would become a party to disarmament conventions, namely the Mine Ban Treaty (MBT) also known as the Ottawa Convention and Conventionon Cluster Munitions (CCM).

According to the Coordinator of Sri Lanka’s campaign to ban landmines, Vidya Abhayagunawardena, Sri Lanka has now distanced itself from the international disarmament community. This, he said  is a serious issue for the ongoing reconciliation process and its human rights record by peace-loving people of Sri Lanka as well as peace-loving people around the world against the use of certain prohibited weapons, such as Anti-personnel (AP) Landmines and Cluster Munitions.

Post-war Sri Lanka (since 2009), had not acceded to any disarmament treaties, particularly the accession to the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), which are the most significant humanitarian disarmament conventions with regard to war-time and post-war Sri Lanka. He said the Government should have acceded to these conventions for very obvious reasons. Otherwise it may completely undermine the ongoing reconciliation process and that will negatively impact on the country’s human rights record.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader Abhayagunawardena said Sri Lanka should sign the CCM and the Mine Ban treaty for many good reasons. “It will assist the ongoing reconciliation process. Sri Lanka however neglected the disarmament for the last 14 years though we were the champions in disarmament. If we sign the humanitarian aspect of the military and its image will improve. These forms of weapons today are considered as inhumane weapons of destruction. Also Sri Lanka will get a lot of opportunities in ground clearance of these landmines. Currently several countries are not assisting Sri Lanka because we are not signatories to the convention. Acceding to both conventions will guarantee that both the current and future generations in Sri Lanka will not use this weapon under any responsible government. As for the terrorists they don’t care and they do not adhere to any ethical war practices. However, the government should adhere to international norms and humanitarian conventions,” he said.

Landmines and suicide bombers

Landmines and suicide bombers were initially introduced to Sri Lanka by the LTTE. The military however while not resorting to using suicide bombers, the question remains as to why the Sri Lankan government is refusing to take measures to ban landmines and cluster munitions. The Military during the war had used landmines as a defensive weapon while the LTTE used it as an offensive weapon. “Our question is that now without a war in this country what is the use of landmines? We are now in the process of reconciliation. Signing this treaty will only assist enormously in the reconciliation process,” he added.

Incidentally the previous regime, though accused of taking a hard stance on military related matters had in fact expressed willingness to be a signatory to the mines ban treaty and permanently banning landmines in this country. “The Mine action strategy 2010 clearly mentioned that from a humanitarian point of view they are ready to sign both conventions. Further the former Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya too mentioned in 2010 that Sri Lanka was ready to look into acceding to the disarmament conventions,” said Abhayagunawardena.

According to the Landmines and Cluster Munitions Monitor, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, commonly referred to as the Mine Ban Treaty, was adopted on September 18, 1997 and entered into force on March 1, 1999.

The Mine Ban Treaty prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines. It is the most comprehensive international instrument for eradicating landmines and deals with everything from mine use, production and trade, to victim assistance, mine clearance and stockpile destruction.

As of November 19, 2014, there were 162 States Parties to the treaty and the treaty is still open for ratification by signatories and for accession by those who did not sign before March 1999. States not party to the Mine Ban Treaty include China, Egypt, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and the United States.

On March 2, 2016 at the pledging conference for Mine Ban Treaty organised by the Chilean Presidency, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka announced that Sri Lanka will be acceding to the convention, becoming the 163rd State Party. He stated that the decision had been taken earlier that day by the Cabinet in Colombo.

National petition

As published in the Landmines and Cluster Munitions Monitor, prior to this announcement, Sri Lanka had not made any formal statements regarding the Mine Ban Treaty since 2009 when it said that it “fully subscribes to the humanitarian objectives of the treaty.” However, in a July 2012 meeting with the diplomatic community in Colombo, the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, reportedly said that the Defense Ministry was ready for Sri Lanka to sign the treaty.  In August 2016, the Sri Lankan Campaign to Ban Landmines (SCBL) mobilised a national petition requesting the government accede to the Mine Ban Treaty. The petition was signed by many key former civil servants, academic professors, business owners, and civil society activists. The petition was presented to the President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, on August 25, 2016. Also in August 2016, the SCBL lobbied the Secretariat of the Reconciliation Task Force to request the government accede to the MBT. In November 2015, the SCBL distributed a booklet titled Why Post-war Sri Lanka should Accede to the Mine Ban Treaty that was used as part of a national advocacy campaign for Mine Ban Treaty accession. Sri Lanka is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions. Sri Lanka states that it has never used or stockpiled cluster munitions, but, in June 2016, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs indicated a willingness to look into allegations that government forces used cluster munitions in 2008 and 2009. Sri Lanka has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Sri Lanka has shown interest in the convention, but has not elaborated its view on accession. Sri Lanka participated as an observer in the convention’s First Review Conference in September 2015, where it made a statement expressing its support for the humanitarian objectives of the convention and informing States Parties that it has never used or stockpiled cluster munitions. Meanwhile speaking to The Sunday Leader the retired United Nations Undersecretary General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala said in addition to the cluster munitions ban most of the civilised countries of the world, except for a few great powers who have their own reasons for not acceding to the treaty, have signed it. “It came within the framework of the UN when I was the undersecretary of the disarmament affairs. But to my embarrassment Sri Lanka had not signed it. At that time had the excuse that we were fighting the LTTE who had disregarded any of these conventions and had their own crude forms of landmines called ‘Johnny battas’. However, there are more sophisticated and technological ways today of combating mines laid by terrorists than having mines laid by you. Moreover, we qualify for mine ban clearance assistance if we have signed that document and countries will be more generous in giving us assistance in mine clearance activities,” he said.

“We ourselves are supplying peace keeping forces for the UN and we disqualify ourselves by not fulfilling the basic arms control and disarmament measures that we are supposed to subscribe to. So I see no reason why we are reluctant to accede to the treaty. There are certain quarters within the Ministry of Defence who are objecting to it. The Foreign Ministry has tried to establish consensus among the ministries and failed. But ironically when Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was the Secretary Defence, he had agreed that Sri Lanka should accede to the mine ban treaty. I don’t know who these Stone Age men are in the Foreign Ministry and Defence Ministry now who are objecting to it. They are going against the national security interest by doing this,” he pointed out.

When asked if statements made by the Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi that AP mines are required to protect military bases he said, “AP mines are against all humanitarian law. If you go to Geneva you will find in front of the UN, a three legged chair as a memento to those who are injured as result of these mines. It takes only five minutes to lay a mine, but it takes weeks patiently to extricate a mine. So we still have to extricate mines that have been buried by the LTTE and others and it will take a very long time. Meanwhile our children who run in the paddy fields of our villages run a risk all the time, apart from cattle and other animals who roam the areas where the terrorists were. Its inhumane method and we should make sure we do not lay a single mine ever again in defence or offence. Hence what we need to do is to now sign the treaty and get the assistance that the world will give us to take out these mines and join the larger commutative nations,” added Jayantha Dhanapala.

He further added that there are only a few countries in the world who have not signed the treaty and we should join the international community in acceding to the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions without delay.

Advantages of signing  the treaty

Meanwhile expressing his views on the issue, the Director/Programme Manager of Delvon Assistance for Social Harmony (DASH), Brigadier Ananda Chandrasiri highlighting the advantages in ratifying the AP mine ban convention said, it will help win the hearts and minds of the conflict affected people to achieve long lasting peace and harmony in the country, by demonstrating the commitment of the government.

He said, “Sri Lanka has overcome its conflict militarily, but it is very important to understand that the absence of war does not necessarily mean peace of mind is existent. It is important for the government and the people of Sri Lanka to understand the need to build on the success we achieved in 2009 by defeating the LTTE. In that respect the most important responsibility is to win the hearts and minds of the conflict affected people who were victimised during the conflict. Negligence to do so would result in the possibility of the problem of a similar conflict and its consequences being passed onto our future generations.”

Further it will help achieve international recognition for Sri Lanka as a country that respects and complies with international humanitarian law norms. If we accede to this Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, we will gain more international support to achieve the government’s goal of becoming a mine-threat free country by 2020, he said.

According to Brigadier Chandrasiri, laying of mines does in no way help immensely in stopping the enemy advance, but it only delays the enemy. He pointed out that what was more important was the proper training of our forces and heightened alertness. “Our experience is that landmines give a false sense of security to those who guard the forward defence localities, where even the high dense mine fields deployed for the protection of such localities have had no effect whatsoever on the covert enemy offensives that had resulted in the military localities being completely overrun, and in certain cases hundreds of troops killed.”

Chandrasiri said with the advancement in technology today, the advance warning of enemy approach expected from landmines can be met with high-tech advance warning systems. “One could argue that they would be activated by wild animals. But landmines too can be activated by wild animals resulting in grave harm to them.

On the other hand he said exceeding to the Ottawa treaty no doubt would recognise Sri Lanka as a country that pursues peace in the country and globally with deed and thought and would result in enhanced international support for Sri Lanka’s mine action being achieved.

Questions over the proposed counter terrorism law

Former President Rajapaksa and leaders of the JO at the Nugegoda rally (Pic by U.K. Abeyratne)

by C.A.Chandraprema-

January 28, 2017, 11:57 pm 

The crowd at the Joint Opposition rally held last Friday in Nugegoda was much larger than the crowd that attended the first ‘Mahinda sulanga’ rally in Nugegoda in February 2015. Thereby the Joint Opposition broke its own record for organising what is by far the largest gathering ever held in Nugegoda. The fact that there was such a turnout despite overcast skies the whole day and torrential rains in many parts of the country was telling. Unlike at previous such meetings that this writer has observed, this was an uncommunicative and almost unfriendly crowd. Attempts to engage people in conversation elicited only grunts and monosyllables. Everybody wanted to listen to the speeches that were being made even though nothing new was being said.

Questions over the proposed counter terrorism law.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

SRI LANKA: FOUR EX-LTTE CADRES HELD FOR PLOTTING TO ASSASSINATE TAMIL MP SUMANTHIRAN

Image: MP Sumanthiran.

By P K Balachandran  |  Express News Service  |-29/01/2017

KILINOCHCHI: The Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) of the Sri Lankan police  has so far arrested four former cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for allegedly plotting to assassinate the moderate Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, M.A.Sumanthiran, in Marudankeni in Jaffna district on January 13.

The arrests, which were made on January 14, came to public notice only on January 28, as both the government and Sumanthiran had chosen to keep the episode under wraps.

As per information so far available, the Jaffna district MP was to have been killed by a claymore mine placed on the road to Marudankeni in Vadamarachchi to which he was to go for a discussion on setting up a desalinization plant.

But the Presidential Secretariat called him up and asked him to cancel the trip.

“I cancelled the trip not because of the warning, but for another reason,” Sumanthiran told Express on Sunday.

However, he has been taking precautions since then.

On January 14, three “rehabilitated” ex-cadres of the LTTE were arrested.One of them was a trishaw driver in Marudankeni, two were from Kilinochchi and one from Trincomalee.

Since rehabilitation and release, these ex-cadres had been dealing in the sale of “ganja” apart from doing other “jobs”, Sumanthiran said.

As hardened LTTE cadres they were capable of handling claymore mines Sumanthiran said.

However, Sumanthiran feels that they are not capable of doing things by themselves, but are tools in the hands of others. The suspicion now is that their handlers are known LTTE activists in  Australia, Malaysia and France.

However, he does not rule out the hand of other agencies or groups in the plot, as investigations are still on.

Being a moderate Tamil politician who wants a solution to the Tamil problem within a united Sri Lanka with the consent of Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims, and who has said that the LTTE too had committed war crimes and that it was wrong to have expelled the Muslims from the North Sri Lanka en masse, 

Sumanthiran has been unpopular in the Tamil Diaspora and among extremist Tamils.

He has been heckled and even “gheroed” at Diaspora meetings abroad.

The Sri Lankan government had been aware of a threat to Sumanthiran’s life even during the parliamentary elections in August 2015.It had provided him with Special Task Force security. But Sumanthiran did not want an outward display of security which would sully his public image.

ENS

Sri Lanka: People want me not any other Rajapaksas — Mahinda Sidelines Gota!

(January 29, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has strongly disapproved of a proposal made by Kumar Welgama on behalf of the joint opposition ( JO)  to bring in either Gotabhaya Rajapaksa or Chamal Rajapaksa as his political successor, ‘Sathhanda’  a Colombo based weekly newspaper reported.

Welgama made the suggestion after a meeting the JO leaders had with Gotabhaya recently, where it was stressed that they could not go on in this journey by retaining Mahinda as their leader.

JO sources say that Mahinda had become very angry at the suggestion, severely reprimanded Welgama and expelled him.

He has insisted that JO leaders should understand the reality that people want him, not Gotabhaya or Chamal.

Later, Vidura Wickremanayake met Mahinda and made the same proposal, but he too, was given the same response, in addition to the warning that no such proposals should be made to him in the future.

He said Gotabhaya could not understand the politics and was entangled in the trap set by the incumbent president.

Wickremanayake noted that Mahinda’s attempts to form a new party would enable the UNP to win the 2020 elections easily.

Mahinda responded by saying that that was not his problem.

Thereafter, JO leaders held a discussion and stressed that they should go for a strong decision, as if they agreed with Mahinda, they too, would be contributing to the UNP’s 2020 win and for a division of the SLFP.