WikiLeaks says it has obtained trove of CIA hacking tools


People are silhouetted as they pose with laptops in front of a screen projected with binary code and a CIA emblem in this picture illustration taken in Zenica, Bosnia, on Oct. 29, 2014. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

By Greg Miller and Ellen Nakashima March 7 at 12:51 PM

The anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks said Tuesday that it has obtained a vast portion of the CIA’s computer hacking arsenal, and began posting the files online in a breach that may expose some of the U.S. intelligence community’s most closely guarded cyber weapons.

WikiLeaks touted its trove as exceeding in scale and significance the massive collection of National Security Agency documents exposed by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

A statement from WikiLeaks indicated that it planned to post nearly 9,000 files describing code developed in secret by the CIA to steal data from targets overseas and turn ordinary devices including cellphones, computers and even television sets into surveillance tools.

The authenticity of the trove could not immediately be determined. A CIA spokesman would say only that “we do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents.” But current and former U.S. officials said that details contained in the documents suggest that they are legitimate.

Such a breach of U.S. intelligence capabilities, and the potential fallout it might cause among U.S. allies, could pose a significant challenge to President Trump, who in the past has praised WikiLeaks and disparaged the CIA.

Anti-secrecy group Wikileaks on Tuesday said it had obtained a top-secret trove of hacking tools used by the CIA to break into phones, communication apps and other electronic devices, and published confidential documents on those programs. (Reuters)

[Why the CIA is using your TVs, smartphones and cars for spying]

WikiLeaks indicated that it obtained the files from a current or former CIA contractor, saying that “the archive appears to have been circulated among former U.S. government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive.”

“At first glance,” the data release “is probably legitimate or contains a lot of legitimate stuff, which means somebody managed to extract a lot of data from a classified CIA system and is willing to let the world know that,” said Nicholas Weaver, a computer security researcher at the University of California at Berkeley.

Faking a large quantity of data is difficult, but not impossible, he noted. Weaver said he knows of one case of WikiLeaks deliberately neglecting to include a document in a data release and one case of WikiLeaks deliberately mislabeling stolen data, “but no cases yet of deliberately fraudulent information.”

U.S. officials also allege WikiLeaks has ties to Russian intelligence agencies. The website posted thousands of emails stolen from Democratic Party computer networks during the 2016 presidential campaign, files that U.S. intelligence agencies concluded were obtained and turned over to WikiLeaks as part of a cyber campaign orchestrated by the Kremlin.

[WikiLeaks releases thousands of documents about Clinton and internal deliberations]

U.S. intelligence officials appeared to have been caught off guard by Tuesday’s disclosure. Senior White House and Pentagon officials had not been aware of the breach.

One U.S. official said investigators were only beginning to look at the files being posted online and declined to say whether the CIA had anticipated the leak or warned other agencies.

“We’ll see what it is whenever they release the codes,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the matter.

WikiLeaks said the trove comprised tools — including malware, viruses, trojans and weaponized “zero day” exploits — developed by a CIA entity known as the Engineering Development Group, part of a sprawling cyber directorate created in recent years as the agency shifted resources and attention to online espionage.

The digital files are designed to exploit vulnerabilities in consumer devices including Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android software and Samsung television sets, according to WikiLeaks, which labeled the trove “Year Zero.”

In its news release, WikiLeaks said the files enable the agency to bypass popular encryption-enabled applications — including WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram — used by millions of people to safeguard their communications.

But experts said that rather than defeating the encryption of those applications, the CIA’s methods rely on exploiting vulnerabilities in the devices on which they are installed, a method referred to as “hacking the endpoint.”

[Why understanding cyberspace is key to defending against digital attacks]

WikiLeaks said the files were created between 2013 and 2016, and that it would only publish a portion of the archive — redacting some sensitive samples of code — “until a consensus emerges on the technical and political nature of the CIA’s program.”

The data release alarmed cybersecurity experts.

“This is explosive,” said Jake Williams, founder of Rendition Infosec, a cybersecurity firm. The material highlights specific anti-virus products that can be defeated, going further than a release of NSA hacking tools last year, he said. The CIA hackers, according to WikiLeaks, even “discussed what the NSA’s . . . hackers did wrong and how the CIA’s malware makers could avoid similar exposure.”

Hackers who worked at the NSA’s Tailored Access Operations unit said the CIA’s library of tools looked comparable. The implants, which are back doors, or software that enables a hacker to get into a computer, are “very, very complex” and “at least on par with the NSA,” said one former TAO hacker who spoke on the condition that his name not be used.

Beyond hacking weapons, the files also purportedly reveal information about the organization of the CIA’s cyber directorate, with an organization chart and files that indicate that the agency uses the U.S. consulate in Frankfurt, Germany, as a hub of digital operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Though primarily thought of as an agency that recruits spies, the CIA has taken on a larger role in electronic espionage over the past decade. In a measure of that shifting focus, the agency created a special office, the Directorate of Digital Innovation, as part of a broad reorganization in 2015, effectively putting cyber work on equal footing decades-old divisions devoted to human spying and analysis.

[CIA reveals new rules for handling information on Americans]

The CIA’s focus is more narrow and targeted than that of the NSA, which is responsible for sweeping up electronic communications on a large scale around the globe. CIA efforts mainly focus on “close in” operations in which the agency at times relies on individuals to implant code on computer systems not connected to the Internet.

The CIA and NSA have historically been rivals in cyberspace, although, by some accounts, they increasingly have put aside institutional rivalries to join forces in gathering intelligence on adversaries, and they cooperated under the Obama administration in an operation code named Olympic Games aimed at disrupting Iran’s nuclear capability.

The WikiLeaks release revealed that they have sophisticated “stealth” capabilities that enable hackers not only to infiltrate systems, but evade detection, and abilities to “escalate privileges” or move inside a system as if they owned it.

“The only thing that separates NSA from commodity malware in the first place is their ability to remain hidden,” the former TAO hacker said. “So when you talk about the stealth components, it’s huge that you’re seeing a tangible example here of them using and researching stealth.”

The breach, if proven legitimate, adds to WikiLeaks’s expanding library of sensitive U.S. government documents, after previous releases of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables and military records.

The leak is also likely to create political ripples for the Trump administration. Trump declared “I love WikiLeaks” last October during a campaign rally when he read from a trove of stolen emails about his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Trump also initially sided with WikiLeaks, which disputed that its Clinton email archive had been stolen by hackers associated with Russian intelligence services. Trump dismissed the CIA’s conclusion that Russia was behind the hack, but has since said he now thinks Moscow may have been responsible.

Trafficked and abused: Indonesia’s Middle East maid ban backfires

People take part in a rally calling for women's rights and equality ahead of International Women's Day in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 4, 2017. Pic: Reuters

7th March 2017

DIAN Permata Sari was determined to escape when she was brought to the maid recruitment office in Saudi Arabia for the sixth time and paraded in front of potential employers alongside 14 other women.

“We were made to stand in a line while the employers pick the maid they like, it was like shopping for goods,” said the 19-year-old Indonesian woman.

Lured by an agent’s promise of earning 1,500 riyal ($400) a month working as an office cleaner, Sari agreed in November to leave behind her husband and two-year-old son to travel to Saudi Arabia.

It was only when she arrived that Sari found out she had been brought there to become a domestic helper. She was forced to stay in a crowded dorm with hundreds of others, with no job or salary, until she was finally rescued last month.

Sari’s case highlights what activists say is a rise in human trafficking cases since Indonesia in 2015 banned women from going to 21 Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, to become domestic helpers.

The ban was imposed following a string of abuse cases, but high demand in the oil-rich kingdom has encouraged traffickers to find ways around the curbs.

Traffickers are increasingly using different tactics, such as sending women on the pretext of becoming office cleaners, changing flight routes to avoid suspicion from authorities or paying off their family, rights groups say.

The Indonesian government says the ban was introduced to protect its citizens, but campaigners say the law leaves migrant workers at greater risk of trafficking.

BEATEN UP WITH WATER PIPE

Maids make up more than a third of the 6 million Indonesians working abroad. Cases of abuse and near slave-like living conditions are common.

With no previous work experience, Sari jumped at the chance to become an office cleaner in Riyadh after she met an agent.

The agent flew Sari first from her hometown on the holiday island of Lombok to the Indonesian city of Surabaya. From there she caught a flight to Singapore before going to Riyadh.

As soon as she arrived, she was sent to the dorm with 400 other women, and her mobile phone was confiscated.

Often the women were only given a pack of instant noodles to eat for a whole day, and a small bottle of water shared among 15 people.

“I protested with other women but we were beaten up with a water pipe,” Sari told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at a government-run shelter in Jakarta, where she is undergoing counselling before returning home.

After two months, Sari managed to contact her husband using a mobile phone that she had kept hidden.

SEE ALSO: India: Abused housemaid’s death in New Delhi raises trafficking concerns

He got in touch with local migrant groups and Sari was eventually rescued by diplomats from the Indonesian embassy in Riyadh.

Other Indonesian women tell similar stories.

Hatmiati, 25, who was rescued together with Sari, said an agent had promised she would be sent to Singapore to be a cleaner.

“I packed my belongings and flew from Lombok to Jakarta – it was only after I arrived at the agent’s office that they said there was no job for me in Singapore,” said the woman, who goes by one name.

CASH PAYMENT TO FAMILY

Both women said they were unaware of the government’s ban on sending maids to the Middle East and that their agents had not warned them of the consequences of breaking the laws.

Sari and Hatmiati said their families were offered 2 million rupiah ($150) and 2.5 million rupiah respectively by the agents in return for the women agreeing to go to the Middle East.

Mulyadi from rights group Migrant Care, which has assisted Sari and Hatmiati’s families, urgedIndonesia to review the ban.

“The government should re-evaluate the ban as it violates a person’s fundamental rights to seek employment overseas,” said Mulyadi, a co-founder of the group.

He warned that a government plan to stop sending women overseas to work as domestic helpers in any country from this year would make the situation worse.

Indonesian’s Manpower Ministry senior official Soes Hindharno told the Thomson Reuters Foundation his ministry was working with other agencies to crack down on trafficking.

Calls to the Saudi embassy in Jakarta went unanswered.

Now that her ordeal is over, Sari is looking forward to being reunited with her family.

“My husband is a farmer, I just wanted to find a job to help him get some extra income, help our family,” she said.

“I did not expect this to happen.” – Thomson Reuters Foundation

Facebook to face MPs over failure to remove problem images

Scrutiny follows BBC investigation that found site took down only 18 out of 100 posts reported for sexualised pictures of children

The posts reported to Facebook included stolen images of real children. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Mark Sweney and Jasper Jackson-Tuesday 7 March 2017

Facebook will be questioned by a powerful group of MPs over its failure to remove sexualised images of children following a BBC investigation that found posts reported under its own guidelines were not being taken down.

The BBC investigation revealed that of the 100 images and posts it flagged using Facebook’s tools, just 18 were deemed by moderators to breach Facebook’s guidelines, which explicitly bar sexualised images of children.

The posts reported included items found in groups specifically aimed at men with an interest in child sexual abuse images and stolen images of real children with obscene comments beneath them. When the BBC provided examples of the images to Facebook, the social network reported them to the police.

The culture, media and sport select committee is planning to question Facebook executives after Easter as part of its fake news inquiry and now will expand the investigation to include the social network’s moderation policy.

The committee’s chair, Damian Collins MP, had earlier on Tuesday described the company’s response to the investigation as “extraordinary”.

After asking the BBC for examples of posts that had not been removed, Facebook contacted a senior executive at the corporation to say it would not do an interview and would be reporting both the content and the investigating team to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), which is part of the National Crime Agency.

Angus Crawford, who led the BBC investigation, said the team had been surprised the images had been passed to Ceop, given that Facebook’s moderators had failed to remove them.

“We didn’t believe the content was illegal. We were further convinced the content wasn’t illegal when we reported the content to Facebook when their own moderators said it did not breach community guidelines,” Crawford said in a Facebook Live stream on Tuesday.

“Which way do they want it? That it’s illegal and their moderation isn’t working or actually it’s perfectly legal content, but they didn’t want to do an interview?”

In a statement released earlier on Tuesday after the BBC had published its story, Facebook UK’s policy director, Simon Milner, said the social network had followed “our industry’s standard practice” in reporting the images.

“It is against the law for anyone to distribute images of child exploitation. We also reported the child exploitation images that had been shared on our own platform. This matter is now in the hands of the authorities.”

“We take this matter extremely seriously and we continue to improve our reporting and take-down measures.”

Facebook has refused to say which images provided by the BBC prompted its referral to Ceop. However, it is thought there was one deemed most likely to be illegal by its lawyers. Among the images provided, one appeared to be a freeze frame from a video that was accompanied by a link to a video, which the journalists did not view as they suspected it contained child exploitation.

Facebook has since removed each item it was able to identify as having been flagged by the BBC reporters, which it says amounts to more than 100 posts.

Much of the social media firm’s moderation is outsourced to contractors who deal with huge numbers of posts each day, though more serious issues are dealt with by in-house teams. Facebook was not able to say whether it directly employed the moderators who had decided not to remove the posts reported by the BBC journalists.

The Fallout

Victims of all ages and genders are often in positions of shame and fear as a result of the assault they suffer. Popular media tends to address rape and its fallout in terms of families or communities that are unsupportive or even condemnatory of victims.

by Alexandra R. Harrington-Mar 6, 2017

Mar 6, 2017

( March 7, 2017, Boston, Sri Lanka Guardian) Rape. It is a difficult word to write or say, let alone discuss. Regardless the society or culture and despite attempts to prosecute rape at the highest levels – even internationally as a war crime – it is still highly stigmatized.

Victims of all ages and genders are often in positions of shame and fear as a result of the assault they suffer. Popular media tends to address rape and its fallout in terms of families or communities that are unsupportive or even condemnatory of victims. In this dichotomy, the impact of rape on the community highlights the reinforcement of shame and ostracism. And when the victim finds supportive communities – be they families, friends, social workers or law enforcement officers – the focus tends to be on providing immediate assurances to the victims with scant attention to the long-term impacts on the victim or the community.

The BBC series Shetland dealt with rape and its fallout in a very different way, however. As the name suggests, the series is set in the Shetland Islands off the coast of Scotland. It follows the main major crimes unit for the island, headed by Detective Inspector James Perez and including Detective Sergeant Alison MacIntosh (“Tosh”), Detective Constable Sandy Wilson, and Sergeant Billy McCabe. Perez is the highly skilled group leader who is often socially awkward but still quite caring and protective of his teenage daughter, his team, and those impacted by crime. Although raised in the Shetland Islands, he lived in metropolitan Glasgow for many years and experienced the seedy side of life as a police officer there. Sandy is a local officer who appears tough at first but is particularly caring for his community and his family. Billy is at once a blustery older officer with a warm side that is more often expressed in gestures and jokes. And Tosh is a younger officer who is a capable, fun-loving and beloved loved member of the team.

During Season 3, there is a running storyline of a murder investigation that involves a Glasgow mob boss and his henchmen. When the henchmen are unable to convince Perez to back off from his investigation, one of them follows Tosh while she is conducting investigations in Glasgow. Ultimately, an order is given for Tosh to be abducted and raped in order to send Perez a message.

When Tosh is found, she tells the Glasgow officers that she was abducted and left on the edge of the city. Only when Tosh and Perez are alone does she admit that she was raped. The show captures in painful detail the intimate nature of processing for sexual assault. All this time, Perez is behind a curtain talking to Tosh, acting as a father figure and source of comfort for her. Clearly this has an important impact for Tosh but it also has a heavy impact on Perez, who suffers with the knowledge of what has happened.

Tosh insists on returning to work immediately, explaining to Perez that at work she feels normal. However, she also insists that none of her colleagues know what happened to her other than that she was kidnapped. Perez is scrupulous in honouring this request but at the same time is careful to screen her from certain aspects of the ongoing investigation that might be traumatic, particularly when it appears that a rape from years before is at the center of the murder investigation.

Beyond these measures to protect Tosh, the rape takes a personal toll on Perez, who not only wrestles with a certain level with guilt but also with the underlying mentality of men that allows them to commit such acts. This pulls the cover off a level of fallout from rape on the community – how decent and moral men in the community come to terms with the fact that a heinous act was committed by a man. Indeed, as the season progresses this shock and shame at the abilities of other men seems to seep further into Perez’s life and sense of identity at a personal and professional level. Personally, Perez finds himself so disrupted by the sense that men are too often power-seekers in relationships that he nearly ends a budding relationship. Professionally, Perez begins to examine the way in which he – and to a larger extent the male-dominated police force – sees women as officers and also as victims, particularly when they are victims of rape and related crimes.

Perez voices his professional concerns to Sandy in the context of the failure to report the older rape. Sandy at first raises the standard questioning as to why the crime was not reported and is touched when Perez asks him whether the victim (in that instance a former sex worker) would have been taken seriously and handled with dignity. At first Sandy seems to want to protest against this – speaking, one senses, from how he would handle the issue – and then stops to ponder how others in a police department, especially in a tougher metropolitan area, would respond to such a victim. Ultimately, the victim in that case is threatened and comes to Shetland to talk to Perez and Sandy. When she says that she is willing to give a statement about what happened to her, Sandy is tasked with helping her and is deeply affected. Indeed, he starts out by explaining that they will do everything to protect the victim and to make sure that all the necessary reporting is completed no matter how long it takes.

At the very end of the season, Tosh informs Billy that she will be staying with several of her friends for a few weeks. Although not necessary, she then fumbles through explaining that the kidnapping was more than just a kidnapping. Billy’s face goes through stages, from shock to deep sadness to near tears. He struggles to find a response other than to look at her with sad affection and offer her a hug if she is comfortable. She responds that she is not comfortable with anyone touching her and then heads home, leaving Billy to sit down in his office with what seems like the weight of the world on his otherwise reserved shoulders. It is clear that this is a weight which will not soon be lifted and that he is suffering at the idea of the pain caused to such a dear part of his work family.

Shetland does a thorough job of examining the impact of rape on the female victim, particularly where the victim is someone who “should have known better,” in this case because she is a detective. It also portrays a strong victim in the sense that she is eager to return to the aspects of life which give her normalcy even if they are the reason that she was assaulted. Yet it is in the shows portrayal of rape on the community of men who love and respect the victim that it is most noteworthy and unique.

Dr. Alexandra R. Harrington is an international law expert. Professor in human rights, business law and CSR, environmental law, sustainable development. Blogger. Cultural analyst. Visit her personal blog at www.jurisculture.net 

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Today is day 15: Kilinochchi disappearances protest continues

06 Mar  2017

Families of the missing and forcibly disappeared continued their protest in Kilinochchi for the fifteenth day on Monday.

As well as elderly parents and spouses, protestors include children and young siblings of the missing.

Related Articles: 

23 February 2017 : Families of missing continue Kilinochchi protest for fourth day

26 February 2017 : Tamil university students protest in support of families of missing

The President and his backbone

 Tuesday, 7 March 2017

The President told the SLFP Executive Committee meeting that he has shown his ‘backbone’ to the international community by rejecting the UNHRC Chief Zeid bin Ra-ad Al Hussein’s recommendation for a hybrid court to probe war crimes allegations in Sri Lanka.

“Two weeks ago the UN Human Rights High Commissioner in his report on Sri Lanka called for a probe by foreign judges. Within 24 hours, I rejected it saying I am not prepared to bring foreign judges here,” he said. “There can be people without a backbone. But I am not ready to go forward with those without a backbone.” (Daily Mirror, 4 March)

The High Commissioner’s report to the 34th session of the Human Rights Council includes the following comments as well:

“The fulfilment of transitional justice commitments has, however, been worryingly slow, and the structures set up and measures taken during the period under review were inadequate to ensure real progress.

“Party politics, including the balancing of power between the different constituencies of the coalition in the run-up to constitutional reforms, have contributed to a reluctance to address difficult issues regarding accountability or to clearly articulate a unified position by all parts of government. Unclear and often contradictory messages have been delivered on transitional justice mechanisms by the President, the Prime Minister and various members of the Cabinet. Similar contradictions are visible in policy development. This tension was apparent both in the draft counter-terrorism legislation and on the proposed amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code. Public messaging around transitional justice and reconciliation has been generally confusing and at times contradictory.”

Devolution of power

The main task the country has in its hand is adaptation of a new constitution to address the grievances of the ethnic minorities and introducing a new governance structure. We know that the steering committee of the constitutional assembly cannot give a draft constitution although it received the reports of all six sub committees, due to the reason of the stance taken by the SLFP.

The argument put forward by the SLFP is that they are no willing to go for a referendum. The two issues we have is devolution of power and abolishing of executive presidency. There were two key judgements given in relation to these two issues, judgement on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the judgement on the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

In the case of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, there were nine judges to the bench and four judges were in favour and four judges were against. Justice Parinda Ranasinghe delivered an independent judgement which was in favour of the amendment with certain reservations. Therefore his judgement prevailed.

If we were to go an inch beyond the provisions of the 13th Amendment it is obvious that there should be a referendum. By refusing a referendum, are we saying that we will not devolve power anything more than the provisions of the 13th Amendment?

The irony is this. The Chief Ministers of the Provinces governed by the SLFP proposed to the Sub-Committee on Centre-Periphery Relations appointed by the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly that the powers of the Governors of the Provinces should be reduced drastically. The Chief Minister of North Central Province recommended that the post of the Governor should be abolished and the President should appoint the Chief Minister. The reason for this recommendation is this.

Article 154 C of the constitution states as follows: “Executive power extending to the matters with respect to which a Provincial Council has power to make statutes shall be exercised by the Governor of the Province for which that Provincial Council is established, either directly or through Ministers of the Board of Ministers, or through officers subordinate to him, in accordance with Article 154F.”

This overwhelming authority given to the Governor is questioned by none other than the Chief Ministers of the SLFP. Therefore we are talking of devolution of power to the provinces for the benefit of the provinces and as a by-product we devolve the power to the Northern Province where the majority are Tamils.

The issue is we cannot devolve power further without getting the approval from the people at a referendum. President himself said that the country had to suffer this much due to the previous party politics of our leaders where Prime Ministers S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and Dudley Senanayake had to abandon the power sharing proposals.

Therefore the President has to show his backbone to the party members of the party headed by him and tell them that as a country we have to take this opportunity to have an ethnic reconciliation. It is a prerequisite of economic development that we should have a solid ethnic reconciliation underneath. 

Abolishing of executive presidency

The President has pledged that the Executive Presidency will be abolished. During the period of 100 days the 19th Amendment was brought in and the powers of the President was curtailed amidst great reluctance and sabotage by the members of the party headed by him. Approach he has taken was commendable to curtail his own powers which brought international fame to him.

However based on the judgement given on the 19th Amendment to the Constitution it was clear that if we need to curtail more the powers of the president or to abolish the executive presidency we have to go for a referendum. In fact the Supreme Court had rejected certain amendments of the draft 19th Amendment which gives more powers to the Prime Minister transferred from the President.

Therefore the President should show his backbone once again to his party members and tell them that it is mandatory to go for a referendum in order to fulfil the promises he has given to the general public.

Armed forces

If we take the examples of the Raviraj murder case, Prageeth Eknaligoda murder case and Lasantha Wickrematunge murder case, involvement of the members of the intelligence services is clear. It was evident in the Court that there was very little support to the proceedings from the Sri Lanka Army. We all know that it is not the intelligence officers who did the job who are responsible but the person/s who ordered to do the job should be responsible. The President should show his backbone to the Army and order them to give the full support to the Court proceedings.

It is true that the armed forces had done a great service in defeating an armed struggle against the democratically elected Government of Sri Lanka and we all should have a great respect for them. The value of the service is greater since it was believed then that the LTTE was undefeatable. However the credibility of the armed forces is internationally not up to the level of the job they did because of the allegations of violation of international law.

The behaviour of some members of the armed forces were evidenced in the cases mentioned above. Hence in addition to ensure justice to the victims of the armed conflict, we all have a task of clearing the good name of our armed forces. One way of establishing that credibility is inviting foreign judges as members of the commission.

It was reported in Daily Mirror and Sunday Times on 4 March and 6 March respectively that the Prime Minister has mentioned that a referendum is needed to establish a Hybrid Court. There is no necessity to have a referendum to invite foreign judges to a mechanism established by Sri Lankan law. We have precedence in this respect since Sirima Bandaranaike Government invited foreign judges to a commission to probe the murder of Prime Minister Bandaranaike. However it looks like this is not feasible politically based on the political stance of the President.

At the same time we have the right to expect the display of same solid backbone from the President in other issues discussed as well. It is pertinent to mention here that it is also the responsibility of the civil society to take the message of the new constitution and the devolution of power to the people at large in general and to the people who contributed to bring this Government to power in particular.

The politics of foreign judges in the Geneva processa

By Jehan Perera-March 6, 2017, 8:34 pm 

The weekend after the opening session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, I went to the public library to exchange books. While standing in line to return the borrowed books, I was approached by one of the other library members standing in line. He had seen me on television at the opening session in Geneva, where I was part of the government delegation but representing a civil society perspective. This event had received wide coverage in the Tamil media in particular. He urged me to ensure that the victim survivors of the war should be compensated by the government without delay. He said they needed jobs and money to look after their children and the disabled needed to be provided with artificial limbs in addition.

The victims of the war have yet to find redress. Those whose loved ones have gone missing and those who have had their ancestral lands taken over, languish in poverty without breadwinners and also want justice are all looking to Geneva to find redress that they are not receiving at home. The hopes they were given in October 2015, when the Sri Lankan government co-sponsored a resolution of the UN Human Rights Council that called for these to be done, have not been realised so far. In relation to the vast needs of the people, relatively little has been done by the government in all of these areas. In one area, however, there has been a significant impact. This is in the lifting of fear of a government that no longer violates laws with impunity.

The international human rights groups and Tamil Diaspora members who gathered on the sidelines of official events did not wish the Sri Lankan government to be given extra time to implement the promises it had made. Most of them were opposed to the government’s bid to obtain a "rollover" of the October 2015 resolution that the government is seeking with an extension of the time frame by a further two years. Those who work on behalf of victims of violations know that victims do not wish to wait long for justice and also need to be compensated quickly in order to get on with their lives. Those who are victims do not wish to wait for years for justice to be done.

TIME EXTENSION

However, the reality is that Sri Lanka is almost certain to get the extension it wants. Indeed, it is reported that Sri Lanka will co-sponsor a resolution led by the US and the core group once again at the 34th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms Mano Tittawela has said that the Government would submit a resolution together with the US, UK and Montenegro that it hopes would give Sri Lanka a two year extended time-frame to implement the 2015 resolution. There is unlikely to be any country today that would wish to impose political or economic sanctions on Sri Lanka which is one of the brighter spots in the world today in terms of human rights and the quality of life of most of its people.

During their stay in Geneva, the Sri Lankan delegation was able to meet with most important parties at the side events to the official conference. This included meetings with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and with UN Human Rights Commissioner Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein and with the ambassadors to the UN of various powerful countries. Some of those who are currently playing a decisionmaking role in UN processes have had previous engagements with Sri Lanka and are in a position to make a comparative analysis of the situation in Sri Lanka as against other countries. They tend to be impressed at the overall developments in Sri Lanka which they can compare with the deterioration to be found in many parts of the world. Government leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi is being viewed with considerable disappointment, despite being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the pastg, due to the mass atrocities reported from there which show no sign of diminishing.

The Sri Lankan government delegation led by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera were able to impress most of those they met with their commitment to improving inter-ethnic relations within the country and improving the lives of the people in general. The Sri Lankan delegation together with the Sri Lankan embassy in Geneva were able to host a side event which was attended by over a hundred persons drawn from the international human rights community, media, Tamil Diaspora and diplomats. They gave every person who wished to speak an opportunity to have their say, and answered every question that was asked without bluff or bluster. As a result the meeting that was scheduled to be for an hour was extended to nearly double that time.

HYBRID MECHANISM

The issue on which there remains a measure of uncertainty is that of foreign judges in a hybrid court to look into war crimes. Accountability and the punishment of those who have committed grave violations of human rights are an integral part of the UN mandated system of transitional justice. The question is how best this can be obtained. Hybrid courts are not necessarily the answer. The hybrid court system established in Cambodia in 2003 has delivered only three convictions after 14 years of effort and the cost has exceeded USD 200 million. In addition, there were instances of the foreign judges and prosecutors publicly disagreeing with each other and resigning from their posts along with allegations of government pressure on them.

Where countries have judicial systems that have not completely collapsed, there is strong resistance to brining in foreign judges to be in decisionmaking positions. Colombia, which is the most recent success story in transitional justice, has chosen the path of having national judges only with foreign expertise in an advisory role. In Sri Lanka, both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have said that they are not in favour of foreign judges, as it is not politically possible given the resistance to it from within the national system. The person who appealed to me in the public library said that he wanted war victims to be looked after better by the government and that it was more important to sustain the living than to avenge the dead. This does not mean that victims do not want justice, but that they need sustenance now.

However, the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into Sri Lanka’s implementation of the October 2015 resolution has a critical tone and refers to the "slow pace of transitional justice in Sri Lanka and the lack of a comprehensive strategy to address accountability for past crimes risk derailing the momentum towards lasting peace, reconciliation and stability." The UN recommendation is that the Sri Lankan government should establish a hybrid mechanism for purposes of war crimes trials. Those who are champions of human rights will necessarily stand for the ideal. But politics is the art of the possible. The final decision on which way the UN Human Rights Council will go will be decided by the representatives of governments of the 47 countries that are its members. It is unlikely that they will decide to force upon the Sri Lankan government what it does not consider to be politically possible.

Prisoner’s dilemma in local politics Why President Sirisena and MR won’t cooperate

In game theory, there is this hypothetical strategy game that is used to explain why two rational individuals may not cooperate even when it is in their mutual interest to cooperate. It goes like this: Police arrest two criminals, but cannot find evidence to indict either of them on the principal charge, so decide to charge them on a lesser crime. In the meantime, police try on a strategy, hoping that the two suspects, who are held in solitary confinement without means to communicate with each other, would snitch.

  

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Police offer both suspect following options. If the suspect A betrays (‘defects’) the suspect B, A would walk free, B would get three years in prison. If B rats out on A, B walks free and A gets three years. If both suspects betray each other, both get two years in jail. If neither of them betrays the other (i.e. they ‘cooperate’ with each other) they both get one year on a lesser charge. In game theory, in a one off game, betraying the other prisoner is considered the dominant strategy since ‘defection’ always has a higher payoff than ‘cooperation,’ regardless of the other player’s choice. That means, finally both suspects end up getting two years in prison. However, the paradox is that mutual cooperation has a better payoff than mutual defection, but self-interest and uncertainty over the other player’s move prompt both prisoners to defect. This scenario is used to explain a wide range of real world situations from economics, conflict resolution to international politics, such as why the states are less likely to cooperate in arms control initiatives, especially at a time of intense 
security rivalry.  

Let’s apply these settings for many rivalries that limit cooperation in our politics. Take this for instance: President Maithripala Sirisena and his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa are locked in a veritable prisoner’s dilemma. President Sirisena believes that Mr Rajapaksa is running circles around him, and plotting to oust him from his leadership in the SLFP and to undermine his government. Mr Rajapaksa on the other hand suspects that the President his trying to jail him and his family and to politically annihilate him. In this intense rivalry for power and political survival , cooperation is unthinkable. Each is trying to undermine the other (‘defecting’). 
However, mutual cooperation would be in their mutual interest, because the mutual defection would mean the split of the SLFP. Then no one wins, except the UNP. Why mutual cooperation does not materialize even despite a higher payoff is due to uncertainty (not counted in this equation is the fact that there are others who benefit from this rivalry). The President cannot be sure whether his opponent would stick to his side of the bargain even if the two agreed to cooperate. Say for instance, in exchange for his cooperation, Mr Rajapaksa gets the government to withdraw all the real and concocted charges against him and his family and once safe from legal troubles, returns to streets with a new found vigour to organize the people and to undermine the government.   
On the other hand, Mr Rajapaksa who opts to cooperate with the President cannot be sure whether the President would not defect. Say for instance, the President gets Mr Rajapaksa’s support to pass the constitutional reforms and implement the government’s economic programme and suddenly when the elections come closer, dusts up old files against Mr Rajapaksa or locks up Gota to appease some international big shot.  

This is the dilemma both Mr Rajapaksa and the government are placed in. Especially when the payoff is higher, competition itself takes a zero sum form. Before we discuss how to alleviate that dilemma, let’s consider a few other instances of prisoner’s dilemma in 
our politics.  
Perhaps the most persistent prisoner’s dilemma in this country since the independence has been the one between the government and the opposition. For the first three decades of the independence, whenever one of the two main political parties offered a political solution to Tamil grievances, the other scuttled it. When SWRD agreed on the Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact, J.R. ganged up with rabid monks, forcing the hapless prime minister to tear the agreement. Then a decade later Dudley was forced to backtrack from the Dudley–Chelvanayakam Pact due to SLFP sabotage. This opposition to a political solution whenever a party is out of power does not emanate from a principled position, but through sheer opportunism. Again, cooperation could have been in mutual interest, but viewed purely in the prism of rational self-interest, immediate payoffs of defection were higher. That ingrained opportunism in our political leaders gave rise to three insurgencies that brutalized this nation since the 70s.  

Little has changed today. The stalemate between the government and the joint opposition stems from a prisoner’s dilemma. Since joint opposition members are no more than couriers of Mr Rajapaksa, the problem again revolves around Mr Rajapaksa. The joint opposition has obstructed the government on every initiative, good, bad and ugly. It has undermined the government’s economic program; in the words of its members, the joint opposition is waiting till ‘Sri Lanka crashes like Greece’. To that end, its goons ran riot in Hambantota, it has petitioned to Court against the proposed lease an extent of land to the Chinese for an economic zone and Hambantota port, both measures that had initially been mooted by the former regime of Mr Rajapaksa itself. It would also do its utmost to scuttle constitutional reforms and efforts to accommodate Tamil political aspirations.   
On the other hand, the government has hounded joint opposition members on charges of corruption and other crimes, treated them like court jesters with ridicule. Neither party is gaining from this confrontation. Nor would either side cooperate for they are not sure how the other would act. However, politics is not a one- off game, but a continuation.

"Since joint opposition members are no more than couriers of Mr Rajapaksa, the problem again revolves around Mr Rajapaksa"

Even in prisoner’s dilemma, when the game is played repeatedly with the two players being unaware of how many rounds the play would go on, players tend to have a greater likelihood for cooperation. (And real life experiments of prisoner’s dilemma have also shown humans in general have a greater tendency to cooperate than the rational theory assumes.)  
Also, though rational theories, such as realism contend that the states would not cooperate in anarchy of the international system, states do cooperate increasingly. Global institutions have greatly reduced uncertainty, regulated norms of interaction, cut down transaction costs and imposed heavier penalty on defection.  
However, the problem in domestic politics is that there are no such agencies with enforceable power to mediate a rapprochement between the government and the opposition or between the president and Mr Rajapaksa. However, there are always options. Take for instance Tunisia’s Nobel Peace Prize winning National Dialogue Quartet, a disparate coalition of civil society groups that negotiated a compromise between Islamists and secular liberals at a time the country was inching towards a civil war. Their contribution saved democratic transition of the country after the Arab Spring, while the rest of the post- spring Arab world were convulsed by mayhem. However, our civil society types that operate from NGO round tables enjoy very little of public rapport. Others such as the torch- bearers of the Good Governance campaign of late Sobitha Thera seem to harp on a single agenda of corruption. Nonetheless, they could still extend their good offices to break the deadlock between the government and the opposition.  
Another, perhaps a more practical option at the moment is Mr Sampanthan and the Tamil National Alliance, which itself has a self-interest in solving this stalemate, which does not only eat into the economic prospects of this country, but also diminish the likelihood of a political solution. With half a century of political experience under his belt, Mr. Sampanthan can give it a shot- That could well be a redeeming experience for him as well.  

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