Why are men from poor families twice as likely to be single in their 40s?

By Georgina Lee-11 AUG 2017

One in three men from disadvantaged backgrounds live alone in their early 40s, according to a study released by the Institute for Fiscal Studies today.

Compare that to men from the UK’s wealthiest families: just one in seven of whom are single.
What’s going on? FactCheck looks at the figures.

Are women choosing wealthy partners over poorer ones?

It’s a bit of a cliché (some would say a slur) that women prefer wealthier romantic partners.
On the face of it, today’s study appears to back up that hypothesis. But the reality is more complicated. Here’s why…

Just because you’re single in your 40s doesn’t mean you haven’t been successful with women.
The IFS study looks at men aged 42 and takes a snapshot of their current living situation.

It’s true that men of that age who were born into the poorest 20 per cent of families are more likely to have never been married than those from the richest backgrounds.

But poorer men at that age are also more than twice as likely to be divorced than their wealthier counterparts.

In other words, poorer men in their 40s may be single now, but that doesn’t tell us how many partners (in or out of marriage) they have had in the past.

Indeed, if poorer men are less likely to get and/or stay married, they may even have more romantic partners over the course of their lives – precisely because the relationships are shorter-lived.
The fact is, we can’t tell definitively either way. And we certainly can’t conclude from this data that women prefer wealthier men.

Already-rich men benefit from their wives’ income, which increases inequality between rich and poor

So this study doesn’t tell us much about matters of the heart. But it does tell another interesting story: that the gap between rich and poor is widening partly because high-earning men are marrying high-earning women.

The wealth or poverty of your family background has long been considered a significant predictor of your future income, as the IFS report attests. But today’s figures show us that this effect is becoming even more pronounced over time.

• In 2000, 42 year old men who were born into the richest fifth of UK families earned 47 per cent more than those from the poorest fifth.
• By 2012, that gap had widened to a massive 88 per cent.

Why?

The study finds that if you’re a man in his early 40s, it’s not just your parents’ wealth that predicts your income: your partner’s earning power is increasingly significant too. To some extent, this is pretty obvious: if couples pool their resources, they are collectively wealthier.

But remember that women-as-high-earners is a relatively new phenomenon, and its effects on intergenerational equality are only now starting to materialise. (Although of course there’s still a long way to gobefore women and men earn the same).

The IFS study finds that there’s a strong tendency among richer people to pair up with similarly wealthy partners. So as women start to earn more, the gap between rich and poor men is widening because high-earning men are marrying high-earning women.
FactCheck verdict

Poorer men are twice as likely to be single in their early 40s as richer men. But this isn’t about women being picky when it comes to partners. In fact, it’s possible that poorer men have more partners through their lives because they less likely to get married.


There’s also evidence that already-rich men benefit from getting married because they’re likely to partner up with high-earning women. This is making the earnings gap between rich and poor men wider.

Egg contamination scandal widens as 15 EU states, Switzerland and Hong Kong affected

Brussels spokeswoman says situation is evolving as two men remain arrested following raids in Belgium and the Netherlands

 Millions of eggs and egg-based products have been pulled from supermarket shelves since tests revealed a high level of fipronil in eggs. Photograph: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

Daniel Boffey in Brussels and Kate Connolly in Berlin-Friday 11 August 2017 

Europe’s latest food scandal has widened after the European commissionannounced that a total of 15 EU states, plus Switzerland and Hong Kong, are now known to have received egg products contaminated by an insecticide harmful to human health.

A spokeswoman in Brussels said the situation was “evolving by the day”, as criminal investigators continued to hold two men arrested on Thursday for fraud following a series of raids in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The EU countries known to be affected by the scandal are Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, Britain, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Denmark. Products in British supermarkets were removed on Thursday after it was discovered that the initial Food Standards Agency claim that 21,000 contaminated eggs had hit the UK was a major underestimate. The FSA now says the figure is more like 700,000.

Following the arrests of the two directors of a Dutch firm, Chickfriend, which is believed to have supplied the banned anti-lice agent to farmers, a third man, whose home was raided by investigators, spoke to Dutch media on Friday to insist upon his innocence.

Nick Hermens, 28, said he had cut links in February 2016 with the owners of the company implicated in the scandal, due to his concerns about the legality of their business, although his claims could not be verified.

A Belgian company, Poultry-Vision, based in Antwerp, has already admitted providing the insecticide – called fipronil – to Chickfriend through a source in Romania. It is a common ingredient in veterinary products for getting rid of fleas, lice and ticks, but can cause abnormalities of the thyroid and the kidneys, and potentially seizures and death, if consumed by humans. It is not permitted for use around animals destined for consumption.

The Dutch public prosecutor’s office said its investigation was focusing on “the Dutch company which allegedly applied the fipronil and the alleged Belgian supplier, and a company from the Netherlands suspected of collaborating with the Belgian supplier”.

About 140 investigators across Belgium and the Netherlands are working on the case. Eleven locations were searched on Thursday in Belgium. Six locations, including the homes of the suspects, were raided in the Netherlands. “Valuable goods such as cars, bank assets and real estate were seized, as crime can not pay,” a statement read.

Since late July, millions of eggs have been pulled from the shelves of supermarkets across Europe, ranging from Waitrose to Lidl, in what has been the latest in a long line of food scares highlighting the vulnerability of the human food chain to modern farming and the continued gaps in its supervision.

At various points over the last three weeks, national authorities have insisted that the risk to human health is not high and that the crisis is under control. Yet, as the scandal has widened to more and more countries, that reassuring line has been thrown into doubt by updates and clarifications from the very same authorities. “Every single actor has committed serious mistakes,” said Daniel Sarmadi of Foodwatch in Germany.

It emerged this week, courtesy of an angry and defensive Belgian agriculture minister, that as far back as November the Dutch authorities received a tipoff that fipronil was being used illegally in farms in the Netherlands. The information wasn’t passed on to other countries despite the highly interlinked agricultural sectors. The Netherlands says the oversight was because they had launched a fraud investigation and hadn’t considered the health risks.

The Belgians, meanwhile, knew on 2 June this year, entirely by good fortune, that there had been contamination but did not notify the European commission’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) – designed to allow food safety agencies to coordinate – until 24 July.

When the scale of the contamination started to become known, and 180 farms in the Netherlands were forced to shut down, the Belgian food authorities then insisted their citizens didn’t need to worry as dangerously contaminated eggs hadn’t come on to their market – only to realise a few days later that they had.

The European commission’s systems, meanwhile, had also been alerted to the fraud claims on 6 July, but their IT system designed to aid cooperation on criminal cases is not coordinated with the RASFF, and so they did nothing until three weeks later. Brussels has been left calling for an end to the bickering between member states, and arranging an extraordinary meeting of leaders on 26 September.

Yet, perhaps for consumers, the most concerning detail to emerge has been the ease with which two men – Martin van de Braak, 31, and Mathijs IJzerman, 24, now in custody – were seemingly able to avoid scrutiny after coming into the business last year with a “miracle cure” for lice infestation in chickens.

It has emerged that the men first offered the treatment to customers – sold as a souped-up version of a known herbal compound, called Dega 16 – at an intensive farming convention in March last year. They had promised the substance would work quickly and could be blown through gas-powered cannon to disinfect all corners of their customers’ farms. The products on the market could keep the lice away for three months. Their disinfectant did the job for eight months and even had a nice minty smell.

At a later fair, it has been reported that breeders asked the men about their secret recipe, only to be told it was indeed secret. It doesn’t appear any further questions were asked by the clients. There has been no trial, or conviction.

Among the diplomatic rifts and clearing of shelves, in Germany, where the average person eats five eggs a week, there has been anxiety, anger – and also perhaps a reappraisal.


More than 10m tainted eggs have been imported to Germany. Some consumers have taken to using a government-created app to interpret an egg’s serial number, to work out its origins. Edde Lorch, 29, an IT consultant in Berlin, said she had certainly considered using it. “But then I suddenly realised how absurd it is to be buying eggs that come from so far away,” she said. “I went to my local market and bought a box of eggs from a farmer from just outside Berlin instead. He looked me in the eye and assured me they were not infected.”

Sex pill addicts: Yemenis turn to Viagra-like drugs as war grinds on

Sales of pills such as Viagra are soaring in war-torn Yemen, and men say they are becoming addicted to their effects

A sex pill sold in Yemen. Users say they feel invigorated when combined with energy drinks (Nasser al-Sakkaf/MEE)

Nasser al-Sakkaf-Thursday 10 August 2017

TAIZ, Yemen - Rafat remembers the first time he saw his friends taking sex pills to get high.

"I was at a friend's wedding last October," the 25-year-old from Taiz says. "I saw them put Viagra in their energy drinks. They said it gave them boundless energy, and with no side effects. So I decided to try one."

So began Rafat's descent into what he freely describes as a "dependency" on a drug marketed to Westerners as a panacea for sexual problems. 

I saw them put Viagra in their energy drinks. They said it gave them boundless energy

- Rafat, sex pill user

But in Yemen, a country in the middle of a harrowing war - thousands dead, millions teetering on the brink of starvation, and cholera ravaging the weakest of the weak - growing numbers of men are turning to Viagra and its "generics" as a means of escape. 

And many users are increasingly reporting a psychological addiction to the drug.

Generic sex drugs can be bought for $1 each in the shops of Yemen (AFP)

Viagra was originally discovered in the search for heart medicine in the 1990s, and increases oxygenation to the blood, although it is unlikely to result in any noticeable "highs".

"In the first day, I hardly felt any sexual effects, but now the overall feeling is better than before," says Rafat.

"But if I do not take one for a week, I feel so tired, so I advise the youth not to take Viagra or any similar pills."

His plea appears to be falling on deaf ears.

Read more ►

Bombed-out Yemenis turn to herbal remedies as war takes its toll

Yemen's health ministry reported in that 400 million Yemeni rials ($1.6m) of sex pills were sold In 2014, and the main users were men aged between 20-45.

But the ongoing war in Yemen has reportedly seen a huge increase in the use of the pills, with less oversight of the market.

Even in 2014, the pills were the third most commonly sold medicine, accounting for 13 percent of all sales.

The average price of sex pills like Viagra and similar pills is 250 rials ($1), and most of the pharmacies in Yemen sell them without prescription, though it is technically illegal.

A source in the health ministry confirmed to MEE that there are more demands on sex pills now than before the war, though he added that the health ministry cannot send observers to pharmacies because of the lack of budget.

"We know about the irregularities of selling sex pills without prescriptions, we know about smuggling of sex pills, moreover, we know about the factories and pharmacies that produce illegal sex pills, but we cannot stop them nowadays, as there are more important things than this for the ministry to do,” he explained. 

Some of the factories are located in Yemen itself, but other drugs are imported. 

War has ravaged Yemen to the point of collapse (AFP)

Akram al-Hwaish, a urologist based in Taiz, said that the war had exacerbated an already major issue.  

“Depression, marital problems, psychological pressure and work problems are the main causes of sexual weakness,” he told MEE.

“Many people are suffering from these problems amid the war and this weakness leads them to take sex pills."

Taiz has been the site of fierce clashes between the Popular Resistance, loyal to ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, and the Houthis, who are allied with another ousted president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has also sided against the Houthis and has used the power vacuum to assert its authority over the city, taking control of police stations and some hospitals.

The 'needy people'

Viagra is marketed in the West as a lifestyle drug (AFP)

Rasheed, 35, is a father of five children, one of whom suffers from autism.

In June 2015, several months after the war broke out, he lost his job in marketing and now he works as a building labourer in Taiz city, when work is available. The scarce work has made life very hard for Rasheed and his family, he said. 

"When I lost my job, I started to work as a building labourer and I found many colleagues were taking different kinds of sex pills," he said, speaking to MEE in a restaraunt in Taiz. 

They attributed the main reason to their suffering, Rasheed recounted, "and said the pills helped to maintain their good relationships with their wives".

“Any man without money suffers from domestic problems with his wife and this is my situation, so I decided to take sex pills to keep up a good relationship with my wife."

Although Rasheed said he buys only one pill a week, it has become a necessity for him - but many of his colleagues take more than one pill at once.

I do not think that rich people take sex pills like needy people

- Rasheed

"I do not think that rich people take sex pills like needy people, as those pills help needy people like us, who suffer from depression and they try to live happily even for one day a week," he said, adding that he had not taken sex pills back when he was earning a decent salary.

Frequent use of sex pills can lead to health risks, doctors say. 

Hwaish warned that the dangers of Viagra addiction increased if the pills were taken without a proper prescription.

"Those pills can kill old people and heart patients, so people should only take them on the advice of a doctor," he explained.

Rasheed remains convinced that his use of sex pills is a symptom of his current conditions - the war and underemployment.

"I hope this is a temporary period," he said.

"When I return my former work or find any new job, definitely I will give up taking sex pills."

SATYAGRAHA TO PRESS GOVERNMENT TO ACT

DR.Vickramabahu Karunaratne-2017-08-10

The 20th commemoration of late Bakeer Markar on 8 August was a remarkable event in many ways. The presentation of the guest speaker Prof. Davutoglu was interesting, as he explained the emergence and development of human identities without following the western theories on nationalities. Apparently, Turkey is a country of different human groups up to modern times.

This history was certainly interesting. However, more attractive was the speech made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Not because of reference to me, in the middle of his elaborations! Instead, he came out with a rational modernist view on the national problem. India came out of retrogressive traditions to formulate a Constitution that could accommodate dozens of nationalities, many religions and beliefs almost irreconcilable. It was a huge venture. Jawaharlal Nehru was supported by intellectuals such as Ambedkar and Periar. While such a victory is achieved in India, Russia fell back by the socialism in one country theory which is against Marxist internationalism.

The Constitution, the supreme law of India, lays down the framework defining fundamental political principles, establishes the structure, procedures, powers and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental rights, principles and the duties of citizens. It is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world.

B.R. Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, supported by Periar, is widely considered to be its chief architect. It imparts Constitutional supremacy and not Parliamentary supremacy, as it is created by a Constituent Assembly, and adopted by its people, with a declaration in its preamble. Parliament cannot override the Constitution. It declares India a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic, assuring its citizens of justice, equality, and liberty, and endeavours to promote fraternity among them. The Supreme Court has ruled that it cannot destroy what it seeks to modify, which means, while amending anything in the Constitution it cannot tinker with the 'basic structure' or its framework, which is immutable. Such an amendment will be declared invalid even though no part of the Constitution is explicitly prevented from being amended, nor does the basic structure doctrine protect any single provision of the Constitution. Yet, this "doctrine of basic features" lays down that, the Constitution when "read as a whole", that what comes to be understood as its basic features cannot be abridged, deleted or abrogated. These "basic features" are defined as:

The Supremacy of the Constitution; Republican and Democratic form of the Government; Secular Character of the Constitution;

Maintenance of Separation of powers ;The Federal Character of the Constitution.This implies that the Parliament, while amending the Constitution, can only amend it to the extent so as to not destroy any of the aforesaid characters.

Are we going to march forward with a Constitution with similar aims and objectives? The speech of Ranil was very positive and clear. If that is the view of the government then we can be hopeful.

Already the Movement based on all organizations that brought this government to power is preparing for a SATYAGRAHA on 15 August opposite Viharamahadevi Park at 3 p.m.to press the government to go forward to implement the programme promised during the last Presidential Election. Also, it is a mobilization against the racist and chauvinist forces who are preparing to overthrow the government by violence and terror.

Such opposition is basically opposed to a new democratic Constitution, as they alleged it is against the rights of the Sinhala majority. They try to mobilize the Sinhala village youth on this sectarian majoritist theory.


For this, they have created a bogey of privatization of education. They oppose the general freedom now exists for private universities to operate under the supervision of the University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Education.

Continuing Torture & Sexual Violence In Sri Lanka – Part III

By Brian Senewiratne –AUGUST 10, 2017

Dr. Brian Senewiratne

Continued from Tuesday

Equipment

Here is a victim: “I saw plastic pipes, bottles filled with something, a tap with a hose attached, a plastic can or bottle filled with something.

In the corner of the room there were wooden batons, PVC pipes, wires and nylon rope. I noticed a barrel full of water in the corner of the room. I think I saw some polythene bags next to the water barrel.

I could see a table, wires, wooden sticks, blood marks on the wall. It looked like a torture room”.

These torture rooms are common and suggest there is nothing opportunistic or unsanctioned about the abuse. It also indicates that torture is routine and that commanders are fully aware of torture rooms.

Duration

I will quote the Report: “It is worth noting that most victims experienced several of not most of the torture methods catalogued here and for weeks or months, in some case right up to their release for money”.  I would ask again, as I have done earlier, “What if the family is too poor to find the money?”

A new way of waking up a sleeping victim

I quote a victim: “If I was asleep when they came in, they would stamp on my genitals, my penis and my shoulders very hard with their shoes to wake me up”. I’d suggest that you try this highly effective method on someone you know, who is asleep.

Torture methods. A new use for pliers

A victim: “The torture I endured varied each time but included: holding my head under water in the barrel for a while until I could hardly breathe; pressing pliers down my nails; punching me in the stomach and chest and the back of my head. My hands were tied up to a rope that came down from the ceiling and I was beaten very hard with a belt and sticks from my legs up to and over my back.”

There is an entire Chapter at the end of this publication on torture methods.

Women torturers

Women security force personnel continue to be involved in torture of female detainees. This is a pattern observed in previous ITJP testimony and, it has also involved lesbian sexual abuse of women by female soldiers.

To quote a victim: “The woman told me to remove my clothes. I refused. The woman pushed me on to the floor and tried to pull off my clothes. When she had removed the clothes she left the room. Then one of the men hit me hard on my face and the other man was burning me with a metal rod”.

Those who want to see the result can do so in my book. “Sri Lanka: Sexual Violence of Tamils by the Armed Forces”.

Before I move on I will remind the reader again that this is not Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka but Sirisena’s Sri Lanka. Where the Tamils are concerned, all that happened in January 2015 was a name change from Rajapaksa to Sirisena.

Chapter 5   Sexual Violence

Of 24 individuals interviewed from 2016/17, 18 described experiencing sexual violence. This high level of sexual violence is in keeping with previous ITJP findings.

I might add that my book on Sri Lanka: Sexual Violence of Tamils by the Armed Forces, published in 2015 was 160 pages. The 2nd Edition published in 2017 is 265 pages. If you want a book, send me an email and I will send you a book free. I will also send you half a dozen dvds that I have recorded on the suffering of the Tamil people.

Verbal abuse

“Although ethnically derogatory language is quite usual throughout the torture and in holding cells, it is particularly prevalent during the sexual violence”. Here is a victim: “They said things like ‘you Tamil dogs, are you trying to fuck with the Sinhalese, you will always be our slaves. They called me a Tamil dog, Tamil cunt and Tamil cocksucker”.

Here is another: He then took off my underwear and raped me anally with his penis. He then pulled my penis and testicles very hard. ‘We will make sure that you will not create a future Tamil with this’.

I will deal with this verbal abuse later.

Male victims.

“What is striking in all the evidence the ITJP has gathered is the very high prevalence of male sexual violence, including anal rape and oral rape, and 2016/17 is no exception.

The sexual abuse is happening inside known and unknown army camps and other detention sites”

Here is a quote from a witness:

“This man came towards me and touched my face, my hands and tried to touch my penis but I resisted using my hand to push his hand away .He then held one of my hands and made me touch his penis with it. As I touched his penis he pressed my hand so that it was holding his penis. His hand was on top of my hand and he forced me to masturbate him. While he was doing this he tried to take off my jeans but I pushed his hand away”

Here is another witness:

“This time they also squeezed and beat my genitals. They also put a bag over my head which had petrol fumes, and started beating me; I fainted.

On one occasion they also put something that burned very badly on the tip of my penis, they forced a pipe into my anus whilst I was chained from the ceiling.

This man had a polythene bag with him and put his hands inside it and squeezed and twisted my penis. I felt as if I was dying and shouted- ‘if you want to kill me – just kill me’.

Back to the publication: “The incidents of sexual violence including rape often involve the interrogators and guards but also by unknown men. The impression given is that detainees are available for anyone to abuse at night”.

Here is a victim: “He made me kneel down and grabbed me by the hair. He was forcing himself on me; putting his penis into my mouth. I pulled away, he forced himself back on me”.

Here is another victim: “He took my underware off, he touched my penis and he put my penis into his mouth”.

Here is another: “One would hold me and forcibly open my mouth so the other can insert his penis into my mouth. Another man came into the room, he made me kneel and then held me from behind. The other man in front of me put his penis inside my mouth.”

Do I need to go on with this dreadful information? Yes, I do because there is much more and you must get all the information. Is it shocking? Yes it is. That is why I recorded the dvds. If you are not shocked, then I will have to re-record the dvds because they have failed to do what I wanted then to do – to shock the world.

Oral rape

“In most cases the victim is ordered to give oral sex to the perpetrator”.

Here is a witness: “He kneeled in front of me and put his other hand around my penis and started sucking it”.

And another: “This time he forcibly masturbated me three times”

Rape with objects

“In several cases there is anal rape with objects such as metal rods, often when the victim refused to perform oral sex”.

Read More

NEW CONSTITUTION A MUST; UNCERTAINTY CANNOT BE CONTINUED, TNA TELLS US

Image: Sampathan welcoming US delegation.

10/08/2017

(TNA) A meeting was held today (10.08.2017) between the visiting United States Congress delegates and the Leader of the Tamil National Alliance R. Sampanthan and Jaffna District Parliamentarian and TNA Spokesman Mr. Sumanthiran in Colombo.

The Congress Delegates led by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (Republican -New Jersey) Chairman, House Appropriations Committee, comprised of Rep. Henry Cuellar (Democrats – Texas) Member, House Appropriations Committee, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka His Excellency Atul Keshap and other Officials.

Briefing on the Progress of the framing of new Constitution Mr. Sampanthan said “there is undue delay in this process as both UNP and SLFP hold on to their political future than looking at the interest of the country. Further, he said that after obtaining the majority in Parliament the new Constitution must be approved by the people at a referendum. Mr. Sampanthan highlighted that this opportunity should not be missed and “I am not speaking only on behalf of Tamils but for the whole Sri Lanka and its people” he added.

Speaking further Mr. Sampanthan stressed that the Sinhala political leaders must go out and campaign on the new Constitution which is based on United, Undivided and indivisible Sri Lanka, if they do so not only this process would end in success but also it will clear all the unwarranted doubts that section of the people have in their minds he said. Further, he said that over fifty percent of the Tamil population has left the country due this unresolved national question, and if we don’t find a reasonable solution more people will leave, we don’t want that to happen he added.

Mr. Sampanthan Urged the delegates to bring to the notice of the Government hierarchy that uncertainty in this matter cannot be continued and they must come together and resolve the national question by enacting a new Constitution which will have the maximum possible consent of both the people and the political parties
.
Speaking on the issues faced by the Tamil People Mr. Sampanthan highlighted that the Issue of the missing persons must be addressed without any further delay. He noted though the Office of the Missing Person act has been passed in Parliament it has not been operationalized yet. By setting up the Office of the Missing Persons and conducting credible investigations truth must be ascertained in the cases of missing persons and the Families of the missing persons should be provided with the relevant information as to what happened to their loved ones.

On the question of release of Lands Mr. Sampanthan Highlighted that the Military in the occupation of these lands are in engaged in cultivation and they sell the products to the owners of the same land. He said this situation is very disturbing as people have been deprived of their fundamental right to live in their land even after eight years since the war came to an end. Though the Government has taken certain steps in this regard the process is not rapid enough Mr. Sampanthan added.

Mr. Sampanthan said, “I cannot let my people suffer indefinitely on these matters and this Government must realize that these fundamental issues must be addressed early as possible to avoid adverse situations emerging in the future”.

Speaking on the Unemployment among the youths Mr. Sumanthiran highlighted that Government seems to have no concrete plans to create mass jobs. The unemployment issue has also been the root cause for many social issues faced by the young people in this country he added. Mr. Sampanthan requested the delegates to initiate proposals in this regard and to support the young people of this country.

Mr. Sampanthan urged the delegates, that their government must hold the Sri Lankan Government accountable for the commitments they have made to the International Community particularly with regard to the full implementation of the Co-sponsored UNHRC resolution. He further said, “that Sri Lankan Government cannot evade from its responsibilities of fulfilling its commitment to the International community”.

The congress delegates thanked Mr. Sampanthan and said “We salute your courage and perseverance over two decades on these matters and assured that they would certainly take up his concerns when they meet with the Members of the Government.
– Issued by the TNA

Thunnalai residents file complaint against security force round-up operations to human rights commission

10 Aug  2017

Thunnalai residents have filed a complaint against STF and police round-up operations, that resulted in 24 arrests in the area, to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.

Thunnalai locals, including mothers of some arrested youths, filed a complaint at the HRCSL regional office in Jaffna on Wednesday.

The residents have said that the search and round-up operations which lasted three days were carried out inhumanely and led to wrongful arrests.

The 24 young Tamil men arrested in Thunnalai and neighbouring villages were charged with violent infractions related to protests following the killing of a local man by Sri Lankan police.

However the complaint claims that many of the youths arrested were not in the area during the incident or had no connection to the protests and violence.

Related Articles: 

07 August 2017 : 10 more arrested in third Thunnalai STF search operation in 24 hours

05 August 2017 : Hundreds of STF troops and police deployed in Thunnalai crackdown

04 August 2017 : Families of recently detained Tamil youth accuse Sri Lankan police of using torture

Sri Lanka: A Nation With A Derailed Rule Of Law

By Nagananda Kodituwakku –AUGUST 10, 2017

Nagananda Kodituwakku

I can clearly see the apprehension expressed by some concerned citizens about my untimely departure from Sri Lanka with the decision taken to abate the case filed in the Supreme Court challenging the appointment of 10 rejected candidates through the National List.

Judiciary is under intimidation of the Executive

Sri Lankan judiciary is not at all independent and has been compelled to perform under tremendous pressure and intimidation particularly in cases where interests of criminal elements occupying office in the Legislature and the Executive are contested. Challenging of the illegal appointments made to the Parliament through the National List is clearly, one such high profile case involving, all three organs of the government, Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.

There is no valid provision of law to appoint defeated candidates as MPs

The evidence presented to Court in this case provides irrefutable evidence that in 1988 there had been two Bills circulated in the Parliament for the purpose of amending the Constitution (14th Amendment) to introduce the National List (Article 99A). One Bill approved by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) and another fraudulent one with a clause unlawfully inserted within brackets to the said provision by the then President JR Jayewardene permitting rejected candidates too to enter the Parliament through the National List. This act is perceived as a committing of a constitutional fraud against the people usurping their undeniable constitutional right of franchise by illegal means.

Five Judges in the Supreme Court approve the flawed clause

Investigation conducted into this constitutional fraud revealed that President Jayewardene had abused his office to intimidate the Judges of the Supreme Court adopting various bullying tactics, which included deployment of hooligans to attack their houses. As International Commission of Jurists termed ‘President Jayewardene had found the Supreme Court is a hindrance to his policies, and has made it more pliable to his needs’.  In this backdrop he had referred a Bill (14A) to amend the Constitution to the Supreme Court on 08th April 1988, with a clause unlawfully inserted within brackets to the PSC approved Article 99A in the 14th Amendment, accommodating defeated candidates as MPs through the National List. Then a Five- judge of the Supreme Court completely ignored a request made by a citizen who appeared before the Court to obtain a copy of J R Jayewardene’s typed-written document, enabling him to raise objections challenging the Bill. In the affidavit made to the Court the Petitioner had informed the Court that the J R Jayewardene’s document was neither tabled in the parliament nor published in the gazette. But the Court has certified (ruling reproduced below) that the clause inserted to PSC-approved Article 99A by J R Jayewardene was not inconsistent with the Constitution.

“We have considered the respective submissions made in regard to this matter, and our determination is that the Clause 3 and Clause 8 (Clause that permitted party Secretaries to appoint rejected candidates as MPs through the National List) of the Bill are not inconsistent with the Provisions of Article 3, read with Article 4(a) and 4(e) of the Constitution, and therefore do not require the approval of the People at a Referendum”

Supreme Court refuses to release the 14A Special Determination Record

The evidence contained in the Supreme Court Special Determination Record (SC/SD/2/1988) was a clear revelation of this Constitutional fraud, which should have been averted by the Court but not inclined apparently under moral duress.  Therefore a request was made to the Registrar of the Supreme Court to obtain a certified copy of the said record, in order to challenge the National List appointments. However, 3 judges in the Court including the Chief Justice K Sripavan declined to make a any ruling on this request and finally Justice Wanasaundara made a ruling that I was not entitled to obtained a copy of the said determination record which contained confidential information, whereas there in nothing private or confidential in court records. However, after the media revealed this, the Supreme Court reversed its decision and finally released the entire record of the said Determination Record.

Prime Minister R Premadasa rejected the 14A with the flawed clause

At the committee stage of the 14A on 04th May 1988, the Prime Minister R Premadasa who presented the Bill to the Parliament on behalf of the government, vehemently rejected the 2nd Bill (4) with the flawed clause inserted to Article 99A by the President J R Jayewardene, violating the Parliamentary Standing Orders (PSO 65), and in very unambiguous terms supported only the Bill approved by the PSC headed by him (refer to the Hansard proceedings reproduced below), which was finally approved by the Parliament subject to some minimal changes.

“… Mr Speaker, what is the 14th Amendment to the Constitution? I have to raise this question, because there has been a discussion of a 14th Amendment, which, as I understand later, is different from the Amendment to the Constitution that I speak of …“. (Parliamentary Hansard dated 04thMay 1988)

“… The 14th Amendment Bill presented today is the result of the deliberations of the Select Committee on Franchise and Elections. Mr Speaker, the provisions of the 14th Amendment, provides for 29 National Members on the basis of the votes of the people in the entire country but without a Cut-Off Point or bonus seat. These 29 will be allocated to the different parties contesting the election, in proportion to the votes received by each such party at the National Level. The Names of these party nominees are known before hand. In fact their names are published in the Gazette immediately after the closing of nominations. Therefore, the voters are aware of the identity of the candidates of the different parties who are to be elected as National Members. Let me therefore make it very clear, that the fourteenth amendment presented today, is the result of the decisions taken by the Select Committee on Franchise and Elections, which concluded its sittings on 29th February 1988. It is based on the Report adopted by this Committee …” (Parliamentary Hansard dated 04th May 1988)

Speaker certified the 14A with a flawed clause

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