BYJAKE WERNER-
AUGUST 8, 2018, 9:29 AM
A new attitude toward China is rapidly taking shape across the U.S. political spectrum. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) echoes President Donald Trump’s talking points, decrying the transfer of “our” technology to China and condemning investment there. Fellow progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is lining up with former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon calling for an “aggressive” policy. Establishment Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are endorsingTrump’s trade war with China. Free-trade stalwarts like the Wall Street Journal editorial board and establishment bodies like the Council on Foreign Relations are finding common ground with protectionist unions like the United Steelworkers and trade critics like Global Trade Watch. While there are still significant differences of policy and strategy, seemingly everyone agrees that the Chinese are conducting trade in a predatory manner that hurts American business and workers, and that the time for confrontation has arrived.
Paul Manafort, President Trump’s onetime campaign chairman, is on trial in federal court in Alexandria on bank and tax fraud charges. Prosecutors allege that he failed to pay taxes on millions he made from his work for a Russia-friendly Ukrainian political party, then lied to get loans when the cash stopped coming in.
“I think the first thing we need to realize here is that this humanitarian tragedy of irregular migration is the result of a bigger systemic problem”
by Julia Crawford- Courtesy: Swiss.Info
( August 7, 2018, Geneva, Sri Lanka Guardian) What’s it like to be the UN ‘Special Rapporteur’ on torture? I meet Nils Melzer of Switzerland, the man who carries the current title, and am surprised to learn that his biggest concern is the world’s millions of migrants.
Our meeting produces other surprises, and a few days later I also learn that Melzer is running as a candidate to be the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
He has agreed to meet me at the UN in Geneva. I arrive early and go for a coffee with a colleague, but as we are walking, my sandal catches on something and I fall, causing a bloody knee and a bit of a stir in the coffee bar. A trip to the UN medical unit sees me with a large bandage on one knee, making the wound look worse than it is. And my skirt doesn’t cover my knees as I sit back in the coffee bar waiting for Nils Melzer.
So when he arrives, I decide to recount my little adventure. He smiles and expresses sympathy, saying he has two small daughters of five and eight who are always falling over. He then suggests we find somewhere quieter than the coffee bar, so we find a bench in a long UN corridor. It is the end of the afternoon in a hot July, so there are not many people around.
Melzer’s daughters are curious about what he does. “Sometimes they ask me what I do when I work,” he tells me. “When my older daughter asked me what is torture, I said it is when you hurt someone intentionally. So she walked away, and an hour later came back running, crying, screaming, saying well now you have to intervene because my little sister has just tortured me! In this moment I realized how privileged they are to grow up in a country that is so far from the reality of torture. ”
Melzer holds the human rights chair at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rightsexternal link and is a law professor at Glasgow University. UN Special Rapporteurs are independent experts that work on a voluntary, unpaid basis. So why does he do that too?
“I think it’s a great privilege to have a position like this that allows me to contribute to something as important as the prohibition of torture and to have not only direct access to the foreign ministers of UN States, but also to every prisoner in the world,” he says.
“Moreover, the strength of my mandate is that it is not a treaty body, but is directly mandated by the Human Rights Council. This means that I can visit or intervene not only in countries that have ratified human rights treaties, but also in other countries so long as they are members of the UN.”
Country visits are an important part of his mandate. Melzer has, for example, been to Turkey in the wake of the attempted coup two years ago, Serbia, Kosovo and eastern Ukraine.
But country visits can only be carried out with the consent of the state in question. Another part of his mandate, where he has more scope and freedom to act fast independently from the UN hierarchy, is individual interventions.
“My mandate receives 10 to 15 requests per day to carry out interventions on behalf of torture victims,” he says. “These can be people who are about to be extradited to a country where they fear to be tortured or have been tortured before. It can be people who have received the death sentence and are awaiting their execution. I am a kind of extraordinary instance that they can get to even when all the court instances have been exhausted. I usually prioritize urgent, life-saving interventions because, with the resources at my disposal, I cannot do more than an average of two interventions per day. The others are referred to other mechanisms whenever possible, but it is true that a certain number of requests I simply cannot respond to due to lack of sufficient staff. In my view, these individual interventions are perhaps the most important aspect of my mandate, as it allows me to directly advocate for the protection of a particular person. ”
“The context that raises the biggest concern with me right now is that of irregular migration, because you have tens of millions of people worldwide – we are talking about the population of a mid-sized country – that don’t have a regular status, are somewhere between borders and are pushed outside normal social circumstances,” he tells me. “They are extremely exposed to ill-treatment, torture, abuse, extortion, rape, even enslavement, and many countries, including developed ones, are actively preventing them from receiving the protection they need. States are even actively making deals with other countries in order to keep people artificially in limbo or in a situation where they are extremely exposed to ill treatment.”
This is clearly something that he feels passionate about.
A group of UN Special Rapporteurs including Melzer recently issued
a statementexternal linkcondemning the US policy of separating migrant children from parents on the Mexican border, saying this could amount to torture. “That certainly is a practice that sets a very bad example which is not compatible with the international obligations of the US under the prohibition of ill-treatment,” he says.
“And there is a bigger issue with the US setting examples for other countries around the world, for example when the US President publicly claims that ‘waterboarding works’ as an interrogation method. This kind of standard setting is very dangerous by a leading Western country that traditionally has been showing other States the way. What should we then expect of other countries that have less means? What are they going to do about migrants, and how are they going to conduct interrogations?”
Global responsibility
But he says irregular migration is not an American but a global issue. “You could go down to Mexico, other countries in Central and South America, to Libya, the Middle East, Australia, or Bangladesh with the Rohingya coming from Myanmar. It’s all over the world. We are talking literally millions and millions of people that go through extremely difficult circumstances and that no-one feels responsible for.”
So what should be done? Melzer shifts on the bench and reflects for a moment.
“I think the first thing we need to realize here is that this humanitarian tragedy of irregular migration is the result of a bigger systemic problem,” he says. “We have states that complain about all these migrants arriving at their borders, but at the same time they export weapons to the same countries people are fleeing from. They support corporate practices that facilitate inhumane working conditions in those countries, as well as supporting or not preventing policies that have a disastrous environmental effect there. We can’t keep doing things in the same way and expect different results.”
The importance of family
Melzer is clearly touched by the cases he’s had to deal with. “It’s true that it is sometimes very difficult to deal with some of the individual cases I see,” he tells me.
“Many of the people that I make interventions for will not be able to escape torture or execution. And I simply have to be aware that I cannot change the whole world, but I can try to at least change the world for a particular individual. So if I can prevent the separation of one child from its parents, I will have changed their world and the whole world for them. And that’s something that I consider worth working for. To expect more, I think, is a guarantee for burnout.”
Melzer says his family and his small daughters help him to stay grounded. “They need me, I need them, we need to have time together,” he continues. “I very much enjoy going to swim with them, teaching them to ride a bicycle. I think that’s important when you have a job like this, to stay rooted in everyday life, family life and reality.
“Our nation plays a key role in the developing story of the twenty-first century. What happens in Pakistan-socially, politically and economically in the coming years not only will help decide the outcome of the global war on terror, it will shape what the future will look like for both Islam and the West. I am determined that the future be peaceful and prosperous-not only for Pakistan but for the entire international community. That vision is possible only if the Muslim world and the West, led by the United States, strive together towards resolving the issues before us”.
The call for the creation of Pakistan was made by a British-educated lawyer, M. A. Jinnah in 1940, the unchallenged leader of the Muslim League. Arguments for the creation of Pakistan was mainly based on the elections results of India held in 1937, under the Government of India Act of 1935. It was pointed out by Jinnah and his keen supporters that the Congress Party failed to do well in the “separated electorates” reserved for minorities. By using these election results and controversial figures, this group agitated that Muslim did not want to be ruled a Hindu-dominated Congress.
Between 1940-1945, a very tensed and volatile situation emerged in the Indian political scene, because of the iron-willed campaign led by Jinnah and his followers to carve-out a Muslim opinion for a separate state. The cunning British rulers saw a grand opportunity for their ‘MANTRUM’ -divide and rule-and established an independent nation-state on August 14, 1947, on the Indian soil.
Linguistically diverse population
The creation of Pakistan was a catalyst to the largest demographic movement in recorded history. Nearly seventeen million people-Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs- are reported to have moved in both directions, between India and two wings of Pakistan (The eastern wing is now, Bangladesh). Sixty million of the ninety-five Muslims on the Indian-sub continent became citizens of Pakistan. However, thirty five-million Muslims accepted India as their motherland and became Indian citizens, making it the largest minority, in a non-Muslim state.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who fought for the division of the country died in 1948.
During its short history, despite the shared religion of its overwhelmingly Muslim population, Pakistan has been engaged in a painful and difficult struggle to define a national identity and evolve a dynamic political system for its linguistically diverse population. Pakistan is known to have over twenty languages and over 300 distinct dialects. Although Urdu and English are the official languages, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtu, Baluchi and Seraiki are considered as main languages.
These social and linguistic differences have generated chronic regional tensions. Although a nuclear power, recent political events have witnessed several wars with India, gravely damaging its economy and social fabric. Its north-western frontier is strategically open to enemy attacks. Because of heavy and overburden military expenditure, economists point-out, that various political leaders, as well as military rulers who have governed the country during the last six-seven decades, have failed to address the social and economic problems of Pakistan and also have failed to allocate its scarce economic and natural resources in an equitable manner.
Political instability
The dawn of Bangladesh as a separate state became a reality in 1971 mainly due to the military defeat of Pakistan at the hands of India. This was due to the breakaway of its eastern territory. Further, Pakistan’s political instability is also due to the various schisms that have sprung up in the smaller provinces of Sind, Baluchistan and the North-Western Provinces.
There is also allegation against the Panjabi community from certain quarters alleging that this community enjoys benefits, which are denied to others. It is their opinion that there is a monopoly by the Panjabi majority of the benefits of power, profit and patronage. Adding fuel to this burdening situation, there is also a continuing ideological debate about the form of government it should adopt, Islamic or secular. In the absence of any nationally based political organisation, which can command the respect of the majority of people, ignoring caste, creed or other regional and ethnic differences, Pakistan authorities rely on the civil service and the power-hungry army to maintain the status-quo of the country.
Imran Khan, who has exhibited his fine skills as an all-rounder of the cricket world and brought the prestigious World-Cup to his loving Motherland in 1962 has claimed victory at the recently held controversial general election, will be sworn in soon, as the 19th Prime Minister of Pakistan. This marks a radical departure, for a politically and religiously conservative country dominated by the wealthy Bhutto and Sharif family dynasties.
Khan, now 65, grew up in a middle-class household in Lahore and was educated at Aitchison College, considered the Pakistani equivalent of Eton, before sending to England to study at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe and then to Oxford to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Khans supporters will hail his achievement as the dawn of a new age, symbolizing the end of politics- as --usual and the perceived elitism, cronyism and corruption associated with Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PMLN) and Bilawal Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP).
Khan has already promised a fresh start, appealing in particular to younger people among the 106 million voters, out of a population of 207 million people. However, the former superstar in cricket will have to carve out his own political image and convince his countrymen who have fallen into deep and troublesome waters, that he is a worthy, honest and credible winner who can bring democracy, peace and political and economic stability to his motherland.
Comments in an article by Boris Johnson about women wearing burqas have been described as ‘Islamophobic’ and ‘totally unacceptable’ by Muslim groups. While criticising the Danish government’s decision to ban the garments in public places, in an article published in today’s Telegraph, the former foreign secretary wrote:
“It is absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letter boxes; and I thoroughly dislike any attempt by any – invariably male – government to encourage such demonstrations of “modesty”…
… if a constituent came to my MP’s surgery with her face obscured, I should feel fully entitled – like Jack Straw – to ask her to remove it so I could talk to her properly. If a female student turned up at school or a university lecture looking like a bank robber then ditto.”
Conservative peer Baroness Warsi has described Mr Johnson’s comments as “dog-whistling”.
Dogs are bound in sacks before their slaughter at Bambanglipuro village in Bantul, near the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, May 29, 2011. Source: Reuters
AN estimated 30 million dogs are slaughtered for meat across Asia each year, as campaigns calling for an end to the trade continue to fall on deaf ears.
The slaughter and sale of dog meat still mean big business in countries like China, South Korea and Vietnam, with no end in sight as demand remains robust in these economies. Indonesia, however, is about to buck the trend.
Moved by disease and animal abuse concerns, its government this week agreed to a total ban on the trade.
On Tuesday, Syamsu Ma’arif, director of veterinary public health at the agriculture ministry, said the government was drafting a regulation to ban the trade of meat derived from pets and exotic animals in a bid to promote animal welfare and prevent the spread of diseases like rabies.
“(Dog meat) is not food, according to our food law,” he said recently, as quoted by Reuters.
He added the government was still gathering material to back the proposed law.
The agreement also comes two weeks before the country hosts the 18th Asian Games, after anti-dog meat campaigners from the Dog Meat-Free Indonesia (DMFI) campaign warned that the trade could affect three million tourists who could be exposed to the deadly rabies virus contracted from the illicit dog and cat meat trade.
According to the DMFI, the announcement came at a “National Coordination of Animal Welfare” meeting in Jakarta held on Aug 1 and 2 by the Directorate of Veterinary Public, which was attended by national and regional government representatives.
DMFI said at the close of the meeting, all national participants agreed to issue a ban on the trade of dog and cat meat in Indonesia and to prohibit the issuance of health certification for dog and cat meat for human consumption.
Who eats dog in Indonesia?
An Asian Correspondent article in December last year pointed out that only 7 percent of Indonesia’s 261 million population eats dog meat, and while the Muslim majority regard the meat as ‘haram’ (forbidden) to eat, consumption by various other cultural groups is considered traditional cuisine.
The consumption is largely driven by the belief that dog meat carries special health benefits, including making men stronger or more sexually proficient.
In this image, released on Tuesday June 2, 2015, caged dogs sit on the side of Renminzhong Rd., waiting to be transferred to a slaughterhouse in a narrow alley. (AP Images for Humane Society International)
Dog meat stalls in Solo, Central Java are a common sight, where traders promote their products as being traditional Javanese jamu medicine.
The agriculture ministry, citing research in 2015, said about 730,000 dogs for consumption enter Jakarta from West Java annually.
To compare, Vietnam consumes five million dogs every year, the Asia Canine Protection Alliance says, while China is estimated to consume about 10 million dogs a year.
China’s Yulin festival has been described as a lightning rod for criticism, where many of the dogs are believed to have been pets stolen from their owners.
The reputation of Indonesia’s tourism industry has also taken a blow last year after investigations exposed the hidden dog meat trade in Bali.
An expose revealed that tourists were being duped into eating dog meat falsely touted as chicken satay.
Major breakthrough and hopes for Asia
Campaigners with the Dog Meat-Free Indonesia (DMFI) coalition have called the government-proposed ban a “major breakthrough”.
Lola Webber, Director at Change For Animals Foundation, said the extreme cruelty of Indonesia’s dog and cat meat trades is intolerable under both Indonesia and international animal welfare standards. She said the government is right to be concerned about the impacts of these trades on its international reputation.
“With our growing awareness of animal sentience comes a greater responsibility to protect animals from cruelty,” she said in a statement.
“Customs evolve and the nationwide movement from within Indonesia calling for an end to these trades is proof that Indonesia is ready to banish the dog meat trade to the history books of shame and illegality. This latest announcement will be celebrated globally!”
Captured dogs bound in hessian sacks arrive on a motorbike at a slaughterhouse in Indonesia. Source: Dog Meat-Free Indonesia
Bobby Fernando of Animal Friends Jogja said: “This is such a victory for Indonesia and the Indonesian government has given us hope and motivation to collaborate with the government. We are one step closer to a dog and cat meat-free Indonesia!”
“We hope that this bold step will send a strong message to other countries across Asia, such as China, South Korea, India and Vietnam where 30 million dogs and 10 million cats suffer unimaginable cruelty for the meat trade, many of them stolen pets.”
A Congolese health worker checks the temperature of a woman before the launch of vaccination campaign against the deadly Ebola virus near Mangina village, near the town of Beni, in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, August 8, 2018. REUTERS/Samuel Mambo
MANGINA, Congo (Reuters) - Congolese officials and the World Health Organization began vaccinating health workers against the deadly Ebola virus on Wednesday, to try to halt an outbreak in Congo’s volatile east.
A Reuters witness on a visit to Mangina, the village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where the epidemic was declared, saw health workers in protective suits administering the injections.
So far 43 people are believed to have been infected in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, including 36 who have died, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
“We are putting all our energy and all our expertise to quickly control this epidemic,” Health Minister Oly Ilunga told journalists at the start of the vaccination campaign.
“All the measures of prevention are in place. The vaccination is the last phase. It will enable us to break the chain of transmission of this epidemic.”
More than 900 contacts of those infected have been identified for monitoring, although security is an issue in the area where militia groups operate, WHO said..
The disease, which causes fever, vomiting and diarrhea, is spread through direct contact with body fluids.
A Congolese health worker checks the temperature of a colleague before the launch of vaccination campaign against the deadly Ebola virus near Mangina village, near the town of Beni in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, August 8, 2018. REUTERS/Samuel Mambo
“Around 40 health workers are expected to be vaccinated today; by end of the week, once all the necessary steps are in place, vaccination of community contacts and their contacts will commence,”
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said.
WHO has said that analysis of genetic sequencing showed it was a separate outbreak from the one 2,500 km (1,500 miles) away in the northwest that ended less than two weeks ago after killing 33 people — but the same Zaire strain.
This is Congo’s 10th Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified near northern Congo’s Ebola river.
“There is a huge fear among the local population,” Kaswera Mathumo, a medical worker at a clinic in Mangina, where the vaccinations were taking place, said.
The experimental vaccine being used, which is manufactured by Merck, proved successful during its first wide-scale usage against the previous outbreak in Equateur Province.
More than 3,000 doses remain in stock in the capital Kinshasa, allowing authorities to deploy them quickly to affected areas.
But they face security challenges in eastern Congo, a region bubbling with conflicts over land and ethnicity stoked by decades of on-off war.
Local authorities announced on Tuesday that 14 bodies had been discovered in the town of Tubameme, about 40 km (25 miles) northeast of the epicenter of the outbreak in the town of Mangina, suspected to have been killed by a militia group.
Slideshow (2 Images)
Additional reporting by Tom Miles in Geneva; Writing by Tim Cocks and Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Richard Balmforth
Writer S Karunakaran reflects on Black July from the perspective of a marginalised and often forgotten community – the Malaiyagha Tamils – and specifically those who tried to resettle in the North of the country.
The Malaiyagha Tamils settled upcountry and in Colombo. A section of this community was displaced from the South following violence in 1958, 1977 and 1983, Karunakaran explains.
Those from the North returned to their ancestral homes in Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu. However the Malaiyagha Tamils who attempted to go North were not absorbed into Jaffna, or into any of the major towns such as Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Mannar or Kilinochchi.
“There was enough and more State lands in Jaffna and other Districts in the North. But, these people were not handled in the manner that they should have been.
On the contrary, they were stopped at Wanni and were settled in forest areas within Wanni that lacked resources,” Karunakaran says.
This interview is part of a series by Maatram, on Black July.
Editor’s Note: To view more content marking 35 years since Black July, click here.
With the next presidential election due before the end of next year, and with a possibility that an early election might be called even by January next year, the question of who might be the next presidential candidates is getting to the fore. There has been speculation that the felicitation ceremony for Health Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne on obtaining an international honour was a launching pad for his bid to be a presidential candidate from the government side. The opposition has not been without its share of contestation too. The statement issued by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s office that he had not yet decided on who should be the opposition’s presidential candidate, and to disregard the claims that he had already selected his brother Gotabaya, is an indication of the tensions beneath the surface which are not limited only to the government.
On the government side President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appear to have worked out an accommodation, even though both of them are believed to be interested in contesting the next presidential election. Each of them are doing their utmost to garner public support but without attacking or discrediting one another. This is a positive development compared to the aftermath of the disastrous local government elections of February 2018 which saw the government parties receive a drubbing in many areas they had previously won. President Sirisena’s abortive attempts to remove Prime Minister Wickremesinghe from his position added to the negative impression of a government that was divided and unable to govern the country effectively.
In the past few days President Maithripala Sirisena has embarked on a programme to declare open a number of development projects under Pibidenu Polonnaruwa, (Blooming Polonnaruwa), his home district. He has said similar projects would be extended to other districts too. He has already asked SLFP members to organise their propaganda machinery. The UNP is following suit with a Gamperaliya (transition of villages) for development. The government is currently implementing three major accelerated development projects namely, ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’, which is being spearheaded by Prime Minister Wicremesinghe, and the ‘Gamperaliya’ and ‘Grama shakthi’ with the aim to develop villages. However, this policy of coexistence between the government parties might not be sufficient to win the hearts and minds of the people.
STRONG LEADER
The Sri Lankan ethos is to look to strong persons to solve problems rather than to institutions. Whenever people have a problem they will look for some contact they have within the system to whom they can appeal to, or bribe, rather than rely on the system to deliver. The common discourse today regarding politics is the need for a strong leader. The primary aspiration of a disillusioned population who vote for change in the hope of their betterment is that they are looking for stability and order and for a strong political direction that will not waver. To most of those people the current government has been a disappointment. As a coalition of two parties, each of which are going their own way, the government has only been able to move by fits and starts.
In addition to the general population, specific groups, such as the business community, also need stability and order if they are to risk their investment in an economic venture. However, with regard to investments in Sri Lanka, the evidence is not at all positive. Ministers make declarations of policy that are reversed in quick order by others in the government. Investors complain that there is no one-stop-shop in Sri Lanka, where there is no inordinate delay. If there is a one-stop-shop where there is no delay, investors would much prefer this, as they know how to factor in the additional cost into their projections of future earnings. The more successful local businesspersons are those who have been able to identify a powerful-enough minister and to work with him (or her) to get the project off the ground and running. The fascination with former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s possible candidacy comes from this sense of having a strong leader who will ensure that things get done without unnecessary delay.
The government appears to be mindful of these concerns of the electorate. President Sirisena’s declaration that he will reinstitute the death penalty serves to create the image of a strong leader. Public opinion is in favour of the death penalty and the president has sought to capitalize on this issue, while projecting himself to be a strong leader. Another opportunity that President Sirisena took up is the issue of a salary increase for parliamentarians. The party leaders in parliament had agreed with the view that as the salaries of parliamentarians were linked to those of members of the judiciary, and since the salaries of the judges had been increased substantially, the salaries of parliamentarians should likewise be raised. The president pointed out the contradiction in the fact that the party leaders, including those from the opposition, had made no objection to the proposals and has refused to approve the salary increase.
TRUE STRENGTH
The president’s efforts to project himself as a strong leader who is willing to take tough decisions is likely to be intended to counter the opposition’s seeming monopoly on the possession of strong leaders. Both former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother former defense secretary Gotabaya are credited for being part of the triumvirate, along with Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka, who won the "unwinnable" war against the LTTE. The former defense secretary is widely seen as the most potent of the possible opposition candidates. This may explain why the meetings he summons are attended by wide swathes of the country’s business leaders and intelligentsia.
On the other hand, the government’s true strength, and which is in the national interest, is that the two party alliance of UNP and SLFP, and the further engagement with the ethnic minority parties, is essential if there is to be a political solution to the ethnic conflict which is the country’s long unresolved problem. Until this is solved, Sri Lanka will remain a divided polity, although united in territory by the strength of its military. The ground reality today is that the SLFP is only a shadow of its former self with the bulk of its active members now with the SLPP which is led by the former president. But it still can muster the support of a significant enough number of voters, which added to the UNP votes will give the two parties a strength that neither party can muster separately.
Although the public perception is that the government is ineffective and not doing much, this is not an accurate description of reality. Development projects are taking off with international support. The government has brought in a variety of new laws, the most important of which is the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The 19th Amendment in particular could not have been passed if not for the current government alliance. This has given the space to those appointed to various state bodies to make their decisions free of political interference. The media is filled with statements by opposition leaders who are giving dire warnings about the betrayal of the country by the government. There continues to be pressure on Sri Lanka to follow international law in its internal affairs. However, the best course for the government would be to continue with the existing partnerships.
What should we expect from a different type of leadership in a country totally devastated by corrupt politicos? We now need to elect a group of people, who honour principles of public sector governance such as transparency, accountability, integrity, efficiency, effectiveness etc., which had been conspicuously overlooked by successive governments to-date. Nelson Mandela, Noble Laureate and former President of South Africa had said – “A political leader must be honest to himself” to run governance. Politicians who have ruled this country for the last several decades did not “walk the talk”.
During the first half of the twentieth century, Europe had been the most turbulent region in the whole world.It was then trembled by war, economic crisis, and social and political conflict. What changed? Social democrats were people who have changed all that having chosen ballots over the bullets. They had realized that appeals to the “people”, the “community” and the common good were much superior. It was however only in Scandinavia, and in Sweden in particular, that a new party had embraced the newest approach wholeheartedly, at the very outset.
Swedish Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) had immediately initiated developing comprehensive economic programmes to harness the powers of the Swedish polity. During the 1932 election campaign, they had declared, I quote – “Humanity carries its destiny in its own hands….Where the bourgeoisie preach laxity and submission to ..fate, we appeal to people’s desire for creativity…. conscious that we both can and will succeed in shaping a social system in which the fruits of labour will go to the benefit of those who are willing to… participate in the common task”.
The late Mr. Per Albin Hansson, the then Leader of SDP in Sweden, had popularized his theme “folkhemmet” or “people’s home”. He had prophesized and declared the theory – “the basis of the home is community and togetherness” and had also stressed that social democracy strove to “break down the barriers that ….separate citizens”. SDP had been a community of people whohave come together to ensure freedom and justice, to preserve them and live up to them. These policies had subsequently helped Swedish people to reap excellent political rewards from the unprecedented economic recovery that had eventually occurred.
Our core belief too is that power democratically acquired should be directed to strengthen economic forces in the service of the collective good. We are committed to establish a political culture which is empathetic, clean, unstrained, and people-friendly. Nobel Prize-winning Economist Amartya Sen, whose work greatly influenced the conceptualization of human development, argues that development goals need to improve people’s ‘capabilities’ – their ability to act and reach their full human potential.Human development therefore requires attention to both development processes and outcomes, towards the overall aim of human well-being.
The men who founded the United States of America, namely,George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,James Madison, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton were also considered to be the best educated, most considerate and thoughtful people at the time. They had justified their intent to take up arms and had added that they could never have effectively defended their rights and established a democracy with institutions that uphold the rule of law and shared values, unless they had fought the war.
People in this country have always been fooled by the rulers.Mostly, youth too had felt frustrated due to limited opportunities to advance economically, lack of employment prospects and to participate in political and social spheres.The rulers have thereby committed dreadful mistakes having paved the way for chaos and a total waste of public funds. Graft in public offices is therefore rife even after a massive anti-corruption campaign launched by the Yahapalana regime, which no doubt was largely rhetorical.
Sri Lanka therefore is in a pitiful state in regard to all affairs. They have closed down nearly 1500 schools in numerous villages all over the Island. Ministry of Education, has divided all schools in to five categories based on their level of difficulty in terms of facilities and accessibility. According to this categorization, it is sad 49 percent of the schools fall in to the category of difficult or very difficult categories in the Island.
In October last year the Governor of the Central Bank went on a mission to find solution for indebtedness in the north having seen the scale of the problem and the scale of the suffering experienced by the families distressed in debt with solutions on three levels.
1. How to reduce the debt burden
2. How to structure new credit so that the problem is not repeated
3. Raising awareness and financial literacy among the population to prevent a repetition and prolonging of the situation.
This malaise is not confined to the poor in the global South. Illustrated by efforts of the Church of England.
Church expands network of support on money and debt
Scale of problem debt at ‘epidemic levels’, says Archbishop of Canterbury. “Achieving economic stability together with economic justice for all is too easily overlooked.”
He continues: “The scale of problem debt in our country is at epidemic levels. Jesus calls us to be hope-bringers and peace-givers. Where there are still lives filled with an oppressive hopelessness, where darkness has a grip, our mission is not done.”
In 2013, the archbishop voiced concerns about energy price hikes and he also said in that year that the Church of England wanted to drive payday lenders out of business through the creation of credit unions.
The Church of England has embarked on an ambitious programme to grow a nationwide network of support for people to help them take action on money and debt. A pilot scheme based in churches in London, Southwark and Liverpool dioceses will be expanded to dioceses in the rest of the country under plans put forward by the Just Finance Network, formerly known as the Church Credit Champions Network.
More than 260 ‘credit champions’, or volunteers in local churches have been trained so far within the pilot scheme to help people tackle issues from promoting budgeting skills to work on increasing the size of credit unions. Over 300 churches are already involved in the scheme carrying out mass sign-ups to credit unions, setting up credit union branches in church buildings and encouraging local employers to set up pay roll saving for their staff. The programme is on target to bring in more than 3,000 new credit union members by the end of this year and have saved more than £2 million by helping people access affordable credit rather than high cost pay day lenders.
The proposals for an expansion to the network are the latest stage in work first started by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Task Group on responsible credit and savings. The network, now managed by Church Urban Fund, will build on initiatives already under way in churches across the country.
Churches and individuals are being encouraged to take part in fundraising to support the expansion of the network through the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Mustard Seed Appeal, which is being launched today.
Paul Hackwood, Executive Director of Church Urban Fund, said: “More than eight million people in the UK are struggling with debt, with many resorting to high cost loans to cover the cost of basic necessities.
“Church of England parishes have shown amazing initiative in tackling this real need through work such as promoting budgeting skills, championing credit unions and supporting community-led finance schemes.” The leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the work of the Church of England parishes have been crucial to the success so far of the pilot scheme.
We hope that people will be generous in responding to this appeal to allow us to build further on this vital work.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said: “Churches across the country have responded enthusiastically and with great generosity to the work of supporting credit unions and other forms of responsible credit and savings”.
Achieving economic stability together with economic justice for all is no easy task.
Leaving no one behind: the imperative of inclusive development
A central pledge contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to ensure that no one will be left behind and to see all goals and targets met for all nations, peoples and for all parts of society, endeavouring to reach the furthest behind first. While 37 per cent of the world’s population lived under the international poverty line of $1.90 a day in 1990, the proportion had declined to 12.7 per cent by 2012.
However, the situation of those living in deep poverty has not improved significantly and many people who have escaped poverty remain vulnerable to it.
Trends in inequality also suggest that prosperity has not been equitably shared, with income inequality having risen within many countries in the last 20 years. In general, income inequality across social groups constitutes a significant share of total income inequality, although its weight varies strongly by country.
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women, worst affected
Government announced an effort to address an exploitative cycle of debt, in which women were worst affected especially in the war-affected districts of the North and East and drought- affected districts in the North Central and North Western Provinces:
The measures included:
* Extensive relief package for 12 drought affected districts.
* Writing off micro-finance loans taken by women in these regions.
* Offering a state subsidized loan scheme.
Microfinance loans taken by women valued at Rs 100,000 or less will be written off under the relief programme. The Government will pay back these loans, while the micro-finance companies have come to an agreement to waive the high interest attached to these borrowings, Minister Samaraweera noted. Minister Samaraweera said his Ministry had decided to submit a Cabinet proposal to cap micro-finance interest rates at 30% per annum in a bid to prevent these companies from lending to vulnerable communities at ‘predatory’ interest rates.
The Government would also work to better regulate these micro-finance companies and bring amendments to the Micro-Finance Act in order to prevent the manifestation of similar debt traps and exploitative lending programmes.
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Timely Measures
Social inclusion is presented as the process of improving the terms of participation in society for people who are disadvantaged on the basis of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, and economic and migration status.
Measures taken by our government are timely. The future requires policies ideally subscribed to by all shades of politics, commerce and others with three sets of indicators:
* Those that measure access to opportunities, namely education, health and other basic services;
* Those that measure access to employment and income; and
* Those that measure participation in political, civic and cultural life.
(Thomas Peter/Getty Images/Leon Neal/Getty Images/iStockphoto/Foreign Policy illustration)
