SRI LANKA RTI COMMISSION COMPLETES TWO FRUITFUL YEARS & BUT TRANSFORMATION TO AN ‘INFORMATION-OPEN’ CULTURE IS CHALLENGING & SLOW

09/02/2019

As Sri Lanka marks two years of operationalization of the Right to Information Act, No. 12 of 2016 on 3rd February 2019, the Right to Information Commission (RTIC) is pleased to announce the commencement of public sittings and the hearing of appeals in Sri Lanka’s provinces.

On 19th of January 2019, the RTIC held its first public sitting and hearing of appeals in Panama, Ampara in the Eastern Province attended by the Government Agent, Ampara, Divisional Secretaries of Lahugala, Siyambalanduwa, Damana and Pothuvil along with their officers as well as large numbers of community activists in the province. The sessions were addressed by the Chairman, Commissioners, the Director General as well as the Government Agent, Divisional Secretaries and community activists.


The discussions that were conducted in Sinhala and Tamil focused on the successes and challenges of the RTI process with villagers explaining how they had used the RTI Act to obtain relief for their communities. Obstacles to the obtaining of information such as delays in government offices, bureaucratic processes and hostile attitudes of some officials were also discussed in detail. The RTIC thereafter held appeal hearings in the province, concluding those appeals to the satisfaction of the parties.

The RTIC also held a soft launch of two trilingual publications of the Commission accessible on the website of the Commission (www.rticommission.lk). Volume One contains Orders of the Commission delivered during 2017-2018 with several significant principles, keywords and an Index of a broader range of Decisions. In delivering these Orders, the Commission has endeavored to maintain principles of equity between the Public Authority and the appellant while taking into consideration the fact that the greater weight of resources and power lies with the State rather than with an individual citizen. Volume Two contains Reflections on Sri Lanka’s RTI Act and RTI regime written by eminent contributors in the fields of law, media, the public service and academia.




With Ampara being the first province selected to conduct a public sitting of the Commission, the next disticts targeted for consequent public sittings and appeal sessions are Hatton and Angunukolapelessa to be held in the coming months. Selection of the districts has been with a view to targeting marginalised/isolated/war affected communities in Sri Lanka in order that citizens who have not yet been exposed to RTI will be able to understand the benefits of using the Act. The discussions have been planned in order that the RTIC acts as a facilitator in opening up dialogues between communities and government officers in regard to a co-operative and harmonious process in using the RTI Act.

In the first public Statement of this Commission issued on 10th February 2017, we noted that despite human resource and financial constraints, the Commission was ‘committed to building a strong, independent and impartial operation with the expertise and capacity of its members and staff to support all seekers and providers of public information.’ This is a promise that we have attempted to stay true to during these past two years, notwithstanding considerable difficulties.




As at 31st December 2018, the Commission had 1030 appeals before it, out which 654 appeals had been concluded. In the remainder of pending appeals, interim orders had been issued by the Commission in the majority of cases, releasing information in stages. As the Commission has been conscious of the need to enunciate RTI principles in the initial years of functioning, its decisions overwhelmingly reflect pro-public interest and information disclosure principles. An overriding factor has been the consideration of the public interest which the Commission is statutorily mandated to take into account.

While the slow transformation of an ‘information-closed’ culture to an ‘information-open’ culture has been initiated, challenges remain. The duty to give information proactively needs to be manifested far more diligently by Public Authorities. Furthermore, the enactment of new laws that are deliberately placed beyond the scrutiny of the Right to Information regime remains of particular concern.
Nevertheless, an encouraging factor is the support and interest of ordinary citizens from every part of the land who have exercised their ‘Right to Information’ with commendable enthusiasm during the period in review.

In the interests of further development of the RTI culture through an Act which was fourteen long years in the making in Sri Lanka, we hope that these positive trends will continue.
Issued on Order of the RTI Commission

Rooms 203-205, BMICH, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka Ph/Fax; + 94 11 2691625 http://www.rticommission.lk

STATEMENT BY RIGHT TO INFORMATION COMMISSION ON FIRST PUBLIC SITTING & APPEAL HEARING IN AMPARA.

Media Statement: 5th February 2019.

Lawyers for Democracy calls upon the President to uphold the Constitution in appointing Judges

(Lanka e News -09.Feb.2019, 10.00PM) Lawyers for Democracy (LfD) is gravely concerned with the current constitutional impasse created due to the delay in appointing the President of the Court of Appeal. The process of appointment of judges set out in the Constitution must be respected to the letter and spirit of the Constitution. LfD notes that this delay sends a deeply troubling signal that the Constitution is to be disregarded according to the whims and fancies of the Executive and contrary to the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. LfD takes this opportunity to urge President Sirisena to revisit his own pledges and to take immediate steps to uphold the Constitution.

The vacancy in the position of President of the Court of Appeal arose with the elevation of the then President of the Court to the Supreme Court on 9th January 2019. Following this, the President appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal as Acting President of the Court of Appeal for two weeks. The same judge was appointed yet again to the same position on 24th January 2019 without the approval of the Constitutional Council (CC). LfD is aware that the Constitutional Council has previously not approved the name of same judge for the post of President of the Court of Appeal.

LfD wishes clarify the constitutional position in this connection:

1. According to Article 41C (1) of the Constitution, the approval of the Constitutional Council is mandatory for the appointment of the following: Chief Justice and the Judges of the Supreme Court, President and the Judges of the Court of Appeal, Members of the Judicial Service Commission other than its Chairman, Attorney-General, Auditor-General, Inspector-General of Police, Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman) and the Secretary-General of Parliament.
2. Article 41C (2) further provides that the approval of the Constitutional Council is needed for an acting appointment to the above offices for a period exceeding 14 days. Importantly, the proviso also requires that the approval of the Constitutional Council is necessary for acting appointments for any such office for successive periods not exceeding 14 days. The relevant provision is as follows:

41C. (1) No person shall be appointed by the President to any of the Offices specified in the Schedule to this Article, unless such appointment has been approved by the Council upon a recommendation made to the Council by the President.

(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) of this Article shall apply in respect of any person appointed to act for a period exceeding fourteen days, in any Office specified in the Schedule to this Article:

Provided that no person shall be appointed to act in any such office for successive periods not exceeding fourteen days, unless such acting appointment has been approved by the Council on a recommendation by the President.

3. Article 109 (1) of the Constitution makes special provisions relating to appointment of an Acting Chief Justice or an Acting President of the Court of Appeal. Accordingly, an acting appointment can ONLY be made where the Chief Justice of the President of the Court of Appeal is “temporarily unable to exercise, perform and discharge the powers, duties and functions of his office, by reason of illness, absence from Sri Lanka or any other cause”. In other words, for an acting appointment to be made, there must be a ‘permanent’ President of the Court of Appeal who is temporary unable to exercise, perform and discharge the powers, duties and functions of his office.
4. Another special provision in Article 109 (1) is that such an acting appointment is subject to the approval of the CC. Thus, the 14-day period in Article 41C (2) has no application to an Acting Chief Justice or Acting President of the Court of Appeal. In other words, the approval of the CC is needed even for an acting appointment not exceeding the first fourteen days.
5. What is key is that there must be a permanent appointment of the President Court of Appeal before the President making any acting appointment. It is also significant to note that the appointment of a permanent President of the Court of Appeal is necessary for the validity and legitimacy of the Court itself, as Article 137 requires the Court of Appeal to consist of the President of Court of Appeal and six to eleven other judges.

Thus the appointment of a judge as the Acting President, both for an initial period of 14 days and then again for another period of 14 days, is ultra vires the Constitution.

LfD notes regrettably that the President has failed to send the names of suitably qualified candidates to the Constitutional Council to fill this vacancy. We are also deeply concerned with President Sirisena’s statement in Parliament on 6th February where he attacked the Constitutional Council on this issue, without any lawful basis. Such unfair attack is unbecoming of the Head of State whose primary duty as provided in Article 33 (1) (a) is to respect and uphold the Constitution.

We also note that there has been a representation made by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) pressing for an identified judge to be appointed. Such canvassing is inappropriate and highly damaging to the reputation of the BASL.

Lawyers for Democracy urges President Sirisena to take swift action to make appointments in keeping with the spirit and purpose of the Nineteenth Amendment and to do his duty as provided in the Constitution.

Lawyers for Democracy

Lal Wijenayaka

K.S. Ratnavale

JC Weliamuna

Lakshan Dias

Sudath Nethsinghe

Sunil Jayaratne

Harishka Nadeeshan

Prabodha Ratnayaka

On behalf of the Conveners

09 February 2019

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by     (2019-02-09 16:35:54)

Madush aid held in Suriyawewa

Nuwan Jayasekera-Suriyawewa correspondent-Monday, February 11, 2019

The gun and the ammunition taken into custody yesterday. Pictures by Nuwan Jayasekera

The Tangalle Police unit dealing with organised crimes arrested a close associate of underworld gangster Makandure Madush with a T56 gun and 29 live bullets early yesterday morning, while he was hiding at Viharagala in Suriyawewa.

The suspect Hettiarachchige Asela Eranga (23) from Talgaswatta, Thelijjiwila in Akuressa has had direct connections to Madush. He himself is a wanted man to the police over several crimes.

The suspect Eranga had been in touch with Madush via telephone and also been in charge of funeral arrangements of Madush’s father who died in a road accident late last year.

The suspect was arrested by Police while he was on his way to the house where Makandure Madush’s father lived in Sooriyawewa, Hathporuwa, to hide the T56 weapon belonging to Rotumba Amila, now in remand over a murder.

Police will produce the suspect at the Hambantota Magistrate’s courts and submit the gun and ammunition for further investigations to the Suriyawewa Police. 

"Bigger" isn’t "better" – "Development" vs consolidation of existing assets

Emil van der Poorten-February 9, 2019, 7:56 pm 

While listening to the explosions that are a constant part of life in the Kandyan foothills as are the depletion of our springs, and the complete degradation of a once-lush environment, one cannot but hark back to a time when residents of Sri Lanka took for granted the steady food supply off the land.

Jak (Artocarpus integrifolia) in the form of polos, kos, vela and waraka was simply a part of the day-to-day reality of the diet of everyone beginning from the poorest peasant to the richest member of the "gentry"(radala). Its cousin, breadfruit, as well as its more exotic kinsman, wild breadfruit, were only marginally less common as a part of a peasant diet.

The variety of root crops such as sweet potato, manioc, the various alocasias (ala-kola) that grew in a mid country garden were only limited by the amount of moisture in any part of that ground at any given time.

The now-fashionable leaf vegetables were there, literally, for the picking.

The list was endless.

And today? Even those with jak trees in their home gardens are reduced to buying what is sometimes touted as the answer to the problem of hunger in the tropics, off the roadside vendors in some small country town or off the pavement reserved for pedestrian traffic in an urban centre. And that is simply a statement of bald fact, not some exaggeration in technicolour by a city-dweller to whom rural Sri Lanka is some kind of romantic fantasy.

The macaque monkeys, the population of which has, without exaggeration, exploded, defy the old belief that when the food supply of a species diminishes, their fecundity declines to an equivalent extent. I never tire of telling the story of how, as the pre-teen son of a land-owner, I would leave home early enough to be under the trees in the single patch of jungle on the family land-holding, before day-break. Me and my trusty little .22 rifle were on what amounted to a monkey-safari in Central Sri Lanka (or Ceylon as it was then). However, I do not recall one instance when one of these excursions was successful! Today, the macaques will, literally, husk coconuts while sitting in the crown of a palm, and throwing firecrackers at them only works on the first couple of occasions! And I’ve heard, times without number, how much more aggressive troops of macaques are to unaccompanied women than they are to men. In fact, many women rubber-tappers in this area will not go out in the gloom of daybreak without a male companion.

Not only is the breadfruit targeted, the simians absolutely relish the tender shoots ("dhel ballo") of this wonderful source of nutrition. The resulting defoliation causes die-back of the branches and, ultimately, the death of the tree. This is a simple statement of fact and, except where there are human beings on duty throughout the daylight hours, shooting these pests away or throwing sticks or stones at them, the breadfruit trees die. Our original population of a dozen trees has now been reduced to a couple, off which, if we are lucky, we get a few fruit that can be curried or chipped and fried.

The only fruit that appeared to be safe from pest-depredation was that of Lunumidella (Melia dubia). That olive-resembling fruit has a thin pulp covering that is bitter as gall. Recently however, I saw a few of these fruit completely shredded and was informed that this was the work of a hungry porcupine. Take a nibble on a lunumidella seed sometime and you’ll know what "bitter" really means!

Recent examination of why some of our most luxuriant pepper vines were dead revealed that the earlier-mentioned porcupines had been in the process of eating the roots of and ring-barking the gliricidia on which the pepper vines were growing, inadvertently or otherwise, biting right through the vines in the process. Not a good outcome for someone trying to make a few rupees off one of our few remaining spice assets!

The bases of the Gliricidia poles on which we grow our vanilla and pepper not only attract porcupines seeking sustenance from the bark and the roots, but the leaf mold and dry leaves we place at the base of these uprights for the benefit of our vanilla and pepper vines acts like a magnet for the wild pigs looking for grubs as well as edible bark.

The pig population has grown beyond belief in this area and the explanation I was given for this made eminent sense.

During the time of Sri Lanka’s last agricultural "revolution" there was an exponential growth in the use of insecticides and weedicides, without any attention being paid to the downside of their misuse.

The fresh-water crab population has not only pretty near disappeared, it has taken the jackal population with it because these crustaceans comprised one of their favourite foods and a (dead) crab population lying around, literally, for the picking, was too good to resist. Result? Not only the decimation of the freshwater crab population but that of Sri Lanka’s only wild canine! In the better than dozen years I’ve been back in the Kandyan foothills I haven’t heard what used to be the familiar howl of a jackal even once. It’s hard to discount that kind of circumstantial evidence.

The connection between what I’ve just described and the explosion in the porcine population is that, simply put, the only natural predator that our wild pigs had was the jackal and once our nariyas disappeared it didn’t take long for our ooras to take over the countryside, particularly when they were offered endless grass cover as the trees disappeared and that most invasive of (exotic) grasses took over, the ubiquitous Guinea "A," better known as "maana."

The destruction of trees providing a dense enough canopy to break some of the erosive qualities of the often-times deluge-like rainfall has resulted in what little topsoil there was originally being washed away, the springs drying up to the point that a neighbourhood squatter colony was recently reduced to drawing their drinking water supply from our meager, though carefully-husbanded, spring supply of water. This is part of the land that supported several hundred resident workers with each set of "lines" having its own separate supply of water adequate for consumption and for the daily bath, which is almost a religious observance in these parts!

As a constant reminder of where national priorities lie we hear the explosions of better than half a dozen granite quarries that supply aggregate for highway construction and larger rocks for that ecological abomination, the Port City of Colombo. If ever that old rural chestnut was appropriate it is as one observes this obscenity. It certainly is "Colombata kiri, apata kekiri!"

What price "progress?"

Granite is not going to grow back. The sand that is being mined from our streams is not going to be replenished from a supply from the heavens above. The springs that have disappeared thanks to abuse of the land surface, hugely aggravated by the incessant blasting that makes the very controversial fracking that is a part of oil exploration in some parts of the world pale into insignificance, are not going to miraculously begin gushing H2O again.

What is being done amounts to permanent damage that is not going to be alleviated, leave alone repaired, in eons.

That is "progress?"

We might still be able to salvage something out of this corruption-driven mess and even a little bit saved is better than nothing.

Stop this megapolis-mania even now. The only people it benefits are the "commission-kaakkaas" attached to the underbelly of this nation.

Start saving what little there is to save before it is too late, not forgetting that Sri Lanka’s hinterland is home to the vast majority of its population

Let me end this piece with what I hope you will consider an appropriate anecdote.

A veterinarian with international experience gathered colleagues of similar background and laid out a project for monkey control (chemical sterilization?) which in no way contravened Buddhist precepts. The document was handed to the Minister of the Environment on whose desk it has sat for lo these many years, unacknowledged, leave alone acted on.

And who, you might well ask was and is the Minister of the Environment? Two-word answer: Maithripala Sirisena.

EC’s Advocacy for Non-violence: Fine-tuning the UN Programme

2019-02-11 

Constitutional Framework for the Election Commission (EC)

Article 3 of our Constitution declares our sovereignty: “In the Republic of Sri Lanka sovereignty is in the People and is inalienable. Sovereignty includes the powers of government, fundamental rights and the franchise.” It provides in Article103(2) for an independent EC to oversee the exercise of our franchise:  “The object of the Commission shall be to conduct free and fair elections and referenda.” It adds in Article104B (2) that “It shall be the duty of the Commission to secure the enforcement of all laws relating to the holding of any such election or the conduct of referenda.”
 An obstacle to the free exercise of the people’s franchise is election violence. Associated closely with it is bribery of the law enforcement machinery. During the last local government elections, the EC faced several problems of cheating by nearly all parties. The worst offender is an old party of Tamil Cheats (TC). It takes the position that the EC is being partial when it charges the TC when it cheats – that neutrality demands that the EC should not charge the TC!
The police rarely prosecute TC for their election offences, and reduce charges when they do. In one egregious case, they suppressed the evidence given by EC for a year without marking it and as a result that evidence was excluded. In effect, the corrupt TC gets away, and the police probably make good money; but the people cannot freely exercise their franchise. It would have been more justice -friendly to ask the Police Commission to inquire against the errant police officials and allow the evidence to be used. That would punish the TC and the Police for cheating the people– rather than the people whose fundamental right to franchise is violated. The EC therefore feels a dire need to eliminate violence and cheating from our elections.

Non-violence – A reserved day for the youthMahatma Gandhi 

whose birthday falls on October 2, is a well-known apostle of nonviolence. The United Nations therefore celebrates October 2 as International Day of Non-Violence, promoting non-violence through education and public awareness.  With children moreover, drugs and gang violence threaten their idyllic world. In Sri Lanka, the crescendo-like news reports of drugs being interdicted like never before, drugs being freely available in our prisons despite guards, and youth joining gangs even in conservative communities, have  all combined to cause alarm bells to ring.
When  President Maithripala Sirisena from January 21, 2019 launched a drug eradication week in all national schools, in  Kilinochchi District, a poor schoolboy took it seriously and reported activities in his village of  Konaavil to the police. The gang responsible turned up at his home to harangue the family. Subsequently motorcyclists rammed into him as he bicycled at night. When he was hospitalized, the police told him he had no lights nor brakes and he would land in trouble if the matter was pursued. The father was told he would have to come to court several times. Unable to contemplate loss of his daily mason’s wage, the father signed a letter drafted for him by the police in Sinhalese, and the DIG told the press it was a road accident. When former NPC Leader of the Opposition Thavarasa raised it with the Police Commission and Governor Suren Raghavan.

"The EC attempts sincerely to do good through this UN-advocated programme, the programme does not invite the natural self-criticism that any programme deserves"

Dr. Raghavan ordered a new inquiry on February 6, 2019 which laid the facts bare. 
The police are part of the nexus of drugs, violence and our loss of rights. On January 30, the anniversary of the Gandhi’s death therefore, the International School Day of Non-Violence and Peace is commemorated specially for children. Entreculturas, by the Jesuits of Spain, plays a major role in this. It “reminds [us of] the importance of living in a peaceful context to guarantee quality education among the youth.”
A family situation with violence, an education system unable to cope with youth problems and the need to look for protection are some of the reasons why the youth join the gangs, according to Chiqui, the Jesuit coordinating the project in Lima: “The gang becomes their home.”

Election Commission’s Work with Ministry of Education

We in Sri Lanka have much to learn from the Jesuits’ project. Faced with obstacles to upholding the people’s franchise, the EC, ever trying to ensure fulfillment of our mandate, launched a new programme with the Ministry of Education to educate our children on nonviolence through workshops.
We executed a national event in Ratnapura at the Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council Auditorium on Jan. 30, 2019, led by Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya, accompanied by the Ratnapura Acting Deputy Commissioner of Elections Suranga Ambagahathenne.
Our three Chief Guests were Governor of Sabaragamuwa - Dr. Dhamma Dissanayaka and Chairman Kanchana Jayarathna, and Chief Secretary D.M. Malani from the Sabaragamuwa PC. 500 students and 200 teachers participated.  The essence of what Mr. Deshapriya spoke is to instill empathy among students. To engage with and challenge our primitive biases we used guest lectures and thematic competitions in street drama and art. In addition to what we did, the UN stresses, as it sees it, that all religions share the values of nonviolence, and advocates multi-faith prayer. To prove shared values, advocates quote

• The Dhammapada (Danda Vagga: All fear punishment; all fear death; comparing oneself with others, one should neither kill nor cause to kill);· The Bible ( Luke 6:27ff: But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also);
• The Dharmasastras (The Manusmriti 6.60: By not killing any living being, one becomes eligible for salvation);
• Al Quran (Surat Al-Ma’idah 5:32: Whoever kills an innocent life, it is as if he has killed all of humanity). 

In the other 24 districts we picked a school from each to do a special event. For example at Vavuniya, the workshop was conducted by the Election Commission’s Denicius Canute Aravindaraj, our Assistant Commissioner there. The 100 students invited were at Grade 10 or above who would soon be voters. He kept off religion and focused on the relationship between elections and violence, violence in schools and the importance of registering as a voter. Similarly the workshop in Kandy was conducted by our Deputy Commissioner there, Namal Thalangama.
Jan. 30, 2019: The International School Day of Non-Violence and Peace being celebrated by Assistant Commissioner of Elections Vavuniya, D. C. Aravindaraj.  At all other schools the principal or a teacher was asked to give a 15-minute talk on nonviolence, bullying, teasing, multiculturalism, etc. at the
daily assembly.
The news headline “90% of the bars owned by politicos,” in the Daily Mirror of Jan. 29 had two important messages for us – that our politicians will want to profit from making drunkards of our children, and there is a special need to focus on children, especially if they are to grow up as responsible citizens who exercise their franchise and elect representative unlike our liquor dealers. We felt redeemed by the headline in launching these workshops. 

Caution on multi-faith Worship

Our well-intended programme is certainly timely when many MPs have an interest in corrupting our children.  But does it need fine-tuning the UN’s shared-faith emphasis? I think so.
Comparing religions, even if to show common themes, is dangerous territory. Our religions are diverse and often mutually exclusive. We as a country are still not mature enough to discuss religion dispassionately. When common worship is engaged in, those from monotheistic backgrounds will find themselves pushed into polytheistic worship forms.  The fact is that most Sri Lankans cannot see that when we offer prayers to the Buddha by a priest from a caste-based Sangha, to Allah and to Jesus, and then a pooja to Siva by a Brahmin, that we are practising polytheism and endorsing caste. It reveals a thickheaded hegemony and promotes majoritarianism in religion, leaving out egalitarian monotheists.
We are in a very religiously prejudiced country where some demand that their religion is owed state patronage. Their attitude does not let them see how wrong that demand is. There is also widespread prejudice against Muslims. We all hear the insults within our communities – it does not help to repeat them. As I point out in my textbook Ethics for Professionals: A Human Rights, Internationalist Perspective (San Diego: Cognella Press, 2018):

"We as a country are still not mature enough to discuss religion dispassionately. When common worship is engaged in, those from monotheistic backgrounds will find themselves pushed into polytheistic worship forms"

“According to Princeton University’s Bernard Lewis, Islam “from the first denounced aristocratic privilege, rejected hierarchy, and adopted a formula of the career open to the talents.” The Prophet Muhammad’s Charter of Medina of 622 was a formal agreement between him and the significant tribes and families of Medina, including Muslims, Jews, and pagans, to bring peace between the warring people of Medina. The Charter instituted a number of rights and responsibilities for the signatories which covered security, religious freedom, and the safety of women, and made Medina a sacred place free of weapons and violence. He introduced a tax system for supporting the community in time of conflict, and providing food and clothing to prisoners without regard to their religion.”
He was far ahead of India in his thinking. Most of us do not know this. When we ask for one religion to be given primacy and look down on other religions, especially Islam, is multi-faith worship not a mockery?
Furthermore, since EC attempts sincerely to do good through this UN-advocated programme, the programme does not invite the natural self-criticism that any
programme deserves.
Sharp children, however, will see that for everything quoted from a religion as above, another line may be found to suggest the opposite. For instance many meat eating Buddhists deny, despite the above Dhammapada quotation, that Buddhism demands a vegetarian life. Indeed, the sentences quoted may likewise be dissected to the detriment of what we want to say. For example, “Whoever kills an innocent life it is as if he has killed all of humanity,” it may be argued, permits non-innocent lives to be killed.

Fine-tuning activities

The required fine tuning of the UN programme requires selecting carefully those service activities that truly are shared by most religions – the alleviation of poverty, caring for the sick, taking care of the destitute, orphans and widows, and giving political equality to citizens, etc.  If we can get people from all religions to work together to make ours a kindlier world, it would be a useful fine tuning of the activities of the next International School Day of Non-Violence and Peace.

Of Mintzberg and Zuckerberg: Communities and commodities

Monday, 11 February 2019

Henry Mintzberg, the veteran management thinker, promotes the concept of “community,” stating that leadership should pave way for “communityship”. Mark Zuckerberg, on the other hand, created the largest social media platform, Facebook, with an active monthly user base becoming the largest population on earth.

With the rapid growth of technology and increasing expansion of social media usage, what are the prospects of using Facebook for community building? Is it merely being used as a commodity for sharing? What is the connection between Mintzberg’s concepts and Zuckerberg’s creations? Today’s column is an elaboration of it in relation to the Sri Lankan context.


Overview

Living in communities is nothing new for East and West alike. We have Sangha societies in the Buddhist context. We also have monasteries in the Christian context. The commonality in both is the way a group of members of a community live. It involves sharing of a common set of values, respecting one another and a high degree of collaboration. Also, it invites the members to display synergy in their actions and reactions.

“It seems that we are over-led and under-managed,” says Mintzberg. Many may disagree. Yet, you cannot undermine this candid Canadian veteran. Having contributed to management in proposing 10 key managerial roles way back in 1971, he is sharp and sensible in his criticism. I had this confusion early in my management teaching stages about the real difference between a manager and a leader, and in a broad sense management and leadership. Thanks to global thought leaders, now I have a clear way out.

For me, management is a process and leadership is a phenomenon. Every manager has a “leading” function to perform. When it gets expanded, he/she thinks and acts more as a leader.  What Mintzberg Invites ius is even to go beyond. In his website blog (www.mintzberg.org), Mintzberg elaborates why he says so.

“How can you recognise communityship? That’s easy. You have found it when you walk into an organisation and are struck by the energy in the place, the personal commitment of the people and their collective engagement in what they are doing. These people don’t have to be formally empowered because they are naturally engaged. The organisation respects them so they respect it. They don’t live in mortal fear of being fired en mass because some ‘leader’ hasn’t made his or her numbers. Imagine an economy made up of such organisations.” (www.mintzberg.org)

There is a clear invitation to shift from “one man show” to a “one team show”. In other words, we need no one superstar but a galaxy of superstars. I have been subconsciously promoting this at the Postgraduate Institute of Management, and now I am more convinced when I hear the inspirational ideas from Mintzberg in a similar fashion.


Synergy and communityship

One key feature in communityship is synergy. Synergy is all about working together. It is synchronised energy in action. Stephen Covey, in his bestseller ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,’ describes synergy as follows: “Synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It shows that the relationship, which the parts have to each other, is a part in and of itself. It is not only a part, but also the most catalytic, the most empowering, the most unifying, and the most exciting part.”

“Synergy is everywhere in nature,” he goes on further. “If two plants are placed close together for growth, the roots improve the quality of the soil so that both plants will grow better than if they were separated. In short, one plus one equals three or more. The challenge is to apply the principles of creative cooperation, which we learn from nature, in our social interactions…The essence of synergy is to value differences – to respect them, to build on strengths, to compensate for weaknesses.” There is much food for thought indeed.

“Probably we never fully credit the interdependence of wild creatures, and their cognizance of the affairs of their own kind,” said Mary Austin, a renowned American author. The way geese fly in ‘V’ shape and the way wolves run as a flock are just two prominent examples.

Synergy we see in nature is associated with the complex term symbiosis. It is close and often long-term interaction between two or more different biological species. In other words, a close prolonged association between two or more different organisms of different species that may benefit each member. Way back in 1877, Albert Bernhard Frank used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens. It is also described as the living together of two dissimilar organisms, as in mutualism, commensalism, or parasitism.

The term, “symbiotic relationship” is often used in the area of sociology. The word symbiosis has first been used to describe people living together in a community.  It is, in fact, a true adaptation from the biological meaning of “living together of unlike organisms”.


Communityship and social media

With the rapid technology advancements over the years, social media have come to the forefront offering solutions to people issues. Social media refers to the means of interactions among people, in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.

Social media is commonly known as Social Network Websites (SNWs) such as Facebook, MySpace, and the more professionally-oriented LinkedIn.  SNWs, as well as related applications (e.g. micro-blogging web sites such as Twitter) also allow recruiters to conduct extensive background checks.

SNWs can also be regarded as well-established as a consumer and brand oriented set of tools. Increasingly, they are being offered as an innovative solution for internal effectiveness. SNWs have made a significant impact in the US social life. According to a study by KPMG, the following numbers show how they SNWs are shining.

• 76% of US companies used LinkedIn’s 100 million registered users for recruiting.
• 84% of job seekers have a Facebook profile, and 48% of them have done at least one job-hunting activity on Facebook in the past year.
• 61% of millennials (those who have born after 1980) don’t go to the traditional company support groups first; they prefer to turn to the Web and other external resources.
• Corporate e-mail is growing 20-25% per year, with data storage costs soaring.
• China is the most socially engaged market in the world, with 84% of internet users contributing
• At least once a month to social networking, blogging, video uploading, photo sharing, micro-blogging, or forums – they are followed by Russia, Brazil, and India.
• 36% of social media users post brand-related content.
• 60% of employees would like help from employers to share relevant content.

Facebook in focus

“Facebook was not originally created to be a company; it was built to accomplish a social mission – to make the world more open and connected,” said Mark Zuckerberg, the founder. He partnered with his Harvard friends to create a social networking site that allowed Harvard students to connect with each other. The site officially went live in June 2004 under the name ‘The Facebook’ and Zuckerberg ran it out of his dorm room. In 2017, Zuckerberg said that he thinks of himself more as a community builder than an engineer.

Right from the beginning, there were controversies surrounded him, in a wide array of aspects including copyright and privacy. For instance, in April 2018, Zuckerberg testified before the US Congress after it was revealed that the company had shared users’ data with the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

According to Investopedia.com, Facebook reported that daily active users averaged 1.47 billion for June 2018, an increase of 11% year-over-year. Monthly active users totalled 2.23 billion as of June 30, 2018, an increase of 11% year-over-year. Forbes has credited the quick drop of Facebook’s stock price following the company’s July warning to investors of slowing growth and profit margins to the growing impact of the battle between profit and privacy, citing the Cambridge Analytica story and Facebook’s growing inability to protect users from harmful misuse and misinformation.


Way forward  

Based on the global and local issues surrounding Facebook, one may ponder whether it is more of a commodity than a community. It has proved its potential as a meeting and sharing point with the rapid growth of membership. Yet, ethical concerns such as privacy have overshadowed the economic gains as the largest social media platform.

In a Sri Lankan context, we saw the banning of it in the recent past, citing the reasons of spreading hatred through fake news. Getting to know partners through Facebook and discovering later of their fraudulent nature has also led to many social calamities. Arranging controversial parties through Facebook to promote the use of narcotics has also been reported in the media.

On a positive note, can we use Facebook as a community building tool in Sri Lanka? Can we spread the messages of ethnic harmony and religious co-existence through Facebook? Are we merely using it to share individual or institutional events and accomplishments? Can what Mintzberg mentioned as communityship truly be fostered through what Zuckerberg made as a commodity? A lot of food for thought.

(Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri can be reached through director@pim.sjp.ac.lk, ajantha@ou.edu or www.ajanthadharmasiri.info.)

Israel criticised for letting ill Palestinian prisoner die without medical care

Faris Baroud's condition worsened for weeks, but inmates and advocates say he was not given the help he needed

Raya Obeid, Faris Baroud’s mother, holding his picture in a protest in Gaza before they died. (MEE/Mohammed Asad)

By 

Hind Khoudary

 in 

Gaza City

Published date: 9 February 2019 14:58 UTC | Last update: 8 hours 42 min ago

Israeli authorities have been criticised for apparently allowing a Palestinian prisoner to die while incarcerated, without allowing him potentially life-saving medical care.

Faris Baroud, a 51-year-old originally from the Gaza Strip, died on Wednesday in Israel’s Rimon prison.

Baroud was arrested in 1991, and later sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of killing an Israeli settler.

He spent 10 years overall in solitary confinement, which his relatives and supporters say affected him psychologically and physically.

Three years ago Baroud started suffering a number of health conditions, including hernias and liver disease.

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“For three years we have received a lot of appeals from prisoners about Baroud’s health condition, it was deteriorating daily,” Islam Abdu, director of prisoners’ media in the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees affairs, told Middle East Eye.

Baroud’s fellow inmates have told the ministry that he spent his last days in prison vomiting blood, and his health was worsening hour by hour.

According to Israel’s own regulations, prisoners in its care must be given necessary medical assistance.

Its Manual on the Laws of War details that: “Prisoners must be administered proper medical care, at the expense of the detaining state, and a monthly follow-up examination must be made of each detainee’s state of health.”

“It is incumbent on the detaining state to provide the prisoners with sufficient food, drink and clothing,” the manual adds.

However the Palestinian ministry and Baroud’s fellow inmates contend that he was denied such rights.

The Israeli prison authority has been approached for comment.

Worsening condition

Before Baroud’s death, prisoners in his section began protesting, expressing their anger at the Israeli authorities’ inaction and attempting to provoke them into transferring him to hospital.

After 10 days of protests and riots, the Israeli authorities transferred Baroud to hospital.

He was pronounced dead the same day.

“I had the ability to talk to him a couple of times, he was always coughing and his voice was weak. I could tell how bad his health was from his voice,” Abdu said.

Baroud has been allowed medical treatment previously. On 18 November, a tumor and part of his liver were removed during surgery in Israel’s Sorouka medical centre. Months before his surgery, Baroud participated in a large-scale prisoner hunger strike.

According to Abdu, Baroud was not given proper time to convalesce after his surgery.

“He was sent back to Rimon prison immediately after the surgery. He was supposed to stay in the hospital until he recovers, as such surgeries need intensive care,” Abdu said.

Faris Baroud’s funeral wake in al-Shate refugee camp, Gaza (MEE/Mohammed Asad)

Three weeks ago, Baroud contacted Dr Hasan Khalaf, a consultant in internal medicine from the Gaza Strip.

Before Baroud called, Khalaf was told by the detainees ministry that he was going to receive a phone call from a Palestinian prisoner in Rimon prison that needed his advice.

“When Mr Faris called me, his voice was weak and he told me he had had a chronic abdominal pain for months, he felt weak and was emaciated,” Khalaf told MEE.

“He didn’t know his disease, he was not allowed to take any medical tests or X-rays, he was prevented from taking medications and I didn’t have the ability to diagnose his health situation,” Khalaf said.

“I felt so sad because I couldn’t help him with anything. The phone call didn’t last more than four minutes.” 

Baroud told Khalaf that he was only allowed to take paracetamol and acamol painkillers, and he was prevented from contacting any medical staff or asking for medical support.

Futile wait

Baroud’s father died when he was two years old, and he was raised in the Gaza Strip’s al-Amal Orphanage because his mother couldn’t afford to care for him.

At 18 he left the orphanage. Five years later he was arrested for killing an Israeli settler.

According to al-Dameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association, Baroud was supposed to be released in 2014, as part of a prisoner swap deal that would have seen prisoners arrested before the 1993 Oslo Accords freed.

However, though his name was on a list of 30 prisoners to be freed, Israel reneged on the promise to release him.

'God released him from the Israeli prison’s torture'

- Fayza Baroud, sister

His family, especially his mother, were longing to greet him on release.

“We decorated the streets, sprayed his name on the walls and my mum started dancing, despite the fact that she lost her eyesight out of grief. Happiness and hope filled our hearts!” Baroud’s 55-year-old sister, Fayza Baroud, recalled.

“The next day, they informed us that the exchange deal was cancelled, and we lost hope that we would see him again.”

From 2005, Baroud’s mother, Raya Obeid, was denied visiting rights, and she participated in weekly protests demanding his freedom and requesting access to visit him in prison. After 28 years of waiting for his release, Obeid died in May 2017.

“His health deteriorated after the loss of our mother,” Fayza said, followed by a long pause.

“God released him from the Israeli prison’s torture.”

Refusal to cooperate

The Palestinian detainees ministry says it is constantly frustrated by Israeli authorities’ refusal to provide it, prisoners or their families information about inmates’ health status, medical tests or medical history.

The ministry has turned to the International Committee of the Red Cross, asking it to intervene and ask Israel to provide prisoners with their medical history documentation, especially after being released. Still, the Israeli authorities refuse to cooperate.

Fares Baroud's sister holds a picture of him and their mother (MEE/Hind Khoudary)

Some 700 Palestinians in Israeli prisons have chronic illnesses and are in need of specialist care, according to the ministry.

Around 120 need urgent surgery. 24 prisoners are suffering from cancer, including 15 who are being held at the Ramle prison clinic due to their severe health issues.

Since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip began in 1967, 218 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli jails, with more than 60 due to negligence of health care, according to the ministry.

As for Baroud, the ministry turned to the central Israeli court in southern Israel’s Beersheva, asking for an autopsy to be carried out in the presence of a Palestinian forensic doctor to understand the causes of his death, and requesting his body then be handed over to his family in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli court has not yet responded to the ministry’s request.

Israel kills two children in Gaza protests

Medics treat a wounded protester in northern Gaza on 8 February.Ramez HabboubAPA images

Maureen Clare Murphy Rights and Accountability 9 February 2019

Israeli occupation forces killed two protesters in Gaza on Friday, both of them children, according to Al Mezan, a human rights group in the territory.

The deaths bring to three the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during the week. Abdallah Faisal Tawalbeh, 21, was shot dead by soldiers in the northern West Bank on Monday.

Also on Friday, Yasir Hamid Ishtayeh, from the West Bank city of Nablus, was reported to have died in Israeli prison, two days after the death of Faris Baroud in his 28th year of imprisonment.

On Friday, Hasan Iyad Abd al-Fattah Shalabi, 14, died after he was shot in the chest while 60 meters from the boundary fence with Israel in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Hamza Muhammad Rushdi Ishtaiwi, 17, was fatally shot in the neck when he was 50 meters from the fence east of Gaza City. A photo of the slain teen circulated on social media after his death:

View image on Twitter

شبكة قدس الإخبارية

✔@qudsn

الشهيد حمزة اشتيوي (18 عامًا) استشهد برصاص الاحتلال خلال مشاركته في مسيرات العودة شرق مدينة #غزة.

13

11:44 AM - Feb 8, 2019

The boys killed in Gaza on Friday are the fourth and fifth Palestinian child fatalities at the hands of Israeli forces so far this year.

Thirty-eight children are among the 188 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during the Great March of Returnprotests that were launched on 30 March last year.

Ahmad Ghazi Abbas Abu Jabal, 30, died on Sunday from injuries sustained during protests along Gaza’s northern boundary the previous week.

During Friday’s protests Israeli forces injured more than 100 Palestinians, including 43 children, five women and a paramedic, according to Al Mezan.

Nearly two dozen were injured by live fire during the protests, while nearly 50 people were hit directly with tear gas projectiles, critically wounding one.

More than 7,600 Palestinians have been injured by live fire during the protests since their launch.

Healthcare system in crisis

While Gaza’s healthcare system has been in chronic crisis for years, it has become acute as hospitals struggle to cope with the staggering number of protest casualties.

Israeli military officials have warned lawmakers that Gaza’s healthcare system is on the verge of collapse, making it “difficult for the Israeli army to fight in the Strip for long” in any future military confrontation before “intense international intervention,” the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz reported this week.

Israel’s top leadership have been informed by an international medical organization that “around 6,000 people with bullet wounds are still awaiting urgent operations,” according to Haaretz.

“Most of the wounded are not receiving proper medical care and a quarter have developed bone infections that if untreated will lead to amputations. At this point there is no agency that could treat those thousands of people,” the paper added.

There are not enough doctors in Gaza as physicians who can leave the territory have emigrated, the report states, while hospitals lack basic medicines.

Overburdened facilities have prioritized treating mass casualties from protests and “patients with cancer, diabetes or dialysis needs … are simply being sent home.”

Gaza patients denied permission to travel

Meanwhile, Israel continues to deny or delay permission to medical patients to travel outside Gaza for treatment.

Israeli authorities have allowed themselves “exceedingly long processing times” when evaluating applications from Palestinians in Gaza seeking to enter Israel or the West Bank, according to rights groups.

The directive under which COGAT, the bureaucratic arm of Israel’s military occupation, operates allows 23 business days to process applications from medical patients; 50 business days for applications from Palestinians who wish to visit a seriously ill relative or attend a first degree relative’s wedding; and 70 business days for applications from those in Gaza who wish to study abroad.

Despite these lengthy processing timeframes, COGAT “frequently fails to answer permit applications within the times stipulated in the directive, and often doesn’t respond to applications at all,” according to Gisha, a group that monitors Israel’s closure of Gaza.

One of those affected by Israel’s “draconian” policy is Atia Darwish, a photojournalist who was hit in the left eye with a tear gas canister while covering protests in Gaza last December.

The injury caused “multiple facial fractures and severe bleeding at the back of his eye, putting his sight at risk,” according to the World Health Organization.

“He had surgery to remove shrapnel from the wound, fix his lower jaw and replace fragmented bones in his face with metal plates.”

“Not an exception”

But Darwish requires further specialized care and his vision remains impaired.

He received a referral for treatment at St. John Eye Hospital in Jerusalem but his travel application was still under Israeli review by the time his appointment date arrived.

“His case is not an exception,” the World Health Organization stated.

“Of 435 permit applications to Israeli authorities by those injured during the Great March of Return demonstrations, only 19 percent have been approved. Those unable to access the health care they need face a higher risk of complications and poorer health outcomes.”

St. John Eye Hospital is one of six health facilities in occupied East Jerusalem affected by $25 million in aid cuts from the Trump administration in Washington.

The White House cut half a billion dollars in aid to Palestinians last year, further raising fears over the fate of the Palestinian healthcare system.