Archive for the ‘Advocacy’

A circus has come to town

From The Morning Leader – 31st January 2007 With the LTTE cleared from Sampur and Vaharai, the UNP depleted and the JVP marginalised, the cabinet swelled to record proportions, the Donor Forum concluded and the Presidential Commission and international experts to meet soon to deal with the matter of human rights abuses and a pan-Sinhala Ministry of Nation Building with five ministers no less, the Rajapakse presidency seems to be riding the crest of a wave. To where and with what purpose, is the question. The President’s concerns regarding regime consolidation and security in terms of a legislative majority have been taken care of with the substantial UNP cross-over and record-breaking cabinet. We are told that this obviates the need for a general election. However, the temptation to go for one may well be irresistible once the east is ‘cleared’ beyond doubt and before things turn sour there and elsewhere, as they could, if the LTTE successfully returns to guerilla…

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The Death of a Priest

Writing through shackles – Notes of a Citizen Journalist I my column for Ravaya & Groundviews this week I explore the killing of a citizen, a priest, in Jaffna. The manner in which it which it was reported in the Sinhala media, and the occurrence of similar killings elsewhere in the country, I argue is indicative of the dire peril we are facing with regard to human rights and human dignity in Sri Lanka. Read the full article here -  The Death of a Priest

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The promise of Citizen Journalism: Article on Madrid11

Madrid11 features an article I wrote on Groundviews, where I explore the potential of citizen journalism to support & strengthen peacebuilding in Sri Lanka. The “war on terror” – that diplomatic, political and military offensive after the 9/11 attacks – is a war that has been silently waged in Sri Lanka for over 27 years. Generations are woven into the spiral of violence. Citizens across the island, particularly in its north and east, have suffered the twin effects of terrorism and the equally reprehensible counterterrorist strategies of successive governments that have trampled on fundamental rights and humanitarian norms. Human dignity and respect for human life have eroded so dramatically in two decades of bloody conflict that the killings of a few dozen are now no longer exceptional. Days in which there are only a few killings are now considered “good” days, given the striking rise in violence on the ground in 2006. Read the full article here.

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Seeing mobile phones as a basic human right

Communication rights remain for most of the world’s people a vision and an aspiration. They are not a reality on the ground. On the contrary, they are frequently and systematically violated. Governments must be constantly reminded that they are legally required under the human rights treaties they have ratified to implement, promote and protect communication rights. Communication rights are the expression of fundamental needs. The satisfaction of these needs requires a strong political will and the allocation of substantial resources. Lack of commitment to such resources serves only to deepen the global distrust of political institutions. News that mobile phone users in the North & East of Sri Lanka are once again cut off is a disturbing trend in the erosion of fundamental rights, including Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaims: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression and opinion; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive…

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Insight into Governance from the Arrest that did not happen

From Morning Leader – 3rd January 2007  The story that the editor of the Sunday Leader was to be arrested on account of that paper’s reportage on the proposed  construction  of a presidential bunker and the subsequent reportage that presidential  intervention ensured that the arrest did not take place, provides an insight into governance and the Rule of Law in Sri Lanka which could well continue into 2007.   That such a bunker will not now be built, has also been reported. The details of the incident are well known.  The immediate backdrop to it is the promulgation of new emergency regulations effectively reactivating the Prevention of Terrorism Act – regulations which the government assured were formulated to deal with terrorism and would not be used to stifle freedom of expression.  However, in the wake of the incident the government has stated that the media and media persons are by no means immune from the effects of these regulations.  The original…

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The Costs and Consequences of ‘Clearing’ the East

From Morning Leader – 10th January 2007 Last week this column ended with the statement that there was a lot to be learnt and unlearnt in 2007. The new year is now with us and with it the unfolding of an endgame. As to who will be left standing and how and as to how long it will take remains to be seen. The point about the learning and unlearning remains, however. Last year saw an escalation of violence resulting in civilian misery through death, displacement and abduction that put us down there in the catalogue of human suffering with Darfur, Palestine and Lebanon. Presidential commissions, international eminent persons, food consignments from Colombo and Chennai, pseudo -patriotic vitriol and diatribes against the Norwegian facilitators, the SLMM, Ambassador Alan Rock, NGOs and INGOs cannot erase or obscure this fact. The war began and with little regard for human rights and basic humanitarian norms. And on the evidence of the indiscriminate bombing…

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Amidst shackles – Notes of a citizen journalist

An article, in Sinhala, on the bombing of Mannar and the general decline of human rights in Sri Lanka. Read the full article here.

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Sri Lanka – Images of a divided nation

An article, in Sinhala, based on the findings of Social Indicator’s Peace Confidence Index, first published in Mawbima on 7th January 2007. Read the full article here.

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Review of “Ethnic Warfare in Sri Lanka and the UN Crisis” by William Clarance

Speaking in early December 2006 to an assorted group of representatives from local and international humanitarian agencies in Colombo, I began my speech with the most virulent expletives imaginable.  I then enquired as to why cuss-words are considered impolite, when we blithely utter words that describe a reality far more abhorrent – such as IDPs, refugees, conflict. The situation in Sri Lanka today is unfortunately one in which the full gamut of excuses and alibis, from national security to political correctness and caution, are run to evade the responsibility of basic human decency and rights protection. The employment of language that shocked, to illustrate the real obscenity that constitutes egregious human rights violations and violations of humanitarian standards in Sri Lanka and drew attention to the imperative of action in respect of preventing such abuses, was fortunately understood by those present. Accordingly, it is with great interest that I picked up a copy of “Ethnic Warfare in Sri Lanka and…

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Life in an Open Prison

An email from Ammu Joseph, circulated through SAJA‘s email list, pointed to two articles that explore the situation in the North and East of Sri Lanka at present. Hi! Here’s a recent piece on the current situation in Jaffna that I wrote for Himal Southasian, published from Nepal. *LIFE IN AN OPEN PRISON* http://www.himalmag.com/2007/january/report1.htm I’d written a shorter one earlier for the edit page of The Times of India (4 December 2006), which was also unhappily edited (e.g., the last sentence, which is not mine at all!), here’s the link: *JAFFNA UNDER SIEGE* http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/700845.cms?mailtofriend=1 Jaffna seems to be off the radar of the international media — like many other parts of the world experiencing chronic conflict. And certainly the human suffering of the people there, especially over the past few months of escalated tension, is barely known to the public even in the rest of Sri Lanka and South Asia, let alone anywhere else. Warm regards, Ammu The original, unedited…

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A Citizen’s Notes – Thoughts on Human Rights in Sri Lanka

Inspired in part by Sanjana’s speech in early December, I wrote a column for Ravaya on human rights in Sri Lanka, from the perspective of a citizen. This article is in Sinhala and is available by clicking on A Citizens Notes.

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LOOKING INTO THE ABYSS

The unsurprising minority report of the APRC Experts Panel is a lawyerly representation of 1956-style Sinhala Buddhist nationalism. It is the legal prototype of the JVP/JHU political rhetoric. As such, it is also, in substance and philosophy, the mirror image of that other set of constitutional propositions emanating from ethno-nationalism: the ISGA proposals of the LTTE. An odious comparison no doubt for either group of authors, but hermeneutically both documents point to the same political ontology of ethno-nationalism that is the source of such ‘patriotic’ inspiration for both. Ethno-nationalism translated into legal language is concerned primarily with political power, and the constitutionalisation of power in a way that enables control of politics. Such a conception of power is also necessarily partisan, because the object of power is to secure the prospects of your own to the exclusion, if need be, of the ‘others.’ A couple of examples demonstrate the point. In the LTTE proposal, an assertion is made on behalf…

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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