Archive for the ‘Human Rights’

‘GSP PLUS’ PRIVILEGES: THE NEED FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

ROHAN EDRISINHA & ASANGA WELIKALA There has recently been speculation and media reports about the European Union’s system of tariff preferences known as the ‘GSP Plus’ programme, of which Sri Lanka is presently a beneficiary country. The tariff preferences create massive advantages in particular to our apparel industry, and have implications for the wellbeing and employment for thousands in that important sector of our economy. It is vital, therefore, that Sri Lanka retains this privilege. The controversy relates to the fact that Sri Lanka’s continued beneficiary status comes up for renewal later in 2008, and whether Sri Lanka continues to qualify for the GSP Plus benefits in terms of the requirements that are set out for this by the European Union. One of the important requirements to qualify is that the beneficiary country is placed under a general obligation to ‘ratify and fully implement’ a set of twenty-seven international conventions. One of the key international human rights conventions listed under…

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Endangered: Our right to ’shoot’ in public

13 February 2008, Colombo: Earlier this week, a leading Sri Lankan photojournalist was detained, questioned and released by police for taking photographs near a well-known Colombo school. According to news reports, Associated Press (AP) photographer Gemunu Amarasinghe was apprehended by a group of parents who formed the school’s civil defence committee. They had handed him over to soldiers on duty near by, and he was briefly detained by the Narahenpita police. It is not clear exactly why the experienced and credentialed photojournalist had to undergo this treatment. This might seem a minor incident in the context of highly dangerous conditions in which Sri Lankan journalists operate today. It was only a few days earlier that the World Association of Newspapers ranked Sri Lanka as the third deadliest place for journalists (6 killed in 2007), behind only Iraq and Somalia. But Gemunu’s experience is highly significant for two reasons. Firstly, it is depressing that some members of the public have resorted…

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Travels in a Militarised Society – 4

Human Rights Watchdogs, Neo-colonialism and the Stray Dog Population of Colombo International human rights organisations accuse the Sri Lanka government, the LTTE and the paramilitary groups operating under the aegis of government portfolios or official military protection—like the EPDP and the TMVP—of continuous violations and killings. The government and its supporters scorn these accusations as neo-colonial interventions in the affairs of the nation and counter that these foreign NGOs ignore LTTE brutalities. In public spaces, on Television and other media, a conspiracy theory is disseminated about these neo-colonial criticisms and outsiders’ attempts to undermine the progress of our war. In Colombo and island-wide a poster asks: “We ate budgerie (cheap grain) during the OTHERS’ war, why can’t we be patient with the hardships we endure for OUR war?” Another poster says, “This government fights Human Rights Neo-colonialism and LTTE Separatism.” In Colombo, Jaffna, the East, Vayvuniya, and elsewhere people continue to disappear. There are no investigations and no local or…

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AN ODE TO TODAY

Malinda Seneviratne Yesterday the proclamation of independence, The cloud burst on drought-ridden histories, The feverish composition of anthem, the dance of peacocks, The sunrise greeted by a 21-gun salute The colouring of hope and the overflowing of milk and honey. Yesterday the unthinkable embrace of leader and led The wild humour of illusion and the waiver of colonial debts The return of monarch in tie and coat and Old Spiced tongue The manufacture of skies and winds for spider-web kites. Yesterday the re-discovery and reaffirmation of chronicle, The voice of the fresco and the fragrance of manure, The tilling of new lands, the proliferation of blueprints The drowning in utopia and the flushing of guilt. Yesterday the happy collapse of contradiction The veneration of the Master, the transcription of dreams The confusion of past with future, the banishment of moment, Yesterday the night of the ancestor the resurrection of blood. Yesterday the extrapolations from ‘if only’, the sigh of nostalgia,…

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Bloody anniversaries: Indepedence, pogroms, war and peace

The decisive year with terrible beginnings is also a year of anniversaries — 60 years of independence and 25 since the horrific pogrom of July 1983. It may be the case that the crucial push into the Wanni will begin in deadly earnest to coincide with the anniversary of independence, whilst if the pronouncements of the defence establishment are to be realised, it will be approaching final victory around the time of the anniversary of July 1983. There is some irony in this. Both these events are landmarks in the botched and bloody nation and state building exercise we have been engaging in. Sixty years later in the one case and 25 in the other, on the key issues of national unity and reconciliation, it is still a case of back to the future. The factors that militated against the constitutional framework and compact of 1947 preventing the carnage of 1983, still persist. Key amongst them — majoritarian democracy, is…

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Now that the CFA is out of the way…

Sanjana Hattotuwa and Sunanda Deshapriya Article written for and first published in Mail Today, 6th January 2008. It was a bloody New Year. The high profile assassination of an Opposition MP and a bomb explosion in the heart of Colombo are tragic markers of what 2008 holds for Sri Lanka. To add to the drama, the Government of Sri Lanka on the 3rd of January unilaterally withdrew from the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) signed with the LTTE in February 2002. As we write, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has folded its operations, Norway’s continued role and relevance as a peace broker is highly suspect, human rights abuses grow apace within a culture of total impunity and the country is set for total war. 2008 is Sri Lanka’s 60th year of independence from the British. It will also be one of the country’s most violent and brutal. There is no longer even a vestige of a peace process in Sri Lanka….

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My life and my choices in a country at war: A personal reflection

By Packiam Where to start, what to write…. 2007 gone, 2008 started. When I ask myself what I wish in year 2008 I sincerely, hardly find any answer for myself. However, lot of life stories were replayed in my mind. Competing for attention, I’m torn between these choices. How am I to choose? I’m thinking of my dear friend who was shot dead two months back and left his speech impaired wife and two children behind. How can I support this family? Or Should I think about the mentally ill woman who was found near an army camp who was shouting and removing and throwing her jewels without knowing what she is doing. After a great deal of intervention my two staff and I manage to get her into a hospital. Later found out that she was also 2 ½ months pregnant and has a 2 year old son. On receipt of the address from the hospital when I visited…

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  • 2 Jan, 2008
  • 6 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Human Rights,
    Jaffna,
    Peace and Conflict,
    Politics and Governance

Looking back, looking forward: A brief chat with HRW Human Rights Defender Award winner Sunila Abeysekera on war and peace in Sri Lanka

Sunila Abeysekera, a recipient of the prestigious Human Rights Defender Awards by Human Rights Watch, speaks on the year that was and what lies ahead in 2008 . In her interview, Sunila strikes a sombre note and says: “I think [2007] is the worst year I’ve seen in Sri Lanka in terms of human rights… It’s very hard to have any sense of hope for 2008.” “The old international community – Norway, Netherlands, Germany – is really seriously irrelevant.” “No space for civil society.” “Even if Prabhakaran is killed tomorrow and the LTTE is devastated the issues of discrimination against Tamil people in this country will continue to exist.” “I don’t think equality is going to come about because we have a military victory against the LTTE – certainly not.” For a related article on Sunila, please read A Romance with Rights. Repost This Article

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Lionel Bopage: Protection of fundamental human rights is a responsibility of a democratic government

by Lionel Bopage Lionel Bopage was a former General Secretary of the JVP. He was involved with the JVP since 1968 and resigned in 1984. Any government genuinely looking after the interests of its people would stand for pluralism and the fundamental democratic and human rights of its people. Thus that government will be obliged to take all the necessary steps to uphold the rule of law and to establish and maintain appropriate mechanisms to prevent the abuse of power and protect the life and liberty of every individual. This includes the right to life, freedom of movement, freedom of speech and assembly, freedom from torture, arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention. In the recent past, the human and democratic rights of the people of Sri Lanka have continued to deteriorate to an alarming degree due to human rights violations committed by the successive governments and all the parties to the conflict including the LTTE. Many interested parties have made conscious…

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To Jaffna and Back

[Editors note: Because of the length of this submission, readers may wish to use the Print Posts feature to create a fully formatted PDF of this article to read offline or in print. To do so, simply click on the Print Posts button on the right.] (Facts have been presented as related to me by the people I met in Jaffna without alteration or embellishment. The conversations I had with most of the people I met were in Tamil and have been translated here. Names of people and certain events have been omitted due to safety concerns) I write these events not as a criticism of any party or person but as an appeal to those concerned, to end the suffering of the people of Sri Lanka. I write under the encouragement of my friends and associates. Their words of support and concern tell me that there is still hope, despite the feeling of hopelessness concerning our collective inability to…

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What we can expect in Sri Lanka in 2008

It is impossible to prophesise political developments in Sri Lanka with any degree of accuracy. For starters, there is little that is logical about party politics and nothing that is principled. From the pathological condition of politicking for short-term and personal gain to random acts of terrorism and responses that change individual and communal fortunes overnight, Sri Lanka’s incredibly frustrating socio-political developments bedevils easy explanation or projections into the future. Some aspects of what we will see in 2008 are, however, blatantly obvious from developments the year before. For starters, the UNP will continue its downward spiral into monumental irrelevance. Without any real vision, a significant lack of appeal amongst Southern voters, no meaningful alternatives to the socio-economic policies and military strategies of the government and shackled by a marked lack of political imagination, the UNP is even today a tragic party struggling to come to grips with its rapid and significant demise. The mercurial Leader of the Opposition will…

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SRI LANKA: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

The year 2007 in Sri Lanka began with little hope for a revival of the peace process, and therefore also for constitutional reform, and it ends with similar prospects on either of these issues in 2008. The military conflict has intensified between the government and the LTTE, with either side now seemingly committed to, for the want of a better phrase, a fight unto the death. For the government, this means an exclusively military policy aimed at the total defeat of the LTTE, including the elimination of its leadership. There is little sign that this policy also involves a political settlement addressing the core political causes of the conflict, entailing fundamental reforms to the constitutional order so as to remove the anomaly of the unitary State in a pluralistic society. It would rather be a victor’s imposition of a piecemeal settlement that may marginally, but more likely may not, go beyond the devolution scheme already found under the Thirteenth Amendment…

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Present situation in Jaffna: A video interview in English and Sinhala

A video interview on the present situation in the embattled city of Jaffna in the North of Sri Lanka with Ruki Fernando from the Law and Society Trust. Ruki recently wrote to Groundviews on his experiences from a trip to Jaffna (read Jaffna: Tears, blood and terror). For a Sinhala version of this video, please click here. For more videos, please visit the Vikalpa YouTube Channel. Repost This Article

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Is it a crime to be a Tamil in Sri Lanka?

“In the end anti black, anti female, and all forms of discrimination equivalent to the same thing- anti humanism” Shirley Chisholm- American Politician, the first African-American to win a seat in the United States Congress I like to share the daily experience of being a Tamil in Sri Lanka. The Tamils who are living in North and East of the country are subjected to various forms of discrimination. They feel utterly helpless due to fear. The civilians in these areas lead a horrible life beyond our imagination. Tamils who are living in Colombo for decades are not exempted from discrimination by various walks of life; may it be security forces or fellow workers or neighbours. Recently I drove to a five star hotel in Colombo to meet a foreign friend of mine. I was stopped at the main entrance of this particular hotel. The security guard who stopped me asked “where I was driving to?” I replied that I was…

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Identity in Jaffna and Jewish Badge in Germany

Tamil residents in Jaffna are reportedly being forced to carry a special document of identification issued by security forces, in addition to the national identity card provided by the Emigration and Immigration Department. In other words, these Tamils have been ignominiously reduced, in the eyes of government authorities, to the status of non-nationals of their own country. Not only that, in order to get this security clearance, as reported in a weekend newspaper, one is obliged to disclose his/her political affiliations too. About 20 years ago, the visa application form of the USA in their Paris diplomatic mission contained a rather impolite question like this: “Have you ever been a member of a political party affiliated with Marxism?” It is possible that the USA has a right to pore over all outsiders wishing to enter their territory, though it may be queried as to its political correctness in a world where one’s right to hold any political opinion is inalienably…

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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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