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 …

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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 …

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‘Democracy’ and ‘Crisis’ are words we have come to associate them in the same sentence.

In this site and elsewhere, many people have lamented over the conduct of the present administration; Its blatant disregard for anything remotely ‘democratic’ – be it in a lack of accountability in public finances, due process of parliament or a total disregard of the freedom of the press, the Rajapakse administration have both directly and indirectly communicated that such democratic nuisances are too much of an inconvenience, especially ‘when fighting terrorism’.

One can, being good citizens of what is still, at least a quasi-democracy; place the blame squarely on the President, his brothers, the hundred-something ministers and hope the blame game would lead to some sort of …

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The diplomatic offensive of the government is in full swing even though there continues to be confusion as to who speaks authoritatively for it on the matters of war, peace and human rights – the Foreign Minister, other assorted cabinet ministers, the defence secretary, the foreign secretary, the secretary general of the peace secretariat or the ambassador in Geneva. It would not matter much if they all had their role to play in the communication of government policy as long as they all said the same thing. This though is not the case and it is not merely restricted to the dishing out of invective and verbal abuse to international officials a la Fernandopulle. There is also …

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The Daily Mirror on 29 August 2007 reports a high-level meeting at Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) between state and business leaders of Sri Lanka and a state delegation representing trade interests in Myanmar. The vice chairman of the CCC is reported to have addressed the visitors with the words, “This is an opportunity to extend our friendship for a fruitful partnership”. I wondered if those attending realized who they were befriending, and the possible consequences of this attempted friendship.

Myanmar is the new name for the country that has been better known as Burma. It is a country of about 47 million people who are predominantly Buddhist and, along with Sri Lanka, an important centre …

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This author is gobsmacked by the recent edict by the Chief Justice on school admissions to Grade 1. It is an affront on equality and human dignity. What is more, as a journalist, I am appalled at the silence of the media regarding this issue.

“මෙම නිර්දේශ මගින් සමහර ජනයා වඩා වටින්නේ ය යන දුර්දාන්ත අදහස තහවුරු කරන බව බැලූ බැල්මටම පෙනේ. මේ තාක් අප රටෙහි පැවැති සෑම පුරවැසියකුටම සමාන ලෙස සැළකීමේ පිළිවෙත අගවිනිසුරු විසින් ම මෙමගින් අහෝසි කිරීම එක එල්ලේම සමානාත්මතාවය කෙළෙසීමකි. සෑම පුරවැසියකුට ම සෑම අයිතිවාසිකමක්ම යන ලොව පිළිගත් මූලධර්මය මෙම නිර්දේශ මගින් යන්නේ කුණු කූඩයට ය.

අනෙත් අතට මේ වනාහී උපහැරණයකින් කියන්නේ නම් බල්ලාගේ වැඬේ බූරුවා බාර ගැනීමකි. අධ්‍යපන මනොවිද්‍යඥයින් විසින් තීරණය කළ යුතු දරුවාගේ බුද්ධි මට්ටම මැන …

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A litany of socio-political problems we face today can directly or indirectly be traced back to the existence and growth of corruption. Bordering on criminality, exacerbating extreme poverty, stifling economic development and ultimately frustrating democracy and good governance, corruption – from bribery and extortion to fraud and nepotism - is a wretched phenomenon that progressively wastes Sri Lanka’s social, economic and political potential. Addressing it requires a holistic approach that looks at the interdependence of the Executive, Parliament, Judiciary, public institutions, private interests and civil society initiatives.

This video, part of a larger media campaign conducted by the Anti-Corruption Programme of ARD has details of a …

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R.M.B Senanayake

The Supreme Court is looking into the Education Ministry circular on School Admissions. According to a writer in the Daily News the court wants to ensure equal treatment for all children. Presently the school admissions are based on several quotas – for children of past students, neighborhood or area based quota, preference for siblings of children already in the school etc.

There is no doubt that the best principle would be to admit on ability. But ability cannot be checked at the primary entrance level since the children are too small.

To my mind the principle of equality of opportunity cannot be ensured in the present scheme of things unless there is fairness in allocating public money, teachers and other resources …

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Donna E. Chung, Ph.D.
International Trade and Labour Compliance Advisor
Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.
Washington, D.C.

20 July 2007

On 15 July 2007, just one day before the deadline, a judicial appeal was filed to save Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan teenager, from facing execution in Saudi Arabia. Had this deadline passed without an appeal, the nineteen-year-old would have faced public beheading, after receiving no legal representation and accused of a crime she, at most, became party to through a tragic accident while working as a child in a foreign country.

Compared to another case in which three Sri Lankans were sentenced to death two years ago and executed last February in Saudi Arabia without any legal representation, it is good that Rizana …

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The beheading of Rizana, a Sri Lankan migrant worker in Saudi Arabia feels unstoppable. I first heard about this issue late last week ago, but only found out yesterday that her execution is scheduled for the 16th July – in a few days time.

Why didn’t I know earlier? She was arrested in May 2005 and was sentenced to death on 16 June 2007. But, rather than analysing my poor information flows and the lack of publicity this case has received, it’s better to concentrate on what can be done to delay the execution of someone who has not received proper legal representation, and from all accounts, appears to have been wrongly convicted.

According to her certified birth certificate, Rizana was born …

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