India decriminalises same sex relationships!

(July 02, 2009) Equal Grounds, a non-profit organization of Sri Lanka that seeks equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-sexual communities of the island, congratulates the Indian court ruling that decriminalises sames sex relationships. Today, 2nd July 2009, the High Court in Delhi struck down a 148-year-old colonial law which describes a same-sex relationship as an “unnatural offence”.

Delhi’s High Court ruled that the law outlawing homosexual acts was discriminatory and a “violation of fundamental rights”. The court said that a statute in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which defines homosexual acts as “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and made them illegal, was an “antithesis of the right to equality”.

"We congratulate a decade long struggle by Indian LGBT activists to repeal this insidious law," says Equal Grounds adding "India’s bold and forward thinking decision gives hope to the millions of LGBTIQ persons in the entire region. We hope that Sri Lanka will seriously think of doing the same and welcoming all people regardless of caste, creed, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity as EQUAL citizens of this country."

Fifty thousand metric tons of copper shell covers with Sri Lanka Army

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(July 02, 2009) Sri Lanka Minister of Industrial Development Kumar Welgama revealed that Sri Lanka Army has 50,000 metric tons of empty cartridges made of copper.

The major bulk of this copper stock is from empty artillery shell covers. These artillery were used in the military operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam in the recent past.

The Minister said at a press briefing held in the Ministry on June 30 that this copper stock would not be allowed to be exported as raw material without 35% value addition.

More new Ministers for Sri Lanka; Milinda to run Justice while Nanda to do tourism

(July 02, 2009) Sri Lanka's National Freedom Front (JNP) MP Nandana Gunathilaka is to swear in before the President as the Minister of Tourism today. Former Minister of Tourism Milinda Moragoda is to be appointed as the Minister of Justice.

Moragoda, a United National Party (UNP) MP, crossed over to the government in 2007. He was the Minister of Economic Reform under the Ranil Wickramasinghe government between 2001-2004. The privatization of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and the Lanka Marine Services Company by the Public Enterprises Reform Commission (PERC) that was under the direct purview of Minister Moragoda then was ruled as corrupt deals and the Supreme Court has ruled to revert them to the state. The activities of the Minister Milinda Moragoda under the UNP regime were heavily criticized by the Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (COPE) report.

Meanwhile, the JNP MP Piyasiri Wijenayaka is to swear in today as the non-cabinet Minister of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage.

World Political Review Article | War is Boring: Sri Lanka Conflict a Preview of 'Hybrid War'

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=4011

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Sri Lanka: Politicised Courts, Compromised Rights - International Crisis Group

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Colombo/Brussels, 30 June 2009: The Sri Lankan government must reform the country’s judicial system urgently if the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers is to lead to a lasting peace.

Sri Lanka’s Judiciary: Politicised Courts, Compromised Rights, the latest policy report from the International Crisis Group, warns that the Sri Lankan judiciary is not working in a fair and impartial way that secures justice and human rights for everyone regardless of ethnicity. This risks undermining the government’s recent military victory over the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). A durable national reconciliation process is only possible if human and constitutional rights are fully restored. 

“The judiciary has not acted as a check on presidential and legislative power but has instead contributed to the political alienation of Tamils”, says Robert Templer, Crisis Group’s Asia Program Director. “Under the former chief justice, the Supreme Court’s rulings strengthened political hardliners among Sinhala nationalist parties”.

Rather than assuaging conflict, the courts have corroded the rule of law and worsened ethnic tensions. They are neither constraining militarization of Sri Lankan society nor protecting minority rights. Instead, a politicized bench has entrenched favored allies, punished foes and blocked compromises with the Tamil minority. The judiciary’s intermittent interventions on important political questions have limited settlement options for the ethnic conflict.

Today, neither the lower nor the higher courts in Sri Lanka provide any guarantee of personal security or redress against arbitrary state violence. Although torture in police custody is endemic, courts are unwilling to provide adequate remedies for illegal or abusive detention. Police, judges and government officials have acted in ways that further the goals of powerful political actors, undermine the rule of law and deepen the current political and humanitarian crisis. The possibility of transitional justice, which is necessary for society to break the cycle of violence, is still missing.

The recent appointment of a new chief justice is an opportunity for reforms to begin. A first step toward restoring judicial independence would be a return to an orderly appointment and transfer of judges. This needs to be done both in the lower and appellate judiciary. There should also be fundamental reform of Sri Lanka’s extensive and often abused emergency laws, which are used disproportionately against Tamils. Provisions in the emergency laws concerning arrest, detention and derogation from routine criminal procedures need to be removed, as well as those that criminalize free speech and the exercise of associational rights.

“Fixing institutions and reforming laws will only have a limited effect until political actors, and especially the presidency, feel the cost of infringing on judicial independence”, warns Donald Steinberg, Crisis Group Deputy President for Policy. “Without a concerted effort by the bench and bar, the political costs of interfering with the judiciary will remain minimal”.

Health authorities on high alert to control spread of communicable diseases in refugee camps in Sri Lanka

Due to fear of dangerous outbreaks of communicable diseases in crowded Tamil refugee camps northern Sri Lanka, surveillance by the Ministry of Health staff has been strengthened. The greatest disease outbreak reported so far was chickenpox, with more than 12,000 cases, but those numbers had since been decreasing, a UN report say. Medical officers working with the displaced suspect that most of the chickenpox patients contracted the disease before they arrived in camps.

The number of new cases reported is steadily declining and admissions to hospitals are 40–50 patients per day, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs confirmed on 19 June.

“In Vavuniya, the number of Hepatitis A cases is also declining. A total of 2,139 cases were reported as at 12 June,” the report added.

Until 18 June, 1,060 cases of dysentery and more than 5,000 cases of diarrhoea had been reported from the camps,the UN says.

Until 19 June, only 29 cases of malaria had been reported, but health officials initiated a high alert when two cases were reported on 18 June from zone 4 in Menik Farm.

A letter to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

IRIN, humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, posted the following news story on June 30.
SRI LANKA: Rains raise fears of malaria setback
Following is the response of the Lanka Polity Editor:

Dear Sir,

As concerned citizens of Sri Lanka, we highly appreciate the efforts of the UN humanitarian agencies to better the lives of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. But the present situation of the country in which the authorities are engaged in spreading the view that the UN and other international agencies that raise humanitarian and human rights situations are 'enemies of the nation', the UN media needs to be extremely cautious when reporting.

Your reporting is the only responsible source to estimate the situation in the guarded refuge camps in Sri Lanka’s north. Most of the other news sources are directly biased to the military style propaganda of the government and the remaining elements of the rebels.

We want to show a basic error in this report. You write “Health experts warn that the arrival of monsoon rains in July could increase the risk of waterborne diseases for tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in camps in northern Sri Lanka,” Actually, the monsoon rains have arrived in the Southern, Western and Central regions that receive rain from the southwestern monsoon. There can be some rain in Northern, Eastern and North Central Provinces but it is not the monsoon for them. These areas receive rain from the Northeastern monsoon that arrives only in November, December every year. The four months ahead are the driest months for these areas. You can consult the Meteorological Department and verify the facts. We think that your or your “health experts” warning is baseless regarding the “increase the risk of waterborne diseases” if it is due to the monsoon rains.

This kind of carelessness in reporting actually fuel the malicious allegations against the UN that portrays the reports as destructive pro-rebel propaganda that aims at creating a bleak picture and panic.

Therefore, we urge your organization to be more responsible regarding the basic facts when reporting and to maintain high credibility in your reports.

Thanking You,

Editor, Lanka Polity