Sri Lanka falls further in world Corruption Perceptions Index

(November 18, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka shared the 97th position with Liberia among 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2009 of the Transparency International.

The world’s ten least corrupt countries are as follows:

1. New Zealand

2. Denmark

3. Singapore

4. Sweden

5. Switzerland

6. Finland

7. Netherlands

8. Australia

9. Canada

10. Iceland

The world’s ten most corrupt countries:

1. Somalia

2. Afghanistan

3. Myanmar

4. Sudan

5. Iraq

6. Chad

7. Uzbekistan

8. Turkmenistan

9. Iran

10. Haiti

In 2005, Sri Lanka was the 78th among 158 countries. In 2006, she was placed 84 of 163 countries. In 2007 Sri Lanka was the 94th among 179 countries. The country was at 92nd place in 2008 among 180 countries.

Bhutan achieved the best position in the index among the South Asian nations securing the 43rd place. India is at 84 while Pakistan and Bangladesh shared the 139th position. Nepal is at 143 while Maldives is at 130.

China has achieved the 79th position. UK and US are at 17 and 19 respectively.

The CPI measures the perceived level of public-sector corruption in 180 countries and territories around the world. The CPI is a "survey of surveys", based on 13 different expert and business surveys.

Amnesty International takes action for Sri Lanka displaced

(November 18, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Activists and supporters of Amnesty International will launch a week of action on Monday highlighting the continued detention of thousands of displaced civilians in government camps in Sri Lanka.

Activists in more than 10 countries will take action as part of the Unlock the Camps campaign. Events include a ‘Circle of Hope’ in Canada, a street march and signature campaign in Nepal, a poetry reading in Switzerland and solidarity actions in  France, Germany, Mauritius and the United States.

Throughout the week, Amnesty International activists based in London and participating sections  will write blogs about the events taking place across the world..

Six months after the end of the war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sri Lanka continues to confine people who fled fighting in the north to closed displacement camps in uncomfortable and sometimes hazardous conditions.

Releases from the camps have increased in recent weeks. However, camp shelters have deteriorated as Sri Lanka has entered the rainy season, with funds for shelter repair running out.

This week John Holmes, lead advisor on humanitarian affairs to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, travels to Sri Lanka to assess the situation of the people in the camps.

TRAPPED
Around 150,000 displaced people living in government camps in northern Sri Lanka are still being denied their basic human rights including freedom of movement. The military control whether the displaced can leave camp premises - even to seek medical care - and they are denied basic legal protections.

The government has widely publicised recent releases but Amnesty International has received reports that many people have been held by local authorities to determine whether they had links to the LTTE.

VOICELESS
Displaced people have been given no voice in decisions regarding their release, return or resettlement.

Families have received no warning about impending releases or been informed of conditions in their former homes. They have not been given clear information about their rights and obligations, legal status or procedures for tracing family members.

Humanitarian organizations have been prevented from talking to displaced people in the camps, obstructing their ability to conduct crucial human rights work such as providing legal aid or assisting with family reunification. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has not had access to the camps since July.

UNPROTECTED
Since the war ended in May 2009, many thousands of people detained in camps have been subjected to 'screening' by the security forces in an attempt to root out LTTE members.

An estimated 12,000 people (including children) suspected of links to the LTTE have been arrested, separated from the general displaced population and detained by the authorities in irregular detention facilities, such as vacated school buildings.

Amnesty International has received repeated, credible reports from humanitarian workers about the lack of transparency and accountability in the screening process, which is conducted outside of any legal framework. There are also increased dangers to detainees when they are held incommunicado.
While screening is appropriate to ensure that LTTE combatants are not housed with the general camp population, proper procedures should be followed and the screening process must not be used as an excuse for collective punishment.

Independent monitors (including the ICRC) continue to be denied access to sites housing adult LTTE suspects. Detainees have not been charged with any offence, and have been denied legal counsel and due process. Many are held incommunicado.

 

Amnesty International has called on the Sri Lankan government to respect and protect the human rights of displaced people, including the rights to liberty and freedom of movement.

Sri Lanka President to hold general election prior to presidential

(November 17, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse who earlier wanted an early presidential to extend his term for eight more years manipulating the popularity he earned via the victory over the Tamils' violent struggle for homeland is now changing his mind, sources say.

The President is likely to postpone the presidential and the parliamentary elections are to come soon as the term ends in April next year.

The President anticipated a one horse race with the shattered opposition until the former Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka who was a kingpin of the government's war victory came into the scene as a possible common opposition candidate in an upcoming presidential.

Fonseka retired from the post of Chief of Defense Forces on November 16. He said to media that he would expose his plans for future within a couple of days.

Major opposition United National Party (UNP) and Marxist nationalist People's Liberation Front (JVP) have pledged conditional support to Fonseka and both parties have sought the abolition of the executive presidency. However informal sources say that Fonseka has asked for a period of two years to go before the abolition of the executive presidency.

However, with the possibility of holding a general election before the presidential, Fonseka, the UNP and the JVP will have to rethink their strategies. At the moment, Sarath Fonseka appears more popular than the President, according to an online survey conducted by our sister Sinhala website www.w3lanka.com.

Tamil detainees attacked in Sri Lanka prison

(November 17, Colombo - Lanka Polity)  Sri Lanka's opposition political parties led by the Democratic People's Front and the United Socialist Party demonstrated today in front of the Magazine Prison in Colombo against an incident of assaulting the Tamil detainees brutally within the prison.

The organizers of the agitation say they have reports that a member of prison staff who belongs to the majority Sinhala community has led some other Sinhala prisoners to attack the Tamil detainees. One prisoner has sustained severe spinal injuries while another prisoner has lost front teeth in the attack. At least ten others have sustained injuries.

Sri Lanka prisons have a history of massacres of Tamil prisoners by majority Sinhala community prisoners with the connivance of the prison officials.

In one such incident, 52 Tamil prisoners were beaten to death in Welikada prison in Colombo in 1983.

Sri Lanka appoints military intelligence officer as ambassador for Eritrea to curb LTTE activities there

(November 15, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Following the recent exposures from the recently arrested leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam rebel movement, the government of Sri Lanka has decided to appoint a senior military intelligence officer as Sri Lanka Ambassador for Eritrea.

The New Ambassador previously acted as the Director of Military Intelligence of Sri Lanka Army.

According to local media, the captured LTTE leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias Kumaran Pathmanathan  revealed that the LTTE had obtained support of Eritrea for its international arms procurements and fund raising activities.

Sri Lanka government eliminated the founder and leader of the LTTE Velupillai Prabakaran on May 18 in the battlefields in northern Sri Lanka decimating the rebel apparatus that led for a 30-year war in the country. LTTE, that fought for a Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern parts of the South Asian island mustered massive support from Tamil diaspora worldwide.

However, LTTE was banned by many Western nations as a terrorist outfit.

Sri Lanka prevents UN rapporteur on freedom of opinion visiting Sri Lanka

(November 14, Colombo - Lanka Polity)  Frank La Rue, the UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression he is "perplexed" by Sri Lankan government's reluctance to allow him for a fact finding mission despite unofficially agreeing for the visit months ago. He says to BBC that he has been making the request unofficially since March this year and sent an official letter seeking permission to visit Sri Lanka in August or September but for no response from Sri Lankan mission in Geneva.


Sri Lanka government, as well as the defeated Tamil rebel organization LTTE, are accused of curtailing press freedom during the decades of conflict. The government earlier admitted that at least nine journalists had been killed since January 2006.

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, an organization of self-exiled Sri Lankan journalists say that more than 50 journalists have fled the country in fear of their lives.

A Sri Lankan court recently sentenced Tamil journalist J.N. Tissainayagam for 20 years under draconian anti-terrorism laws.

Sri Lankan media is under tight control of the government and the media persons say they have imposed self-censor on them in fear of threats.

Provide access to NGOs to assist resettlement - National Peace Council

(November 13, Colombo - Lanka Polity)  Sri Lanka's National Peace Council urges the Government of Sri Lanka to permit both international and local NGOs who have staff that is experienced in responding to humanitarian and resettlement needs of affected communities to work in partnership with affected communities and government structures at the local level to accelerate the resettlement process. 

"Since the provision of basic humanitarian needs is a primary function of civil society, we request the Government to maximize the use of civil society resources to meet urgent needs through mechanisms such as mobile health clinics, psycho-social support and house building. We urge the Government to facilitate the efforts of civil society groups to rebuild trust and establish a base of continuous dialogue so that both can work efficiently together to assist the displaced. Showing concern for IDP needs by providing them with basic requirements for survival and sufficient tools to rebuild their lives will also help develop trust between the Government and the displaced people, a crucial component of reconciliation," says the National Peace Council.

Recently, several media reported pessimistically about the resettlement programme of the government saying that the IDPs had been re-positioned in smaller camps instead of resettling them in their villages. Some media said that the government resorted to this action aiming to divert international pressure, to manage the mounting tension among the large groups of IDPs and also for the better manipulation of the voters at upcoming elections. 

Current reports indicate that nearly130,000 IDPs are being resettled either with their relatives or in vacant houses.  National Peace Council says, "These temporary arrangements are not going to solve their long standing problems.  The Government needs to reassure these people that they are entitled to resettlement again to their own places from where they have come from."

At least 280,000 persons who were displaced from the island's Northern Province during the last stages of Sri Lanka Government's war against the Tamil rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, were confined to welfare centers from which they were not permitted to leave. Hundreds of thousands of people still languish in these camps amidst pressure to the government to speed up resettling them.