Sri Lanka

(Translation from the Arabic original)We have the right as human beings to ask about the souls of other humans that are being wasted unjustly. And it is our right to in a State of law and order to ask about the rights of these souls. Follows to that the souls of all human beings, whether they belong to us or to other nations since we belong to the religion of justice, and since we worship a God who prohibited injustice on himself. I bring today the following facts about a death of a 4 months old infant. He lost his right to live due to the fact that those who were in entrusted to keep him safe and healthy did not carry their trust as should. Instead, they gave the responsibility to a young girl or in other words, a minor.  

     من حقنا كبشر أن نسأل عن أرواح البشر الآخرين التي تزهق بغير وجه حق، ومن حقنا في دولة قانون أن نسأل عن حقوق هذه الأرواح، ويتبع ذلك أرواح كل البشر، من ينتمي إلينا ومن ينتمي إلى غيرنا من شعوب طالما أننا ندين بدين العدالة ونتعبد لرب حرّم الظلم على نفسه. أطرح اليوم قضية طفل رضيع، فارق الحياة وهو في الشهر الرابع من عمره. خسر حقه في الحياة لأن من كانوا مكلفين بالعناية به والتأكد من أن حياته محفوظة وسلامته مكفولة وغذاءه وشرابه مؤمّنان لم يحسنوا القيام بهذه المهمة فأوكلوها إلى خادمة صغيرة في السن، أو قاصر(وفق الأوراق التي دخلت بها المملكة فإن عمرها كان 23 سنة ووفق شهادة ميلادها كان عمرها 17 سنة آنذاك)، لا يعرفون الكثير عن خلفيتها أو خبرتها أو أهليتها، وفي خلال أسبوعين من وصولها من سري لانكا (مايو 2005) كان الرضيع موكلاً إلى "ريزانا رفيق" بمفردها ومن غير إشراف، ولا ندري إن كانت دُربت خلال هذين الأسبوعين كفاية أم لا ولا بأي لغة تم ذلك، لكن النتيجة لا تنبئ بذلك، إذ إنه يبدو أن الطفل أصيب بغصة أو شرقة أو ما شابه ولم تعرف الخادمة كيف تتصرف وهي تصرخ طلباً للمساعدة وتحاول بعدم خبرتها أن تهدئ الطفل حتى وصلت الأم بعد فوات الأوان وقد قضى الرضيع بين يديها.

 (نيويورك، 26 أكتوبر/تشرين الأول 2010) - قالت هيومن رايتس ووتش اليوم إن على الملك عبد الله ووزير الداخلية الأمير نايف، أن يأمرا بوقف إعدام ريزانا نافيك، عاملة المنازل السريلانكية المحكوم عليها بالإعدام بعد إدانتها بقتل طفل كان تحت رعايتها عندما كانت تبلغ من العمر 17 عاماً. المملكة العربية السعودية هي واحدة من ثلاث دول في العالم ما زال معروف عنها إعدام أشخاص - خلال العامين الماضيين - على خلفية جرائم يُفترض أنهم ارتكبوها وهم في سن الطفولة.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) draws your attention to the appeal made in 2007 into the case of Rizana Nafeek, who went to Saudi Arabia as a maid when she was 17 years old and who was sentenced to death by a Saudi court on the allegation that she had killed an infant of her employer. However, she completely denied the charges and explained that the death occurred as an accident by suffocation while she was bottle feeding the child. As a result of intervention by human rights organisations an appeal was filed on her behalf and the death sentence was set aside.

In this Groundviews interview, the interviewer asks WLUML Council member, Chulani Kodikara, about affirmative action, and also whether for example, the entry of telegenic females sans political acumen to parliament in any way helps advocacy on stronger female representation. Pegged to this, he also questions her about substantive equality, that goes beyond, in her own words, the classical liberal notion of formal equality which assume that removing formal barriers, for example giving women the right to vote and be elected to political office, is sufficient to give women equal access to political institutions.

'Women are not just victims of war, as some aspects of their experiences are empowering and can be used as a resource for healing and transformation’. War is a gendered process. Post war is no different. It may be a cliché to say that in Sri Lanka as elsewhere in the world, the most visible and harmful impact of 30 years of war has been on women, but that is the reality. As men joined militant groups or the armed forces, were arrested, abducted, disappeared, or took flight to safer locations outside the community or the country, women were left behind to cope with fractured families and communities; multiple displacement, transition in alien spaces such as camps for the displaced; or resettlement in distant and unfamiliar regions.

The announcement of the new Ministerial Portfolios has everyone talking. Who has got demoted or promoted, included or excluded, or whether the appointments are apt, or not, is a common talking point whether in Colombo or elsewhere. Amongst the surprises were the appointments of two men as Minister and Deputy Minister respectively of the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment previously known as Women’s Affairs. Cat’s Eye decided to conduct a spot poll of some women on what they thought about this choice.

The manifestos, called Mahinda Chintanaya II in the case of the incumbent President and The Common Minimum Plan in the case of General Sarath Fonseka, have now been released to the public. In an election short on substantive issues and characterized by mud-slinging by both sides, these documents provide the voter an idea of the programmes both candidates wish to prioritize.

Resettlement efforts are under way for thousands of displaced Muslims from Sri Lanka’s north who have been languishing in refugee camps for nearly two decades, officials say. The internally displaced people (IDPs) were forcibly evicted in October 1990 from the northern districts of Jaffna, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu and some parts of Vavuniya by the insurgent Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). About 75,000 Muslims are estimated to have fled, making their way towards government-controlled areas in Vavuniya and Anuradhapura, as well as to Puttalam District on the northwestern coast, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).

“War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.” - George Orwell (Nineteen Eighty-Four). Thus begins the Rajapakse era, with the arrest of Gen. Sarath Fonseka. I did not and do not consider Sarath Fonseka to be a hero, any more than I consider Mahinda Rajapakse and Gotabhaya Rajapakse to be heroes. Still I believe Fonseka’s arrest should be a matter of gravest and most intimate concern to all those who value democratic freedoms, because it symbolises the conclusive triumph of a new political commonsense which equates Mahinda Rajapakse (and his brothers) with the country and thus damns any opponent of Rajapakse rule as an enemy of the nation. A democracy which equates opposition to the powers that be with treachery to the nation is no longer a democracy but an autocracy.

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