The need of judiciary to remain the guardian of the people

Following are some extracts from the speech delivered by Wijeydasa Rajapaksha at his induction as the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, for this year. It is evident that people of this country by and large, have lost their faith alarmingly in the administration of justice, owing to a multitude of reasons. It is a paramount truth that one cannot expect to uphold the Rule of Law and ensure the proper administration of justice fairly a

“If my style leads to my downfall, it says more about those who cause my downfall than about me”--D

Q: You have noted that it is your post-Geneva opinions that led to this urgent action, what are the other factors, which led to this action by the Ministry?

EDITORIAL - LOOKING FOR SPLINTERS WITH BEAMS IN THEIR EYES

So, Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka has committed a cardinal sin by colour-washing the embassy and his official residence without the consent from Colombo.

Energy policies in Sri Lanka - The relevance of Schumacher’s thinking

The celebrations of the centenary of Dr E. F. Schumacher's birth are held this year.  Schumacher was one of the major critiques of Western economies and he proposed human-scale, decentralized and appropriate technologies as the alternative to the dominan western development model. He highlighted that fossil fuels are not made by men and they cannot be recycled and raised the issue of scarcity of fossil fuel resources way back in 1961.

Start of a proxy war?

The Syrian National Council, with the help of the international community is to start paying the Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar Al Assad's forces.  This decision is not only an important breakthrough, it consolidates the SNC's standing as a legitimate and internationally recognised opposition body.

A Super Power Uses Brute Force to Punch a “Small Friend”

Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Dr. Palitha Kohona in an email interview with the Daily Mirror on US-Sri Lanka relations, the decision by the External Affairs Ministry to shift its focus away from the west and the presence of Major General Shavendra Silva at the Sri Lankan Mission in New York.

An hour for the Earth

Earth Hour came and went. Some of us gave it 60 minutes while a few were blasé enough not to bother. Globally, iconic buildings switched off and the larger part of the world came together to show a little affection for the world we live in, a world where conservation is a nice label but still does not underscore how close we are to utter disaster.

POST-GENEVA GEOPOLITICAL CHALLENGES

The key features of Sri Lanka’s most recent Geneva experience loom larger than the confines of Geneva and the UN system. They are the main challenges that Sri Lanka has to face in the external arena; challenges with an internal dimension.

China’s role in Post- Conflict Development

China’s deepening engagement in conflict-affected countries is creating new challenges for its policy makers as they come to terms with the contradictions between a policy of non-interference, and new interests that need protecting.

Contextualising ‘ethnicity’, revisiting ‘ethnic issue’

President Mahinda Rajapaksa‘s reiteration of the Government’s commitment to “walk an extra mile to establish permanent peace through reconciliation” should be a welcome reaction to the Geneva vote. For reconciliation to be permanent, there is an urgent need for contextualising ‘ethnicity’ to contemporary Sri Lanka and revisit the ‘ethnic issue’ as needs to be acted upon. In turn, the Government and

Oil’s strategic significance

The flurry of diplomatic efforts made by the United States to ensure that the world oil market remains stable came as President Barack Obama announced fresh sanctions on Iran’s energy sector. Paving way for the Iran oil curbs that will significantly affect the country’s economy, if it does not find other buyers soon — with Japan, the EU and Turkey announcing cuts in importing Iranian oil— the US Secretary of State Hillary

Is microfinance an engine of development? Finca says yes

The jury is still out on whether microcredit makes a difference to the lives of the poor, but stories of its success are compelling It's probably fair to say Rupert Scofield had no idea what he was getting himself into. It was 1971, he had just graduated, and entering the world of pinstripes and percentages inhabited by his father – an assistant treasurer at a bank in his native New York – seemed no more appealing than enlisting

Indo-US relationship drifting: book

India should have sent its troops back to Sri Lanka to kill or capture Prabhakaran and the LTTE leadership after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, says a new book by a former US diplomat.

TAMARA KUNANAYAKAM: FIGHTING FOR LANKA IN GENEVA

Many Sri Lankans   watching live proceedings of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on the fateful Thursday of March 22nd 2012  were  puzzled by the  composition of our representatives  when the spotlight was on Sri Lanka in Geneva. With our learned minister of External Affairs himself being present in Geneva it was but natural to expect that Prof GL Peiris would deliver the official response of Sri Lank

Libya’s latest challenge

The continuing unrest in Libya forebodes ill. The ruling Libyan Transitional Council (NTC) is clearly not in control of the precarious security that is being held hostage to different militias.

The Psychosocial Aspect of Education in Reconciliation”

By Rev. Sister Mary Canice Fernando (Principal, Holy Family Convent, Bambalabitya ) When we talk of ‘psychosocial’ what do we mean by it? Psychosocial deals with the well-being of individuals with relation to their environment. The concept of psychosocial reflects the dynamic relationship - interplay between psychological and social issues.

The hell that is Iraq, who's accountable?

Last week marked the ninth anniversary of the United States' invasion of Iraq and the first since the much-bandied-about withdrawal of US troops in December last year...

Violence in Sudan

Reports of fighting between the two flanks of Sudan are quite unfortunate. The situation is more confusing because they are at loggerheads over an issue that has been legally and politically addressed under...

Western Hypocrisy, Our Hypocrisy and Human Responsibility

Sri Lanka is in the bad books of  the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada. Many other Western Nations condemn our nation for alleged human rights violations. Fascinatingly, many of these Western Nations...

In Ohio, it is illegal to get a fish drunk!

Law, as defined by the Black’s Law Dictionary, is “That which is laid down, ordained, or established. It is a rule or method according to which phenomena or actions co-exist or follow each other.  Law, in its...

A LESSON IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

Thursday the 22nd of March was a day Sri Lanka was given a lesson in International Law. This is not to suggest we are inadequate in our understanding of this fascinating subject but events preceding suggest that we have either not comprehended the reality of 'International Law' or have been ignorant of it in the wake of International relations.

GENEVA :“SHAPE”KARALA GANNA BARI WUNA (COULDN’T FIX IT)!

The reaction of the Rajapaksa regime to the successful US resolution at the Human Rights Council makes out the resolution to be, in effect, the first defeat suffered by the regime, its feeble efforts at damage limitation notwithstanding. Needless to say it should not have come to this.

WHY ONLY AFRICANS?

The first conviction at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the tenth year of its functioning is a good time to take stock of how well an institution that was designed to counter war crimes and crimes against humanity around the world has performed so far.

INDO-US STRATEGY:LASSO AROUND OUR NECK

There is a time to criticize and a time to be constructive. Country is being systematically throttled with a lasso thrown around its neck by an alien fist. Reconstruct is the proper term. Let's stand firm and heave the wretched curse of the albatross stuck around our neck and breathe again like a free nation.

We need to be vigilant about abuse of this resolution

In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, MP, Presidential Advisor on Reconciliation, discusses the resolution against Sri Lanka adopted at the 19th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Task in Seoul

It's utopian to think of a disarmed world. But there is no dearth of people and states that have campaigned for it, especially since the Hiroshima-Nagasaki disaster, wherein the atomic weapon was used for the first time.

Whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap … (Galatians 6:7)

The Rajapaksa government has been defeated at the vote held at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). However much has been attempted internationally and locally to project this as a defeat of the country it is really a defeat for the government; more correctly a defeat of the foreign policy of the Rajapaksa government. The defeat in Geneva could be defined as the manifestation of the failure of policies of the Rajapaksa government.&nbs

Diplomatic Immunity and

The case was filed by the American University Washington College of Law's Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic on behalf of Vasthala Devi, the widow of former LTTE Easter Leader Ramesh and Seetharam Sivam, who allegedly accused that their relatives were tortured and wrongfully killed by the Sri Lankan military. Vathsala Devi filed the case demanding compensation from the senior army officer who commanded the Army's 58th Division involved

"Countries that were to vote for SL voted with U.S, due to india"- prof. G.L.Peiris

I like the stand taken by Cuba, another country that survived over 50 years of American sanctions and attempts to assassinate retired President Fidel Castro. Is it any wonder that countries leaned towards communist countries for support?

AFTER GENEVA

After Geneva, do we Sri Lankans understand? Do we know how to understand? Do we understand that understanding does not come easily or automatically; that one has to 'learn how to understand', as Fidel clearly indicates in his latest article entitled 'Roads to Disaster'? This means that one's moods, habits, prejudices, emotions, rhetoric and knee-jerk reactions cannot be mistaken for understanding.