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Outgoing United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has commended Sri Lanka for cooperating with the UN system, following a period of fraught ties with the UNHRC over the country’s rights record.

Hussein was speaking at the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva where he presented his last global update in a regular session, on Monday (18). He praised Sri Lanka for allowing at least five visits by UN rights officials in the last five years.

“I note and commend the following States which have hosted at least five visits by thematic mandates in the last five years: Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Chile, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Ukraine, the UK and the US,” he said.

He also noted a number of other positive developments with respect to access for the Special Procedures. These include an increased response rate to communications, now at 68 per cent (an increase of 13 per cent over 2016); and Afghanistan’s issuance of a standing invitation to all mandate-holders, taking the number of States having done so to 118 UN Member States and one non-member Observer State. 

Regarding engagement with the Treaty Bodies, he welcomed long-outstanding reports to the Committees by Bangladesh, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Tonga and Zambia. 

He also applauded Qatar’s accession to the Covenants and Afghanistan’s accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, alongside many other ratifications. 

“My Office stands ready to support them in efforts to implement these commitments to ensure respect for their people’s rights, and I urge other countries which have not ratified these and other human rights treaties to do so,” Hussein said. 

Zeid, a Jordanian national who received a standing ovation from those in the council chamber following Monday’s speech, began his four-year tenure as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Sept. 1, 2014. He indicated in December of last year that he would not seek a second term, telling his staff that doing so “in the current geopolitical context, might involve bending a knee in supplication; muting a statement of advocacy; lessening the independence and integrity of my voice — which is your voice.”
His successor will be appointed by the UN secretary-general and approved by the UN General Assembly in the coming weeks.

Sri Lanka has extended more cooperation to the UNHRC under Hussein’s tenure.

Source : Ada Derana

Parties are alleging that Medagoda Abayathissa thera and a group of monks are now conspiring to disrobe General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena Organizations, Galagodaaththe Gnanasara thera who was recently imprisoned after being found guilty of criminally intimidating Sandhya Eknaligoda, wife of missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda. 

Sources say this group has been attempting to remove Gnanasara thera from mainstream discussions by aimed attacks on him publicly. Their activities have now increased after the monk was imprisoned sources say adding that Abayathissa thera’s statement that if a monk remains without his robe for over seven days that his monkhood will be automatically taken away according to the Vinaya Pitaka is a result of these efforts. 

According to sources after having used Gnanasara thera to gain votes, this group is trying to destroy him at a vulnerable moment. Therefore the group alleging that a conspiracy is ongoing says if it continues they will be forced to reveal the real lives of both monks and laymen acting against Gnanasara thera.

A global anti-doping intergovernmental ministerial meeting got underway in Sri lanka's capital on Monday, in order to discuss ways of freeing national and international level athletes from prohibited substances.

Twenty nine countries are participating in the '15th Asia/Oceania Regional Intergovernmental Ministerial Meeting on Anti Doping in Sports' which is organised by the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) and hosted this year by the Sri lanka Anti Doping Agency (SlADA), reports Xinhua news agency.

last year the global conference was hosted in Hangzhou, China.

Sri lanka's Sports Minister, Faizer Mustapha, speaking at the launch of the event said that since 1999, Sri lanka had been following the World Anti Doping Agency code in protecting all its athletes and providing a level playing field for all.

In 2013, Sri lanka launched the SlADA, which has provided national leadership in eradicating all forms of doping from Sri lankan sports.
Mustapha said such international forums provided countries the opportunity to reinforce all the anti doping laws and shed light on all athletes to do the right things by making educated judgments.

WADA President Craig Reedie, while congratulating Sri lanka for maintaining an excellent sports reputation, said this global conference was an important meeting for the region and the global anti-doping movement.

The meeting will conclude on Tuesday

The Ministries of Land and Home Affairs have commenced a new program to expedite the National Program to distribute 10 00 000 deeds to land sources say. 

While the national program is being executed by the Ministry of Land, however, the decision was taken to collaborate with the Ministry of Home Affairs as district secretariats and grama seva officers which work regarding land issues come under the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

The first step of this program was held in the Galle District when discussions were held this week between District Secretaries and Ministry of land officials led by Ministers Gayantha Karunatillake and Minister of Home Affairs Wajira Abeywardena at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

A team of experts from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and University of Notre Dame has arrived in Sri Lanka to conduct a research study in the island’s upper atmosphere.

The team of NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters arrived in a specially equipped US Air Force C130 aircraft Friday to study disturbances and changes in the upper atmosphere over the island.

The NOAA hurricane Hunters will join Sri Lankan scientists in the field of climate science to conduct the research study to predict monsoon patterns, the Civil Aviation Authority says. The research will be carried out for nearly 10 days.

The technical unit of this pilot project is led by Prof. Harindra Fernando in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame.

The researchers at the University of Notre Dame have launched a five-year study to measure oceanic and atmospheric conditions and flow patterns of monsoons across the Indian Ocean, in particular, the Bay of Bengal, to help improve predictive models.

Notre Dame University has signed a five-year memorandum of understanding with the Government of Sri Lanka, which will be a main hub of the measurement program. As part of the study, researchers will deploy a number of sophisticated instruments from research ships and an aircraft to measure the ocean and atmospheric properties over two monsoon cycles.

Sri Lanka is one of the more vulnerable countries in the world for climate change according to environmental scientists. Sri Lanka has faced severe droughts and floods in recent years.

Source : Daily FT

Several parties representing the JO are said to be in secret discussions in order to take an important political decision as the current political power struggle within the Rajapaksa family is becoming uncontrollable. 

According to a source, they are therefore now looking to join with the group of 16 to form a separate faction of collective progressive forces. 

They are also hoping to align themselves with other Sinhala nationalist parties and organizations sources say.

The group is said to be disgruntled as Basila Rajapaksa is said to be using the JO to promote the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna while disregarding other parties within the fraction continuously.

Veteran Sri Lankan singer Ivor Dennis has passed away today at his residence in Seeduwa. He was 86 at the time of his death. 

According to sources the last rites of the singer will take place on Wednesday (20). 

A pupil of veteran singer and musician Sunil Shantha, he started his musical journey with the song ‘Kurulu Paradisaye’ written by Thilaka Sudarman De Silva and composed by Sunil Shantha. 

Dennis a teacher by profession, has also worked as an advisor in folk music to the State music college.

Police have arrested five suspects in connection to the clash which occurred in Tellippalai, Jaffna yesterday. One person was killed when Police was forced to open fire at a group who were attacking two policemen with swords. The deceased has been identified as 33-year-old Pakyarasa Sudarshan.

Sources say a clash had occurred between two groups near the Tellippalai church during a festival and the police officers had intervened to disperse the crowd. However, a group wielding swords had then attacked the two police officers prompting police to open fire at them. Two other persons were also reportedly injured in the shooting and had been admitted to the hospital.
 
The police have arrested 3 suspects along with the injured 2 in the hospital regarding the incident. Tellippalai police are conducting investigations into the incident while Police Special Task Force (STF) personnel have been deployed in the area to control the situation and maintain peace.

Police Media Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara has refuted a news item carried in the website of Sinhalese daily Lankadeepa, which claimed that on 45 000 occasions various parties have received money from companies belonging to Arjun Aloysius and that this was revealed by the Criminal Investigations Department. 

The news had been carried recently in the Lankadeepa website owned by Wijeya Newspapers while a sister publication of it the ‘Ada’ newspaper today (18) revealed that this news was untrue. 

According to the Ada report, the news claiming that 45, 000 parties on that many occasions had taken money from Aloysius is false. It claimed, however, the Police are still carrying out further investigations into the matter.

Joint Postal Trade Union Front has refused the calls by the Postmaster General Rohana Abeyratne, to return to work unless their demands are met. Issuing a communique convenor of the front, Chinthaka Bandara said under no circumstance will the workers return to work as officials have not shown any interest in their issues. 

According to Chinthaka Bandara, convener of the Union, despite a joint ministerial communique signed by Minister Sarath Amunugama and Minister Abdul Haleem on January 12, 2018, promising to resolve the issues faced by them, no action has been taken as yet. “Again on June 1 we were told solutions will be provided in another two weeks,” he said adding that too has lapsed now.

Meanwhile 1,500 airmail sacks had piled up at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) due to the ongoing postal work stoppage sources said. Accordingly, mail sacks were also seen piled up at the Central Mail Exchange (CME) as mail collection and distribution islandwide has come to a standstill as a result of the strike action.

Other than mail collection and distribution, postal services such as pension payments, examination payments and spot fine payments has also been totally disrupted following the strike causing severe inconvenience to the public.

However Postmaster General Rohana Abeyratne has requested all postal department employees to halt their strike action and report to work immediately. Releasing a communiquéhe urged the employees to resolve their problems and demands through discussions.
 
“The Minister of Posts, Ministry Secretary and I as the Postmaster General, agree that the demands presented by the Unions are fair,” the communique said.
 
The Postmaster General also assured that their demands will be addressed within a month. “An acceptable solution will be provided,” he said, adding that the Department should be protected from competitors by providing services to the public.
 
The strike which commenced on June 10 has reached its seventh day. According to sources of the Department of Posts, it is incurring a loss of Rs. 150 million daily as a result of the ongoing strike.

Attending a recent meeting called by Director Traffic of the Police, SP Indika Hapugoda to discuss issues faced by motorcyclists, convenor of the Ceylon Motorcyclists Association, Chirantha Amerasinghe says the officer insulted them claiming that majority of those riding motorcycles with various modifications are hoodlums who are useless to society.

The association says they are in possession of a recording where the officer says “වාහන/බයික් වෙනස් කරන්නේ සමාජයට වැඩක් නැති, කොන්ඩ ගහලා, පච්ච ගහලා කකුල් වහලා, කුඩු ගහලා යන රස්තියාදු කාරයෝ” (Those who modify cars/ bikes are tattooed drug addicts and hoodlums who are useless to society).

According to the group they had merely wanted to discuss the unfairness of the decision made to charge between Rs 50 000 - 100 000 as fines for vehicle modifications when Hapugoda had started ranting at them during the meeting held on June 12.

Despite being a high ranking officer in the Traffic Division, during the discussion, Amerasinghe says when speaking about the ‘blindspot’ Hapugoda did not know the term and another officer had to explain it to him. “How did such an officer who has no knowledge get this position” Amerasinghe questions adding that a fruitful discussion is not possible with such an officer with no knowledge about the topic.

The association has also revealed past transgressions of SP Hapugoda, who is considered and known to be a corrupt officer in the Police department. He was linked to a 2001 fundamental rights case relating to the torture of a woman heard in the Supreme Court and mentioned in the report (SCM 21/09/2001). As a result, the Police Commission had halted his promotions. (http://www.island.lk/2004/08/02/news08.html)

However, the promotion was later awarded by the Chief Justice (SCFR No 392/2004) despite the allegations against him.

In 2010 he was also caught and arrested after mining for historical artefacts at a Rajamaha Vihara in Polonnaruwa. Department sources say he was sidelined by former IGP N.K Illangakoon due to his known corrupt practices.

However, he is now said to be wielding great power within the Traffic Division and having significant influence over decisions even being made by SDIG of Traffic, Nandana Munasinghe as well.

“We question as to how an officer with such a bad track record was appointed to the position of Director Traffic,” Amerasinghe asks adding that his qualifications to hold such a post must be explained as he does not seem to have the necessary knowledge.

The association has requested the Police Commission to now commence an investigation into the officer and his conduct.

There is a conflict within the Joint Opposition regarding the 2020 presidential candidate, says Deputy Minister Nalin Bandara. He stated these attending a meeting held in Kurunegala area.

According to him, former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and former Minister Basil Rajapaksa both are hoping to become the next presidential candidate, while MP Namal Rajapaksa does not prefer either.

He points out that there is a crisis within the Rajapaksa family and the Joint Opposition.

UNP has never acted in a way to disturb the peace among racial and religious groups, he further stated.

Source : Ada Derana