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The 9th ‘Yowun Puraya’ program is to be held on March 28 at the Nikaweratiya Agrarian Institute grounds. The program to be held on five consecutive days will see the attendance of 7000 youth, according to the Chairman of the National Youth Council, Eranda Weliange.

A number of programs for personality development, leadership workshops, youth camps and meetings will also be held.

The attending youth will be made aware of national reconciliation and on how to compromise, exchange experiences with the youth in the fields of youth development and engage in mutual activities through mutual understanding and co-existence.

Chairman of National Youth Services Council, Eranda Weleamage said that preparations are being made to conduct the program for the Youth Pioneer Program.

The new Mission Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for Sri Lanka and Maldives, Reed J. Aeschliman, who assumed duties on March 5, 2018 arrived in Sri Lanka today, the US Embassy said.

Mr. Aeschliman's arrival corresponds with the start-up of several new initiatives and more than 4.5 billion Sri Lankan rupees in programs that advance youth employability, rule of law, and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

"We are fortunate to have Mr. Aeschliman join the U.S. Embassy team as we celebrate 70 years of partnership between the United States and Sri Lanka," said U.S. Ambassador Atul Keshap.

Since 1956, the United States Government has provided more than $2 billion (approximately 300 billion LKR) in development and humanitarian assistance that has benefited Sri Lankans across the country. This assistance has made meaningful impact on inclusive economic growth, good governance reforms, and recovery from humanitarian crises.

"I am honored to work in partnership with the Government and people of Sri Lanka and Maldives to be more effective with U.S. development assistance, expand the assistance to the people who need it the most, and strengthen partnerships and cooperation with the United States," said Mr. Aeschliman.

Mr. Aeschliman has worked at USAID since 2000 and has served in the Philippines and Pacific Islands, Afghanistan, Cambodia, and India, managing the design and implementation of a full range of economic, democratic governance, environment, education, and infrastructure programs. His most recent prior assignment was in Washington where he served as Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Asia.

A group of Sri Lankan academics teaching in educational institutions abroad – and numbering about 50 – has written to condemn ongoing violence against Sri Lanka’s Muslim community, especially the “brutal attacks” perpetrated early March.

Issuing an open letter, they say: “We are outraged that the government has failed to act speedily and decisively to stop the violence and bring those responsible to justice. The government must act firmly to prevent more destruction and bloodshed.”

“The scale and nature of recent attacks on the Muslim community are the result of years of successive regimes in Sri Lanka pandering to chauvinist nationalists.”

The letter points out that targeted and organized attacks against Muslim communities in Ampara, Teldeniya, and Kandy are not isolated incidents, but must be seen within a longer history of attacks on Muslims in Sri Lanka, including wartime violence by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) against northern and eastern Muslims.

After the end of the war, majoritarian attacks against Muslims living in the East and South have escalated. In May 2014, Sinhala Buddhist nationalists attacked and burned the Muslim-owned store, Fashion Bug, and its head offices in Colombo. In June 2014, Sinhala Buddhist nationalists again carried out anti-Muslim riots in Aluthgama, Beruwala and other areas in the Kalutara District, the letter adds.

In 2017 alone, there were 20 documented incidents of violence against Muslims, including the September 2017 attack on a UNHRC shelter housing 31 Muslim Rohingya refugees in Colombo.

The academics also point out that Sinhala Buddhist monks led this last attack in direct violation of international human rights treaties on the protection of refugees, which Sri Lanka has ratified. In some of these instances, members of the police and security forces were present, but did nothing to halt the perpetrators or protect the victims.

“While some civil society organizations in Sri Lanka have condemned these orchestrated acts of violence, the government has failed to hold the responsible political and religious figures to account.

"Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), for example, openly propagates hate speech against Muslims, and promotes xenophobia, racism, and bigotry. Such actors do not operate in a vacuum; the ‘inaction’ of political authorities and the police against them is in fact an active intervention, encouraging groups like the BBS and Maha Sona Balakaya to act with impunity.’

“We, members of the Sri Lankan diaspora, and Sri Lankans living abroad, from all of the country’s diverse communities, stand in solidarity with our Muslim sisters and brothers. "We believe that declaring a state of emergency and curbing free media and social networks are not sustainable solutions to issues of equal rights and the protection of minorities,” the letter notes.

In the long run, such measures will only expand the repressive powers of the state. The government must take swift action to bring those responsible for anti-Muslim violence to justice. “We call on the government to hold accountable law enforcement and political authorities who have reneged on their responsibility to protect all members of the Sri Lankan community.”

“We also call on the government to move on long-term questions of constitutional reform that can lay the foundation for a future of peace with justice and security for all its citizens, including minorities.”

The signatories comprise: Vasuki Nesiah, New York University; Nimanthi Perera-Rajasingham, Colgate University; Mythri Jegathesan, Santa Clara University; Kanishka Goonewardena, University of Toronto; V.V. Ganeshananthan, University of Minnesota; Qadri Ismail, University of Minnesota; Sharika Thiranagama, Stanford University; Sonali Perera, City University of New York; Kitana Ananda, City University of New York; and Sanjeevi Nuhumal, Haverford College.

Others who have signed the letter comprise: Kathleen Fernando, Kenyon College; Kanchana Ruwanpura, University of Edinburgh; Pradeep Sangapala, University of Alberta; Arjun Guneratne, Macalester College; Amarnath Amarasingam, University of Waterloo; Arjini Nawal, Harvard University; Neil DeVotta, Wake Forest University; Nihal Perera, Ball State University; Sandya Hewamanne, University of Essex; Nira Wickramasinghe, Leiden University; Nalin Jayasena, Miami University; and Prashanth Kuganathan, Columbia University.

President Maithripala Sirisena, who is on a state visit to Japan, made an observation tour of a modern waste management centre in Shinagawa, Tokyo today (14), the Presidential Media Unit said.

President Sirisena also said that he would inquire about such projects in order to solve the garbage disposal problem in Sri Lanka and would seek the possibility of obtaining assistance from Japan.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Wednesday to promote bilateral cooperation on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region.

During their meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo, Abe and Sirisena confirmed that the two countries will advance bilateral defense exchanges, with Japan assisting Sri Lanka in capacity building for maritime law enforcement.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed President Maithripala Sirisena to his residence yesterday, where they agreed to promote Tokyo's "Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy" and signed a memorandum of understanding for a 10.6 billion yen ($99.6 million) loan for health-related projects.

 "By working together, we will make the Indo-Pacific an international commons that offers peace and prosperity for any country without discrimination," Abe said at a joint press conference. Sirisena added that the two countries will deepen their existing partnership.

Sri Lanka will use the yen loan to build out national hospital facilities and encourage the use of medical devices like catheters. The funds will also be used to train doctors and other medical professionals to improve residents' health.

The two leaders also reaffirmed cooperation in upgrading the Indian Ocean country’s infrastructure, such as port facilities in Colombo, in an attempt to bolster connectivity in the region.

The agreements are part of Japan’s efforts to promote its “free and open Indo-Pacific strategy” aimed at ensuring stability from East Asia to Africa through cooperation with nations that share values such as freedom of navigation and the rule of law.

The two leaders also agreed on the necessity of keeping “maximum pressure” on North Korea to prod it to abandon its nuclear weapons and missiles. Prime Minister Abe requested Sirisena's help in resolving the longstanding issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea as well.

Days after India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested one of the five suspected administrators of a Whats App group for allegedly circulating pornographic videos and photographs of children, the agency on Tuesday revealed that the group had 119 members from 40 countries involved in the racket.

Foreign nationals from Sri Lanka, Brazil, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Nigeria, USA and China are also involved in this racket, the CBI said.

In February, The Central Bureau of Investigation busted a global child pornography racket that was operated via a Whats App group named ‘KidsXXX’. The CBI had conducted searches in Delhi, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh in connection with the case and arrested one 20-year-old. The agency also noted that they have sought the assistance of Interpol to track down those involved in the racket.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday that the government has no intention of banning Facebook, but certain measures will be taken and laws will be brought to ensure that it does not carry content aimed at disrupting communal and religious harmony.

The laws will provide legal powers to monitor and control social media usage restricting the contents raising communal and religious hatred and disharmony.

Many issues have arisen with the use of Facebook such as spreading fake news and ISIS terrorism propaganda, he said.

Both electronic and print media have to be abide by the laws of the country as well as media ethics. However, as signatories of universal human rights declarations, all countries are bound to respect freedom of expression. But, Facebook, Viber, Whatsapp are not subject to any such laws. Several governments are discussing what can be done to address this issue. On the other hand, there is no control of its use and we must enact laws to control it,”the PM said.

“I have informed the Foreign Affairs Ministry to discuss with representatives of these companies as well as other countries in our region which have the same issues that affected our country, to formulate a mechanism to overcome this problem. We took this decision to protect the country’s peace. We will soon remove the blockade on FB and other social media links.The Premier addressing the gathering after opening of a newly-constructed swimming pool at Isipathana College in Colombo said yesterday.

“We can see positive and negative aspects of the social media through the incidents in Kandy recently. Since a small number of hotels are operated in the Kandy city, people in the area use to rent out rooms of their homes to tourists for profit.The entire Kandy city has shown tremendous progress in tourism thanks to social media such as Facebook, Viber, Whatsapp and other links. The tourism industry in Kandy collapsed due to the ethnic hatred messages prompted by the social media during the riots in Digana and Teldeniya, he said.

“As a responsible government, we have a duty to take appropriate action in this regard. We did not want to ban social media. But there should be a mechanism to supervise these networks. We have also earlier informed the FB regarding these kind of activities, but they were slow to respond. However, a representative from FB will arrive in the country today to discuss these issues. In addition to this, we are discussing to formulate a mechanism to prevent the spreading of communal and religious hatred and disharmony. Both Law and Order Ministry and the Attorney General’s Department are working together to bring in new laws in this regard.

Currently, the UK has laws to curb spreading of communal and religious hatred. No one can create communal or religious hatred and disharmony. At the moment we are following international civil rights laws in addition to the normal laws in the country. Currently Germany, UK and Kenya has passed laws in controlling the social media.

“I was instrumental in introducing Internet to Sri Lankans in 1993.I signed an agreement with former US Vice President Al Gore, when I was the Prime Minister then to bring internet to Sri Lanka. There are positive aspects of the social media which directly affect our economy, education communication and tourism. But on the other hand it has negative effects like spreading religious and communal disharmony creating violence and riots among the communities.

On the instructions of the Security Forces, we had to block the social media because they were spreading hate speech and amplifying them.” False reports of ethnically motivated attacks circulating on the network has resulted in retaliatory violence. If we had not taken such measures the, the situation would have been worse. Due to this urgent measure, we have been able to lift the curfew within a short period,” he added.

Source : Daily News

The United National Party has decided to oppose the cabinet paper put forward by the President to abolish the economic council headed by the Prime Minister, according to political sources.

The cabinet did not meet this week as the president is currently on a foreign tour. At the next cabinet meeting, UNP ministers are prepared to make public their objections, the sources further said.

According to sources the UNP MP’s beleive the Prsident is acting in a manner disadvantageous to the UNP with the intention of contesting at the 2020 Presidenttial election. Therefore the MP’s have suggested these acts should be curtailed.

The MP’s are said to be annoyed at the fact that the President has opposed to cabinet paper to provide school students with tablet computers while also blocking the appointment of a Minister for Law and Order that the UNP was favourable to.

JO support for the President

However meanwhile the Joint opposition has claimed that the President is incapable to putting a halt to the destruction of the country’s economy.

Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardena made this statement while addressing a media briefing held yesterday (13).

“The whole state apparatus have broken down and the government cannot function further” he said.

“No progress was made because the Economic Policy Committee chaired by the Prime Minister last three years is taking these decisions” he said.

Therefore, the President has decided to abolish the Economic Development Committee the MP pointed out adding that however the Economic Management Committee met last week and that the cabinet paper was postponed.

“Accordingly, it is clear that the President is unable to stop the process of devastating the economy. " he said.

The United National Party has decided to oppose the cabinet paper put forward by the President to abolish the economic council headed by the Prime Minister, according to political sources.

The cabinet did not meet this week as the president is currently on a foreign tour. At the next cabinet meeting, UNP ministers are prepared to make public their objections, the sources further said.

According to sources the UNP MP’s beleive the Prsident is acting in a manner disadvantageous to the UNP with the intention of contesting at the 2020 Presidenttial election. Therefore the MP’s have suggested these acts should be curtailed.

The MP’s are said to be annoyed at the fact that the President has opposed to cabinet paper to provide school students with tablet computers while also blocking the appointment of a Minister for Law and Order that the UNP was favourable to.

JO support for the President

However meanwhile the Joint opposition has claimed that the President is incapable to putting a halt to the destruction of the country’s economy.

Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardena made this statement while addressing a media briefing held yesterday (13).

“The whole state apparatus have broken down and the government cannot function further” he said.

“No progress was made because the Economic Policy Committee chaired by the Prime Minister last three years is taking these decisions” he said.

Therefore, the President has decided to abolish the Economic Development Committee the MP pointed out adding that however the Economic Management Committee met last week and that the cabinet paper was postponed.

“Accordingly, it is clear that the President is unable to stop the process of devastating the economy. " he said.

Restrictions placed on the social media platform, Whatsapp would be removed by midnight today, said Secretary to the President, Austin Fernando.

The Whatsapp messaging service was partially restricted with the sharing of multimedia, videos and calls being banned on the platform since March 7.

This is the second social media platform to have the ban revoked with Tuesday night having the ban on Viber repealed.

Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram however continue to have the ban imposed.

The Professional Web Journalists Association (PWJA) said during a press conference yesterday that the blocking of social media sites by the government was a bad and ill timed decision and that it failed to address the real issue of racism.

Convener of the PWJA, Freddie Gamage said the government could have used existing laws to prevent the propagation of hate speech and punished those instigating violence, instead of blocking social media. Gamage called the shutdown a move toward a censorship of the media.

“The real racists are not hiding on Facebook, they are out in the open,” one of the members said. They stressed the importance of Facebook and social media for many people including online businesses. “Many businesses operate on social media,” they said. “How can these people carry out their operations now?”

Although the Sri Lankan government said that they would only keep the ban for a 72 hour period, there are no signs of the ban being lifted even though that period has long passed. Under these circumstances, the PWJA requested the government to lift the ban immediately without inconveniencing the public further.

Transparency International Sri Lanka said today in a statement that TISL is alarmed by the continued blocking of social media and other communication tools on the orders of the government and called on the government to immediately reinstate access.

Speaking on the subject TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere noted, "the government must act immediately to remove the ban on social media and instead focus on holding those responsible for hate speech and inciting violence to account under the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights (ICCPR) Act. Instead of blocking social media, the government should be using it as a communication tool", he added.

Furthermore, TISL stated that moves to regulate social media are contradictory to the government's stated commitment to the freedom of expression. They drew attention to the 100 Days manifesto of His Excellency President Maithripala Sirisena, who pledged then that "The Right to Freedom of Thought and Expression will be strengthened".

TISL said that any future steps that can be perceived as 'thought policing' would weaken the freedom of expression and should not be pursued.

The Chairman of the newly appointed Office on Missing Persons (OMP), Saliya Peiris PC, said that the OMP will address the missing and disappeared cases of both civilians and combatants, including several thousand members of the Armed Forces, Police and Civil Defence Force who have been identified as missing in action, in addition to members of various armed groups who were party to Sri Lanka's conflict.

 Main purpose of the OMP is to address the suffering of the many thousands of families living in all parts of the country whose loved ones have gone missing or disappeared during multiple conflicts in Sri Lanka.

 In a statement, Peiris added that the key tasks of the OMP will consist of (i) tracing missing and disappeared persons, clarifying the circumstances in which the act took place (ii) protecting the rights and interests of those missing/disappeared and their next of kin (iii) identifying avenues of redress for those affected and (iv) making recommendations to the relevant authorities in order to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

 Given the magnitude of the problem and the complexity with respect to the multiple tasks required to search for the missing and the disappeared, the OMP will function as a permanent office, as legislated. In its design the OMP is distinct from previous state mechanisms to deal with disappearances, which were temporary in duration, and served largely to document and recommend, as opposed to being a permanent institution tasked with investigation and tracing. lt will be the task of the present members to establish a credible, efficient and strong institution, which over a period of time will be able to provide relief to the many affected persons and communities.

In doing so, the OMP will ensure that the efforts of previous commissions to examine and investigate disappearances will inform the design of processes and structures of the OMP. In addition, the OMP will employ a consultative approach, speaking to victims and other stakeholders, whilst carefully considering key recommendations made to the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF). Victim-centeredness will be a guiding principle for the operationalisation of the OMP. lt is, however, important to recognise that the OMP is one of four institutions and of multiple measures envisaged by the Government to ensure reconciliation and lasting peace within our nation.

The Chairman also stated that the seven members of the OMP represent a cross-section of society, comprising individuals who are experienced in the field of human rights as activists, public servants and professionals, including a family member of a disappeared individual and a retired legal advisor to the Sri Lanka Army. He reiterated that they are deeply committed to the welfare of all the victims of Sri Lanka's conflicts and conscious of the duties entrusted to them by Parliament.

"We are also mindful of the need to perform our functions impartially and objectively. Moreover, our obligations to the disappeared, the missing and their families are paramount in this endeavour", the Chairman added.