Sri Lanka; Official Language Policy implementation at snail’s pace; not a single prosecution so far

Sri Lanka; Official Language Policy implementation at snail’s pace; not a single prosecution so far

No Tamil in this military sign board

Sunday, February 23, 2014

The pace of implementing the Government’s Official Language Policy has been far from satisfactory, Minister of National Languages and Social Integration Vasudewa Nanayakkara told The Nation. Minister Nanayakkara admitted the Government had not gone speedily enough when it came to ensuring language equality in the country. He also acknowledged that not a single prosecution had so far been conducted with regard to language violations. “This is a matter for the Attorney-General’s Department and they have to advise us. However, nothing has been done for the last two years,” he further stressed.

The Nation pointed out that the legal requirement of giving due prominence to Sinhala and Tamil, the two official languages, and English which is the link language, was still being ignored in many places, to which he agreed. “If you look at Vavuniya, you have notices in all three languages. However, as you come further down to somewhere like Anuradhapura, the notices only appear in Sinhala. This is true, but the task we have is also enormous and we have been trying very hard”.

He added restructuring the Official Languages Commission was being given priority in implementing that language policy. “The commission is currently housed in two or three cubicles. They just don’t have the space to accommodate new staff. I have told them for over a year now to look for premises that can accommodate them better, but this has still not been done,” the minister revealed.  The commission currently lacks a full-time chairperson, while the post of director-general remains vacant. Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Official Languages has been undertaking secretarial duties of the commission, which is not proper given his position, according to the minister. Such shortcomings have made speedy implementation of the language policy difficult and Nanayakkara acknowledged he was disappointed at the pace of progress.

“However, we have a research officer currently looking into the restructuring of the commission and we also hope to introduce amendments to the Official Languages Commission Act so that the process can go forward at a faster rate,” the minister said.

  By  Sandun Jayawardana  

Sri Lanka warns of US threat to South Asia

By Agencies- 2014-2-24

The Sri Lankan Government on Sunday warned that the USGovernment may pose a threat to the entire South Asian region.

Sri Lanka's National languages and Social Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara urged South Asian countries not to leave room for the United States to pass a resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva next month.

The minister warned that Washington may attempt to use the resolution to force a change of government in Sri Lanka. He said that interfering in Sri Lanka's domestic affairs could be the first step by the United States to interfere in the South Asian region.

The United States is to sponsor a resolution on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC next month which is expected to call for a UN-backed investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka. Human rights groups allege that war crimes were committed by the military during the final stages of the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels, an allegation the government denies.

The rebels were defeated in May 2009 after 30 years of fighting but human rights groups claim that some 40,000 civilians were killed in the process.

The US-sponsored resolution is expected to have the backing of several member countries at the UNHRC, including Sri Lanka's biggest neighbor of India.

However, Minister Nanayakkara said the Sri Lankan Government appreciated the decision taken by India to ban a controversial film on Sri Lanka. He recalled that India had even refused to grant a visa to the director of the movie "No-Fire Zone," who has been accused by the Sri Lankan Government of playing into the hands of Tamil Tiger sympathizers.