Serious doubts over Sri Lanka’s political will to find its disappeared

By Indika Gamage-25 SEPTEMBER 2018

Sri Lanka’s president handing over the task of determining the fate of thousands of forcibly disappeared Tamils, to a group of ruling party politicians has cast doubt on the government’s political commitment to deliver justice to victims.

P

PRESIDENT MAITHRIPALA SIRISENA

resident Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a ten-member cabinet committee to implement  urgent recommendations of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP)  meant to address the issue of enforced disappearances.

“There are also concerns that the appointment of this sub-committee could be a delaying tactic to further undermine the process, especially as there is no timeline given for its activities,” says the Johannesburg based International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) in a press release containing damning evidence of the the dismal human rights record of two of the committee members.

Put together by ITJP, the human rights credentials of the head of the cabinet committee, Wijayadasa Rajapakshe and another member Mahinda Samarasinghe raises questions about their suitability for the job.

“Is the Sri Lanka Government serious about its Office of Missing Persons?” asks ITJP.

'Terrorist propaganda'

Most recently, Minister Samarasinghe rejected any suggestion that rebel Tamils who surrendered to the military were killed despite a member of parliament from his own party saying otherwise.

ITJP recalls that the minister has previously denounced reports of enforced disappearance as terrorist propaganda and outrightly dismissed the idea that Tamils disappeared after surrendering at the end of the civil war.

“A

MAHINDA SAMARASINGHE

ppointing individuals like Mahinda Samarasinghe appears to be a deliberate attempt to subvert the entire process, which is already struggling for legitimacy with many Families of the Disappeared. It is also extremely offensive for the families, many of whom handed their loved ones over to the security forces at the end of the war never to see them again,” said the ITJP’s Executive Director and transitional justice expert, Yasmin Sooka.

As Human Rights Minister during the Rajapaksa Government, Mahinda Samarasinghe continuously defended their record and continues to deny state wrongdoing to this day.

“His appointment does not show political commitment to establishing the truth about enforced disappearances,” said Yasmin Sooka.

ITJP also questions the appointment of Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa as head of the cabinet committee.

His record on “minority affairs, alleged support for religious extremists and intolerance of freedom of expression and homosexuality hardly make him the right person to oversee the implementation of a rights-based approach to disappearance,” says ITJP.

ITJP has already documented more than 300 cases  of those who did not return after their surrender to the Sri Lankan military in 2009 May.☐

A scandalous quid pro quo alleged against prosecutors?

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Returning from Malaysia this week, correspondence with a now retired and respected diplomat focused on the ravages that the Malaysian people has had to go through including the gruesome instance of a Malaysian deputy public prosecutor whose body was discovered in a cement-filled oil drum dumped in a river. He had apparently been investigating corruption involving the former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor when he had been abducted and later, found killed.

The Bar is duty bound to look at reforms

The deputy prosecutor had been part of a probe by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigating financial irregularities involving a state-backed investment fund and other issues. The former Prime Minister had, during 2015, sacked the attorney general along with senior police chiefs, transferred the deputy head of the police special branch intelligence division and summarily dismissed a special parliamentary committee on corruption while intimidating the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and slapping critics with sedition charges. The killing of the deputy prosecutor is now being investigated afresh in the wake of a celebrated general election in May 2018 which tossed out Najib from political power.

It must be said that despite all the turbulence that had afflicted Sri Lanka during past decades, it had not reached that level of upheaval resulting in threats to the lives of state prosecutors. For that, we must be devoutly thankful. However, this is not to say that we have not had our own problems to deal with, mainly focusing on the integrity of the functioning of the Office of the Attorney General. This issue re-surfaces this week with news reports that a lawyer had complained to the Magistrate’s Court saying that he had been intimidated by two senior officers of the Department of the Attorney General. The allegations present a serious dilemma that has wider ramifications beyond the single case or indeed, the single issue of the professional independence of lawyers in Sri Lanka. Rather it goes to the core of the integrity of the criminal justice process in the country.

As reported, the complaint was that the lawyer had been told by the two state prosecutors that action would be taken against him on allegations that he had coached his clients to give false evidence unless he provided certain documentation in relation to investigations connected to the now infamous bond scam involving a company linked to Perpetual Treasuries under investigation. This was on the basis that the clients had apparently stated that they were asked to give false statements to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) by the lawyer (the Daily Mirror, 27/09/2018).

The state prosecutor under scrutiny

It is this allegedly suggested quid pro quo that is scandalous in every sense of the word. While the ongoing inquiry in the Magistrate’s Court will examine these allegations, the very fact that such a charge has been laid against the state prosecutor is unprecedented. It reminds us that essential reforms in the criminal justice process encompassing the Office of the Attorney General must be part of the package of pending law reform along with the enactment of a contempt of court law. Indeed, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka is duty bound to pursue these twin points of reform. But it seems to be noticeably and studiedly inactive on these matters.

Certainly the Office of the Attorney General has rarely been free from controversy in recent decades. During the Rajapaksa Presidency, there were unseemly attempts to withdraw charges by the Attorney General in criminal cases involving prominent politicians and other public figures. In some cases, the Court refused to accept a mere application by the Attorney General for withdrawal and correctly put the matter in issue by insisting that grounds should be furnished as to why charges are being withdrawn after a trial has commenced, the adequacy of which will be tested by the Court.

But the politicization of the office of the Attorney General in Sri Lanka had had a longer precedent than this. One example was the enforced disappearance and brutal slaying of media personality Richard de Zoysa. His mother attested to the identification of one of the abductors as a Senior Superintendent of Police who was thereafter ordered to be arrested by the magistrate. But the police with the compliance of the then officers of the Attorney General did not carry out the arrest. Later, the Attorney General declined to proceed with the case on the spurious basis that evidence was lacking. This refusal was castigated by the Liberal Party at that time, among others, which accused the government of a cover-up.

Judicial reprimands to the AG

Under the Kumaratunge administration, state law officers were implicated in cover-ups of the investigations into civilian massacres in connection with the then ongoing war in the North and East. There were rare exceptions to this pattern as in the Krishanthi Kumaraswamy case where a persevering prosecutorial team successfully prosecuted the rapists and killers of a schoolgirl along with her mother, brother and a neighbour.

But throughout, the functioning of state prosecutors has attracted public scrutiny in unfortunate ways. Meticulous documentation is on record in respect of several ‘sensitive’ cases in regard to which the due diligence of the state prosecutor has been questioned. Prosecutions under the Convention Against Torture and Other Inhuman and Degrading Punishment Act No 22 of 1994 exemplifies this pattern where the High Courts themselves have, on occasion, reprimanded the officers of the Attorney General for lapses in prosecutorial due diligence. The Supreme Court has theoretically asserted its right to examine and critique the actions of the Attorney General but this manner of judicial review has not been actually used.

This is in contrast to other jurisdictions where it has been categorically asserted that where prosecutors depart from pre-existing policies or guidelines in the exercise of their discretion, they will be held accountable. If an applicant is able to establish that the Attorney General is guilty of abusing the process of court or acting in an oppressive manner towards the individual, the court would exercise judicial review. The caution is that such powers are not unfettered.

Structural reforms of the AG’s Office

Whether these allegations that have reportedly been made are substantiated or not is up to the Magistrate’s Court to determine. However, irrespective of the same, public discussions in Sri Lanka as to the manner in which the office of the Attorney General must be structurally reformed must take place. The discretion vested by statute in the Attorney General must be exercised fairly.

For it is important to note that the immunity from liability afforded to the Attorney General is limited and qualified. It is only applicable if the holder in the office acts reasonably and without malice and without culpable ignorance or negligence. The discretion must be exercised in a quasi-judicial way and not arbitrarily, oppressively or in a manner contrary to public policy.

These are important principles to be kept in mind

Sri Lanka After Mass Killing and Cover Up Is Blithely Praised by UN Guterres Who Censors Press




By Matthew Russell Lee, 30/7 CJR, 19/6 Video

UNITED NATIONS GATE, September 28 –UN Peacekeeper chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix has been multiply informed that the Sri Lanka government vetting of peacekeepers the UN has relied on has not been complied with, regarding at least 49 soldiers now "serving" the UN in Lebanon. Inner City Press was sent a copy of the letters, and published them - then asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric for the UN's response. [See July 21 response, below.] On July 30 UNSG Antonio Guterres' sleazy basis for roughing up and banning Inner City Press now for life (and the impending UNGA week which Sirisena is slated to attendand pitch at) was reported in the Columbia Journalist Review, and now the NY Post. But on September through Eri Kaneko of his Spokesperson's Office, Guterres offered this shamefully gushing read out: "The Secretary-General met with H.E. Maithripala Sirisena, the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The Secretary-General appreciated the close cooperation between Sri Lanka and the United Nations and thanked Sri Lanka for its contribution to United Nations peacekeeping in particular. The Secretary-General and the President also discussed Sri Lanka’s efforts in the peace and reconciliation process. The Secretary-General offered continued support in this regard. They also discussed the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." Really.Meanwhile Sri Lanka which used cluster munitions is now President of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. "In Sri Lanka’s case they have driven many de-miners and UN staff outof the country and effectively silenced the witnesses. There are also many victims among recent refugees outside Sri Lanka in countries like Switzerland; their geographic dislocation should not diminish their rights as victims,” said Jasmin Sooka of ITJPSL. “The Convention requires Sri Lanka to undertake a victim survey which should include victims abroad subject to internationally recognized witness protection provisions.”  Inner City Press has repeatedly asked Dujarric, "September 17-2: It is multiply reported that Sri Lanka during the upcoming high level week will make a presentation to the SG about, among other things, limited the currently stated vetting of Sri Lanka troops for participation in alleged war crimes. Please state the date of any meeting of the SG with President Sirisena, and state the UN's / SG's view of the current vetting system, including seeming lack of compliance by Sri Lanka. What is the status of Sri Lankan deployments and/or rotations?" As of September 20, no answer. But this, from JDS: "Month Crime Security forces Location July 2018 Abduction, Torture
and Murder

Sri Lanka After Mass Killin... by on Scribd

Resolving The MMDA Reform Dilemma – A Priority For the Muslim Community! 

By Mohamed Harees –SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

Lukman Harees

‘Certainly We have sent Our messengers with clear guidance; and We sent down to them the Book and the scale so that humans may conduct themselves with justice.” (Quran : Surah al-Hadid, 57:25),

When Justice Saleem Marsoof (JSM) handed over his Committee Report on Muslim Marriages and Divorce Act (MMDA) Reforms to Hon. Minister of Justice in December 2017, ending a long period of wait and suspense, the Muslim community in particular and the country in general eagerly expected that its’ recommendations will carry much hope and promise for those affected by certain aspects of this legislation. However, shattering all such hopes, it came to light that the Report was not ‘unanimous’ as it was initially thought to be; in fact there were two separate reports in one, with another ‘rival’ Report being also submitted alongside by another prominent member of the Committee Faisz Mustapha PC (FM) representing a dissenting group within, including the powerful ACJU, which basically challenged and disputed many key recommendations in the Main Report. This state of affairs obviously reflected adversely on the ability of the Muslim community to resolve its’ own issues amicably even after a long period of time. 

Ever since then, much debate and discourses have ensued in the public domain, with various parties even washing dirty linen in public, which have unfortunately generated more heat than light. Frustratingly, both the Justice Minister, the Government and even the Muslim Parliamentarians will therefore drag their feet in proceeding further in the absence of a consensus due to the political risk involved in taking sides/ implementing unilaterally. It would have been much nicer and productive for JSM as Chair if more time was taken to resolve contentious issues with the dissenting sub-group to come up with a unanimous set of recommendations in the several areas which are in dispute , rather than creating this quagmire, which many believe, arose out of egoistic reasons on both sides. 

The general law administered through civil courts governs marriages of other ethnic and religious communities – the Sinhalese, Tamils and Burghers, while the MMDA established a parallel Quazi (Muslim judge) court system to administer the Act. Throughout the period in which the MMDA has been implemented, there have been serious concerns raised by women’s groups with regard to discriminatory provisions as well as the quality of service and practices of the Quazi courts, which put Muslim women and girls in socially and economically vulnerable situations. Many Muslim women’s rights groups have therefore been highlighting this dire plight of multitude of affected Muslim women. Thus, there is definitely a dire need to reform this piece of law, and Muslims should seriously reflect whether to allow token cultural and religious rights embedded in the present MMDA , which has been traditionally passed off over the years as namesake ‘Islamic law’ to triumph over concepts of justice and equality as articulated and promoted under the objectives of Sharia (Maqasid Sharia) as laid down in the Quran and practices of the Holy Prophet of Islam (OWBP). However, as it stands now, many community initiatives to reconcile both positions taken up by both JSM and FM groups  have not been as effective as they should be. 

A cursory look at the general acceptability of the JSM-FM reports shows mixed reactions. On the one hand, the Muslim women’s groups and human rights groups which demanded drastic reforms showed an inclination to favour JSM recommendations, which appears to address the main concerns of the affected people to a greater extent and therefore they hailed this report as progressive and forward looking. They in fact even referred to FM as the distractor in chief. On the contrary, the FM-led dissenting report which was backed to the hilt by the influential ACJU, found favour with the conservative sections of the Muslim community, visibly due partly to intense lobbying at grass-root levels by the ACJU and partly as a result of misinformation , as the report sought to basically  maintain (almost) status quo in respect of substantive law and major areas which generated controversy, however suggesting administrative changes. They took up the position that JSM Report, sacrificed some aspects of the Sharia to appease those demanding drastic reforms to the MMDA without thoroughly thinking through the implications- a measure which may have long term impact on the religious and cultural sensitivities of the Muslim community. However, it has been fact that JSM Committee (JSM) has even authored books and written many research earlier on this area), has clearly done lot of research based on Sharia and comparative study about the law reform process even in other Muslim countries as well and his report was a comprehensive one. Thus any attempts to brand his Report as ‘anti-Sharia’ is both misleading and erroneous. The blame about his Report has been that there are no Religious scholars who has signed his report. 

Read More

The battle for media freedom and social responsibility

• Sri Lanka’s media and activists celebrate landmark 20th anniversary of Colombo Declaration  
• PM says judiciary has to be consulted to change laws relating to Contempt of Court  
• SLPI seeks Govt. tax concessions for struggling newspaper industry  

 Revisiting the Colombo Declaration of 1998.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya participating in the symposium to mark the 20th anniversary of the Colombo Declaration

• Sunday, September 30, 2018

Thursday September 27 marked the 20th anniversary of the Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility. An international conference on the Media Freedom and Social Responsibility started the same day at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, with the participation of many local and foreign media stakeholders.

The battle for media freedo... by on Scribd

President Sirisena undermines justice

And an addendum on Class and Rajapaksa Populism

Nuts!
(http://mirrorcitizen.dailymirror.lk/2018/09/12/president-expresses-anger-over-srilankan-cashew-nuts/)

Kumar David-September 29, 2018, 12:00 pm 

An e-mail quip from fellow columnist Rajan Philips hit the nail on the head. He and I are part of an e-mail menagerie where he shot out: "Obama’s most important achievement was getting elected; he did not achieve much after that". Though I defend Obamacare, the Iran Deal and the Paris Accord, I grant his macroeconomics served the banks, Wall Street and finance capital, not the people. The thrust of the epigram is perfect; electing a black President took America past puberty and the country rose to a point that Lanka will not attain for a generation or more. By placing in highest office an intellectual, America lent towards Plato’s ideal of rule by philosopher kings. The subsequent throw back to a falsifier and cave dweller – a Platonic idiom again – is a passing cloud that America will overcome; its historical-human, intellectual-economic and natural-material endowments are too potent to be contained by a trickster. Rome did not fall in a day.

What hit me like a bolt of lightning when I read the one-liner was that it was even more true, far truer of post January 2015 Sri Lanka. The one weighty achievement of January 2015, a triumph of the January 8 People’s Movement, was the blow it struck at totalitarianism; Rajapaksa totalitarianism. That was a conquest; it is the categorical ‘Single Issue’ to which all else is secondary. Prosecuting the corrupt and enacting a new constitution were extras, toppings on the cake that many hoped for but failed to materialise. And as for economic policy, no am I not a mad-hatter leftist envisioning a Ranil-UNP administration delivering socialism! I never suffered such delusions. A Single Issue was what I dearly wanted and that was all I got.

Though the Obama presidency was a disappointment it would be wrong to describe him as a traitor to democracy or that he harmed the justice system by obstructing prosecution of extortionists and murderers or shielding top brass who subvert the courts. Nor was his Aide caught red-handed pocketing millions in a carpark to share witha coterie up to the neck in crooked deals. Maybe Obama fell short of expectations but he did not use his executive powers to obstruct the law or pillage the nation.

President Sirisena has flopped to a political zero and is a prisoner of Rajapaksa Populism. He has no role left to play and lacks the grace and temperament to depart as he swore on the election platform and at Rev. Sobitha’s interment. He craves for more, he lusts for crumbs that may drop from the Rajapaksa table. The long and vindictive memory of the Rajapaksa siblings will ensure that the Judas who feasted on egg-hoppers then dug in the dagger will pay the wages of treachery. In the eyes of the Rajapaksas, Sirisena is an annoying encumbrance with no remaining bargaining power. His SLFP collected just 12% in February, and after it split, stripped and alone, he cannot bring even 1% to the populist vote bank.

The SLFP per se can carry some votes to Rajapaksa though Chandrika may split of a small part, but the majority is already on the board. Sirisena misjudges the hand he can play with the shrinking powers of office in the dying days of his presidency. If he were attentive to Buddhism he would recall that avarice is the root of dukkha. He could do better keeping women away from the bottle and in his spare time munching on rancid cashew-nuts. If he tries funny business in matters of state using his effete residual powers he will be called to order by public, courts and organs of state. The SLPP distrusts him; if he undermines its electoral game plan it will go for his jugular.

Alarming reports in the papers say that President Sirisena is in cahoots with military brass to prevent prosecutors and courts from accessing material relating to crimes by military personnel and in particular an abduction, extortion and murder case now before courts. If fluent in Sinhala you can find an 18-minute YouTube video by Bahu flaying the President. (Declaration of non-collusion: Bahu and I are not in the same party). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GIEFjoi9LC&feature=share.

Class and Rajapaksa Populism

Populism and Class
(http://www.publicseminar.org/2018/04/how-populists-become-popular/)

In my column last week, I skipped over the class character of Rajapaksa Populism brushing aside my readers with the remark that they are not interested in leftish jargon. That was unwise, I have been pulled up; I will make amends today. We hear of the alienated Trump Base, the class roots of the French National Front and where the Brexit vote came from. What are the class-wise supports of Rajapaksa Populism? Let me make an important point first. In fascist, semi-fascist and populist enterprises leadership plays an outsize role and stamps its cachet on everything – Mussolini, Hitler, Durante, Trump and Rajapaksa. You cannot change Trump for Pence with the flexibility with which David Cameron made way for Theresa May, or Turnbull was shed for ‘whoever heard of him’ Morison in Australia.

There are four columns that underpin Rajapaksa Populism. Let’s work our way down in class ascendency, not power or influence. The Lankan bourgeois is split by family, connection, access to enrichment and national or Western cultural orientation. The same is true of the lesser social orders. English speakers are mostly UNP while yakkos and nouveau riche (a hangover from the 1950s) are pro SLFP-SLPP. Oddities like GL are few; reddas outnumber suits. The bourgeoisie and liberal intellectuals, Sinhala and English speaking, are repelled by Populism which is propped by only a minority in the business classes motivated by connection or expectation of future deals.

Below this in wealth and income is a vast petty-bourgeois Sinhala mass in towns, bazaars and metropolitan outskirts. Their place in the economy is retail trade, the informal sector, three-wheeler walas, some lower middle-class people in state and corporate sectors, and members and ex-members of the armed forces. In electoral terms, together with families and dependents this class accounts for 30-40% of the Sinhala electorate. Since the demise of the left (old LSSP and CP) the working class has had no ideological mooring; it is an adjunct of the aforesaid petty-bourgeoisie mindset. This petty bourgeois and working-class block was the mainstay of the Jana Bala horde. Together it accounts for half the Sinhalese electorate and at present Rajapaksa Populism can count on about two-thirds of it.

The massed peasantry, the rural folk, are not to be confused with this ideologically motivated horde, though rural people are influenced by it. But not all of it; the village level UNP vote is large. This vote fluctuates between the main parties from say 40:60 one way to 60:40 the other. Number games are to be taken with a pinch of salt, but give a feel. Say the petty-bourgeoisie cum working class described in the previous paragraph are one half of the Sinhalese electorate and the peasantry the other half. Say that at present Rajapaksa Populism commands the support of 70% of the former and 60% of the latter – peak possibilities. Then if you give the UNP all the Tamil and Muslim votes in the seven Southern Provinces, you can work out why it was able to hang on to 38% of the vote in these seven in February despite a fed-up-with-UNP backlash and abstentions. (Send me a postcard if you can’t do the maths; I have assumed the minorities are 10% in the seven southern provinces).

To come back to my theme of class, though Rajapaksa Populism has the support of more than half the Sinhala peasantry it is of the greatest importance to note that the peasantry, everywhere in the world, is ideologically not a determining but a determined class. It takes, not constructs, ideology. At the present time a segment has imbibed the insular ideology of the populist petty-bourgeois; it has taken its cue from the suburban chauvinists. And it tails the sangha, vedda, guru and the horu.

This brings me to the last building block; the underworld. It is untruthful to say that Rajapaksa Populism is financed, swayed or dependent on the underworld of drugs, crime or sex-slavery. But there have been politicians with links to this gangland who have had a prominent place in its political universe. There was that Duminda, convicted of a gangland style murder and now serving time. He was immensely popular; a superstar who may have a future in the event of regime change. And of course, our noxious Mervyn and his restless son, both now conspicuously and craftily quiet. Has Mervyn made enough to retire in perpetuity or will he crawl out of the woodwork if Mahinda rides again? But I concede, Rajapaksa Populism’s connections with the underworld are not of central significance in depicting populism’s class dynamics.

To sum up, the determining elements of power politics in Mahinda Populism are two; the outsize significance of the leadership and the racist petty-bourgeois mass in the middle. The greedy rich at the top will always suck blood whatever the regime and the docile peasantry at the bottom is election fodder for use at the hustings whichever the side. Gangland is an emergency tool to keep on the side and out of sight.

It is necessary to make a comment about the economy which is true whichever the regime. Lanka is drowning in debt and will sink unless there is partial cancellation of dollar-denominated debt. There exists no credible economic programme which can in the alternative rescue the country from drowning. Whichever regime tries its luck, whatever magic the Central Bank weaves, year by year indebtedness will grow, we will sink ever deeper: Want to bet?

The crisis is global; governments, enterprises and households all over the world are in the same trap. The post-2008 global economy has been restructured, intentionally or otherwise, to transfer wealth created in the productive economy to finance capital as bonds and funds, or through asset price inflation (real-estate, bonds, equities) and a surge in unpayable compound interest. More indebtedness of institutions and individuals is the same thing on the other side of the coin. I often use the rhetoric of 1% and 99%; but the truth is easier to remember. The richest 8.6% owns 86% of global wealth. It’s time to invert this pyramid and enforce global debt cancellation.

Children: Our future citizens

 2018-09-29

Naturally everyone born in this society has to pass through a number of stages such as infancy, childhood, youth, middle age and the old age provided of course one remains alive without facing death immature. During the infancy and the feeble old age one has to depend on others for survival. Life circle is such that babies in the human world and the offspring in world of animals depend on their parents for survival.. Old and feeble grandmothers and grandfathers depend on their sons and daughters and grand children. If they are not kind enough on their part for the sake of the feeble lot one has to seek the assistance of social institutions such as homes for elders,  
According to Buddhism birth is suffering, decay is suffering and death is suffering. One has also to suffer from ill health. This means that there is less suffering during childhood, youth and middle age. Childhood and the early young age are the periods when one prepares for worldly life. Children today are responsible citizens tomorrow. As such childhood is the prime period of one’s life.   

Much needed preparation to be useful citizens in the future   
Childhood is the period of learning. Since children are future citizens of the world the fate of the future world depends much on what the children learn today. Member countries of the United Nations have affirmed their faith in fundamental human right, dignity and worth of a person and have determined to promote and better standards of living in an environment of larger freedom.  

The United Nations has in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed that everyone in this world is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind such as the age, race, colour, sex, language or other opinion , national or social origin, property, birth or other status  

What the child needs most
The child by reason of his or her physical and mental maturity needs special safeguards and care including appropriate legal protection before and after birth. The United Nations General Assembly proclaims the rights of the child to the end that he or she may have a happy childhood and enjoy for his or her own good and for the good of the society the rights and freedoms and calls upon the parents, upon men and women, upon the voluntary organizations, local authorities and national governments to reorganize these rights and strive for their observation by legislative and other measures progressively taken in accordance with the declaration.   

The child by reason of his or her physical and mental maturity needs special safeguards and care including appropriate legal protection before and after birth

Entitlement of the child to rights without distinction or discrimination
Every child is entitled to these rights without distinction or discrimination on account of race, colour, sex, religion, political or other opinion national or social origin property, birth or other status whether of himself or herself or his or her family.  

The child shall enjoy special protection and be given opportunities and facilities to enable him or her physically, mentally, morally spiritually and socially to live in a healthy and normal manner and conditions of freedom and dignity.  

The child shall be entitled from his or her birth to a name and nationality and shall enjoy the benefits of social security. He/she shall be entitled to grow and develop in health. Special care and protection shall be provided both to him/her and his/her mother including prenatal care. The child shall be entitled to adequate nutrition, housing, recreation and medical services.  

Care for physically and mentally handicapped children
There are children who are handicapped physically. There are deaf, blind and dumb children There are also deformed children sometimes without limbs and not able to move about. Further there are mentally handicapped children. Arrangements should be made to enable them to gain admission to special institutions such as schools for deaf and blind and their inherent rights for care, love and education etc. should not be denied to them.  

Sri Lanka has been ranked high in the achievement of education in terms of high literacy

Children from underprivileged families  
Further, there are socially handicapped children such as those from poor families. There are some other children who are socially marginalized for various reasons not due to any fault of their own but due to the reasons of being born to families not cared for by civilized society. Children are born to families with income below the average. Such children should not be denied their legitimate right to nutrition, love, care and education.  
Society and the public authorities shall have the duty to extend particular care for children without families and for those without adequate means of support. A payment made by the State and other assistance towards the maintenance of children of large families is desirable. Family income can be considered as a criterion in granting scholarships.

Much needed love, affection understanding and recognition
The child is entitled to receive an education which will be free and compulsory at least in the elementary stages. He/she shall be given an education which will promote his/her general culture and enable him/her on a basis of equal opportunity to develop his/her abilities, his/her individual judgment and his/her sense of moral and social responsibility and to become a useful member of the society.   
The best interest of the child shall be the guiding principle. The responsibility of those responsible for his/her education and guidance lies in the first place with his/her parents.  

Children who are deprived of their right to learn
It is true that the literacy rate of Sri Lanka is high when compared with the literacy rate of other countries in the region. However, a survey conducted by the department of Census and Statistics has disclosed the fact that six percent of the children in the school going age are not attending school. Some of them have just reached the school going age and presumably most of them will start schooling when once they find accommodation in schools. Twenty percent of these children or 1.2 per cent of the school going age have never gone to school and 4.8 percent of the children in the school going age or 80 per cent of those who are not going to school are dropouts.  

Returners and Never Returners
A large number of students terminate their school education after taking up the G.C.E. (O.L) Examination. Some of them resume school education once when they pass the G.C.E. (O.L) Examination with grades sufficient to make them eligible to attend G.C.E.(A.L) classes. As such some children terminate school education permanently while others stay back temporarily.  

Children who are deprived of preliminary education 
About 83 percent of the children who never attend school are comprised of the five to eleven year age group which is the age of preliminary education. Majority of these types of children are found in the urban areas. Further the extremely poor parents especially in the remote areas cannot send their children to school because they need their assistance to look after the others younger to them while the parents work in places away from home. Further in certain remote areas there are no schools. Eighteen percent of the children belonging to the 05 to 11 year age group do not attend school due to their unsatisfactory health conditions and physical disability.   

Educational facilities for children in Sri Lanka
 Sri Lanka has been ranked high in the achievement of education in terms of high literacy, high level of primary school enrolment as well as gender parity rate in access to education and achievements. When compared with other countries in the region there are still unfortunate children who had never stepped in to a school.  

Sons and daughters of separated parents, pick pockets thugs, drug addicts, gamblers and beggars are often deprived of school education. Separated parents, especially when they are poverty stricken try to pass the responsibility to the opposite party and ultimately no one comes to the rescue of the children. Similarly robbers, gamblers and drug addicts take no interest in the education and well-being of the children. Beggars often train their children in the art of begging.  

Physical education and recreation- “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”  
General Education should be supplemented by physical education. The child should have full opportunity for play and recreation which should be directed to same purposes as education. Society and the public authorities shall endeavour to promote the enjoyment of this right.  

Protection against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation
The child, in all circumstances should be among the first to receive protection and relief. The child shall be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation. Children of underprivileged, uneducated and uncivilized parents are vulnerable to neglect, cruelty and exploitation. Deficiencies, shortcomings, insufficiencies, stubbornness and other weak qualities in a child should not be regarded as causes for a child to be cornered, neglected. harassed or punished. Opportunities should be made available for such children to get over the difficulties and to correct themselves. Children should never be humiliated. The consequences of humiliating children can be explained by way of an illustration.  

Overdoses of punishments
A teacher of a school who was also the warden of the boys’ hostel of that school had forced a student to eat all the food prepared for forty students as a punishment for early consumption of some food. The victim had to consume the food in the presence of the other students. The culprit went on eating seventeen “Rotti” when the assistant warden requested the chief warden to mitigate the punishment. The victim who was a fifth standard scholarship holder left the school and the hostel forever and it was the end of his school career.  

Child soldiers – Proscription of children for offensive conflicts
The child should not be admitted to employment before the approved minimum age. He/she shall in no case be caused or permitted to engage in any occupation or employment which would prejudice his /her health or education or interfere with his/her physical, mental or moral development. It is not a secret that during the war Tiger terrorists had proscribed teenagers and even children below fifteen years of age as child soldiers in their military activities. In spite of warning by the international community Tiger Terrorists continued to destroy the blooming buds by proscribing them forcibly.   

How Buddha looks at the children  
Children are investments being made for future use. According to Singalowada Sutta it is the responsibility of elders to bring up children well to be useful citizens in the future. Parents are expected to bring up their sons and daughters according to Brahaminic living imbued with four virtues of Metta (friendliness), Karuna (compassion),Mudita (satisfaction)and Upekkha (impassiveness)to prevent their children from committing acts of sin and violence, to direct them to the correct path, to educate them, to give them in marriage and to gift them the endowments in proper time.   

Duties and responsibilities of children
Children are expected to look after their parents during their old age, to respect them and to maintain the fame and prestige earned by their parents. Children should also win the hearts of other elders including the teachers and preachers. They should educate themselves and grow as useful citizens according to the wish of the parents, teachers and other elders.    

Chandra Jayaratne Seeks Clarification From SEC Regarding Exposing Errant Members Of Listed Companies

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Civil society activist Chandra Jayaratne has sought a clarification from the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of the applicable statutory provisions, policies, regulations and enforcement practices to make investors and public aware of errant directors and officers of listed companies.

Chandra Jayaratne

Explaining the context of his letters, Jayaratne said, “In the context that Professional Associations and Chambers of Commerce being reluctant and reticent in proactive enforcement of Codes of Ethics and Conduct; and especially in “blacklisting” and “Public Announcement” of errant directors and officers, and with the Institute of Directors adopting a role limited to training and developing awareness amongst directors, it is essential the proactive public announcement accountability be assumed by the Public Regulatory Authorities. It is therefore incumbent upon the Securities Exchange Commission, as the “Thought and Action leader” with the closest functional relationship to good governance in the Corporate Sector that the lead action in regard to such public announcements comes under its initiation and direction.”

The full letter, written by Jayaratne, to the SEC, is as follows:

The Director General, 

Securities & Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka,

Level 28 and 29, East Tower, 

World Trade Centre, 

Echelon Square, 

Colombo 01.

Dear Sir,

Seeking a Clarification of the Applicable Statutory Provisions, Policies, Regulations and Enforcement Practices to Make Investors and Public Aware of Errant Directors and Officers of Listed Companies 

I would be most grateful for your kind clarification, as to whether there are in place, requisite Statutory Provisions, Policies/Guidelines and Regulations, as well as effective Enforcement Practices, (whether enforced by the Securities Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka or by the Colombo Stock Exchange or any other Regulatory Public Authority,) whereby the investors and the general public are made aware of errant directors and officers of listed companies (including associated External Auditors, Secretaries, Registrars and Legal Advisors).

In specific, I wish to be advised of Statutory Provisions, Policies/Guidelines and Regulations, as well as effective Enforcement Practice regularly used proactively by the Securities Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka or by the Colombo Stock Exchange or any other Regulatory Public Authority, in making investors and the public aware of errant directors and officers of listed companies, culpable of the under noted violations of the law and non compliance with laws, regulations and best practice guidelines:

• Directors and Officers of Failed Deposit Taking Banking and Financial Services Organizations
• Directors and officers of failed listed and non listed and other entities, where public funds have been invested  via prospectuses or statements in lieu of prospectuses or by way of deposit taking
• Directors and Officers responsible for criminal breach of trust
• Directors and Officers responsible reckless management of businesses, demonstrating bad faith and not in the best interests of the company and without exercising  the degree of care, skill and diligence that may reasonably be expected of the errant director/officer
• Directors and Officers responsible for fraud, misappropriation and illegal transfer of assets and engaging in corrupt practices, bribery , malfeasance and malpractices
• Directors and Officers of business entities responsible for gross misrepresentations, mismanagement, and gross negligence  which tantamount to criminal negligence
• Directors and Officers responsible for maintaining books of accounts which fail to reflect  true and fair state of affairs and presenting accounting and other associated information that are not a true fair reflection of the state of affairs
• Directors and officers responsible for going concern failures due to reckless and bad management
• Directors and Officers who have discharged their responsibilities whilst being in undeclared/unmanaged positions of conflicts of interests and having substantial undeclared/unmanaged related party interests
• Directors and Officers charged with penal sanctions connected with money laundering and transfer pricing and tax evasion 
• Directors and Officers having engaged in borrowing funds, securing bank loans, overdrafts and facilities, with the preplanned intent of not settling same or securing such facilities by means of deception, knowing very well that the required cash flows will not be forthcoming in the future to settle such liabilities
• Directors and Officers who have engaged in Securities Offenses, including front running, market manipulations, insider dealings, etc and further engaging in acts violating sanctions, engaging in illicit and illegal trades etc
• Directors and Officers failing to abide by the key provisions of the Companies Act, Listing Rules, Best Practices Codes on Good Governance/Ethics/Conduct and Codes dealing with Non Compliance With Laws and Regulations (NOCLAR)
• Directors designated as Independent Directors, Senior Non Executive Directors and Chairpersons of Audit/Remunerations/Investments/Risk and Credit Committees, who have failed in the discharge of their assigned accountabilities
• Directors and Officers who have failed to make specified market disclosures on a timely and  accurate basis
• Errant Directors of business entities referred to above, where the errant directors responsible for scams, frauds and losses to shareholders  have resigned or retired prior to its discovery

In the context that Professional Associations and Chambers of Commerce being reluctant and reticent in proactive enforcement of Codes of Ethics and Conduct; and especially in “blacklisting” and “Public Announcement” of errant directors and officers, and with the Institute of Directors adopting a role limited to training and developing awareness amongst directors, it is essential the proactive public announcement accountability be assumed by the Public Regulatory Authorities. It is therefore incumbent upon the Securities Exchange Commission, as the “Thought and Action leader” with the closest functional relationship to good governance in the Corporate Sector that the lead action in regard to such public announcements comes under its initiation and direction.

Read More