Tag Archives: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, 7 Days After

29 Monday Apr 2019

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It’s been a week since the Easter Sunday Attacks. People ask me how things are. I usually tell out of reflect, “we are trying to regain normalcy”. The next moment I wonder what normalcy is. Anymore.

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On Saturday, I had been working on assignments focusing on peace building till quite late, to wake up to calls from those checking if I had gone to church. Those who know me would know how strange that question would ring in my ears, even when wide awake. But, it was only a few minutes later that reality shook me awake with the violence that had spread across Colombo.

The first thought to cross my mind: “It could have been us”.

 

I had slept hoping to take my family out on Sunday for breakfast. Then true to myself, overslept due to sleep-deprivation caused by writing for hours on peace-building , until 6am to be precise. The previous night, my curious mind had wondered to anlayse the potential conflicts which Sri Lanka could face, mostly related to resource management, and whether we are ready to address these situations. I also wondered how we as a community would react if we were to face a conflict again. Later at work, my colleague tells me “Vosi, you should not hypothesize!”

 

Last few weeks have been probably the scariest days of my whole life, even though I had lived through a few memories that haunt me. As a child my first memories are of dead bodies floating in a river. I must have been 4 or 5 at that time. I am not entirely sure. Then, I have memories of the war, the constant security checks. But those images seem distant, I think I had blurred them out of my mind.

I also remember the tsunami, and the many loved ones taken away, our usual Sunday market washed away, my favourite aunt growing up, getting washed away with it as well.

But the memory the memory that I hold close is how Sri Lanka came together during the hard times. Rebuilding and helping in solidarity.

 

21st April was different. It was difficult to focus. It was hard to think straight. I blamed it on my sleep deprived brain, or maybe the slightly old brain. We all closed down for a week, maybe even longer. I read stories of those affected, the children left alone, families dead and many in need of support.

I also read posters on guidance to boycott shops, the general hatred towards certain groups in our communities, reminding me of the 2nd World War. Do we truly believe what we are messaging?

 

Tomorrow, we will all wake up and try to go about our daily lives. And I shall return to my question “what is normalcy?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Seeing my father fight injustice inspired me.” – Bhagya Wickramasinghe

09 Saturday May 2015

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bhagya photoBhagya Wickramasinghe is a lecturer in law, an Attorney-at-Law, and works as a researcher for Sri Lankan Youth Climate Action Network, an organisation focusing on climate change, youth empowerment, and social justice. She shared her experience of being a young professional and multi-tasking which has allowed her to do work on the causes she believes in.

Education: key to empowerment

Bhagya sees education as playing a key role in empowering people, especially those of vulnerable groups. She highlighted this to be the motivation to choose a career in education.

“As a strong believer in education as a means of empowerment of people, and access to social justice, I wanted to start my career with teaching which was an idea I have carried since my school days. I believe teaching to be one of the greatest services one could do. Law has always been my passion and motivation since from small age I believed that the way to social justice needs to achieved through a country’s legal system,” she said.

Struggles to inspiration

Bhagya says her inspiration to study law, and pursue a career in law stems from the struggles her father faced while she was growing up.

“As a teenager I experienced the bitterness of politics when my father, a judicial officer was unduly victimised by judicial politics. This experience of seeing my father fight injustice inspired me to continue the fight,” she added.

Born in Kandy, she moved to Colombo for her studies. She finds learning to live in the big city without her parents itself to be one of the challenges she faced.

“I came to Colombo when I was 18, a naïve girl who had just passed out form school with big dreams and no practical sense. I was molly coddled by parents and taken care for by them. I was overwhelmed by the Colombo city, its rush, its fast pace and the fact that I had to fend for myself,” she explained.

Being a woman and a young lawyer

When asked whether being a woman had impacted her professional life, Bhagya responded in the affirmative.

“I have faced the tragedy of gender stereotyping in Sri Lanka in many ways, especially in terms of the way in which a young professional woman is viewed by the various segments in the society,” she said.

“The expectations of the society form a female professional is different. I have been viewed as too weak and gentle to handle being a professional and a lawyer. There have been instances where I have been discouraged from various fields of work and research only because I am a woman,” she added.

She believes that being a working woman does not prevent being happy in one’s personal life. She explained that knowing to respect and allocate due importance to professional as well as personal life ensures a balance between the two.

“There have been instances where I have been told that a female engaged in a hectic professional life would end up compromising the social expectations and fulfilling duties of being a woman,” she added. An opinion with which she chooses to disagree.

Knowledge and humanity

Bhagya aspires to engage in her higher education and further research that will help her contribute to the causes she believes in, and aspires to see social justice for all.

“I believe knowledge is a prerequisite of wisdom, and knowledge surrounds us in our daily lives. Wisdom is often found in the experience of others. We need to be sensitive to grasp that knowledge to be more humane and to be nice to each other,” she added.

“I want my grand-children to be government employees” – S. Arumoham

29 Sunday Mar 2015

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Arumoham is 62 years old. A grand mother, she is separated from her husband and lives with her daughter who is a widow, and a mother of three children. Arumoham is the bread-winner in this family of four. I met her during my visit to Wakarei. She is a working woman, a farmer and a fisher-woman who works to ensure that her daughter and her grand-children are fed two meals per day.

Working to take care of grand-children

She farms vegetables such as chili, and pumpkin in her garden. She says she has not received a formal training as to how agriculture needs to be done, but does is based on the knowledge she has received over generations. She believes that new technology and teaching is not as good as the knowledge she has received. She has no time to go for trainings or capacity building session she says, nor women’s meetings. She has to take care of her grand-children among whom is a child with special needs. She works so that the boy could be taken care of, along with his two sisters who are in their teens.

Unpredictable weather and farming

Her agricultural activities are not the easy. There is scarcity of water in the region, and the water they have is from wells that they pump to use for their farming. She says that weather patterns have changed, and the rains that fall much harsher than before damage the crops. I ask her how she puts up with the damage when the plants are destroyed from heavy rains. She says that they have to start from scratch. She does not believe in loans, nor insurance. She prefers to starve than be troubled by her creditors she says.

“I will not take loans from anyone. I would rather die of hunger than have someone come and harass me over money I owe. They do not bother to check on us when we are dying,  but come and ask us to return the money three times a day.”

Fishing with her bare hands

Her farm brings around 3000 to 4000 rupees a month she says. She is not entirely sure of the income made. They make use of the crops for their food, while selling some of it to gain an income. As the income does not suffice, she goes to catch prawns in the evening. She shows me how she catches them with her bare hands, and earn an additional 300 rupees for her grand-children. It is a daily routine, and she stays in the waters from 6- 9pm every evening.

Hopes for the future

Like many others living in the region, she wants to see a better life for her grandchildren. She wants them to be able to gain jobs in the public sector. “I want them to have a government job when they grow up,” she says.

Arumoham has faced a lot in her life. Having left her home in 2005, abandoning most of what she had built in life, she has returned to the same area and now is trying to build a life again, for her children and her grandchildren who depend on her.

Post War Wakarei : A Story of Three Generations

28 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by in #WomenAtWork, Climate Change, Environment, Features

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I met Kusalini when I was in Wakarei on a field visit. She peeped at me while sitting on her mother’s lap and I was busy noting down the answers her grandmother was providing me on the challenges she faces to continue her agricultural work.

At first Kusalini was hesitant to come to me, a woman who was strangely dressed and did not speak to her in her mother tongue. No amount of smiling or coaxing would make her leave her mother’s arms and come to mine. She is two and a half years old, lives with her mother and her grandmother, as well as another cousin for whom her grandmother cares for as both her parents have remarried and have decided to take care of their new families. Kusalini’s father does not live with her mother. Lojini, her mother’s divorce is pending and she has no source of income other than the one from her mother’s agricultural work.

kusalini

Mum’s story

Lojini 25yrs is waiting to be separated from her husband who had chosen to spend more time at his parents’ home than with her. He provides no financial assistance to her or the child from the information she provided. I hear a story much familiar to mine, though our circumstances are different. She is not yet divorced, apparently the legal process keeps getting dragged. I ask the interpreter for the reason behind it, but he comes up with information that I cannot relate to in any legal sense. I decided that I need a better interpreter, preferably a woman who would be able to provide me information without judgement.

Kusalini, her daughter is just one month younger to my son Akashiv. She seems an active and curious kid, just like my son who is a few days elder to her (maybe a little more subdued than Akashiv who is of late all over the house and would talk easily to people). When I ask how old her daughter is Lohini indicates with her figners “two” and then “five”. Lojini schooled only upto grade 9, and has never worked. She says she has to take care of her daughter, and that she helps with her mother’s vegetable garden and looking after the few hens they have. She smiles a lot, so does her mother. Kusalini is more reserved, and prefers to stare at me instead.

Gradma’s story

Indrani

Indrani is 51 years old. She tells me that she has 5 children, and one living with her who is Kusalini’s mother. She also has two grand-daughters she takes care of with her meagre income from her home garden. She plants different types of crops among which are chili, pumpkin. I see around the plants around me while I type. The changing climate has been harsh to her, the crops are being damaged due to heavy rains, and then the lack of it created by impacts of climate change.

A widow, Indrani is the head of a household comprising only of women, for whom she is the sole bread-winner. They have two meals a day, either breakfast or lunch, and then diner. The hens they keep provide eggs that they use to earn an extra income as well as provide food for the children. I am unable to ask her many questions due to my lack of Tamil knowledge, and the interpreter being a man who decides what needs to be asked from Indrani and what he needs to censor. Unfortunately my dependence on his judgement on my access to information prevented me from gaining more information from them.

Indrani has previously had a small shop which had failed because people to whom she offered rations on credit failed to pay back. Now she earns her living through her vegetables.  I ask her whether there are any attacks by animals on her crop. She points to Kusalini and laughs. She says Kusalini find it a hobby to pull out plants. Her solution: A fence tall enough to block Kusalini access to the plot of land, and short enough for her to enter the land.

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Hopes for the Little Ones

indrani and family

As I pack to leave, and her grandmother gets ready to pick go her, the other grand-daughter who is 7 arrives. She has walked all the way home, and I am impressed given that my parents would have had a heart attack had I done that at 7 (They had decided to send me to school in a van even when it was 3 junctions from home.) She joins her family in observing the newcomers, and trying to grasp what was happening around her.

I ask the two elders what they want for their children. Indrani and Lojini both want the kids to be government employees when they grow up. They think that is the most stable profession. Lojini wants Kulini to become a teacher, she says it is a “good and dignified job”.

Not having much to offer to the child, and knowing that offering money as a parting gift would probably have a negative impact on what I was trying to build here, I offer Kusalini and her cousin the food I carried with me. She likes the red coloured wrapper and decides she finally likes me.

A Woman’s Role

I tell the interpreter that I have a son who is the same age as Kusalini, and he asks, “Where is your son now?”

I answer that he is with my parents as I am in Wakarei for work.

He tells me, “You are no different!”

I look at him understanding that he and I come from different opinions. I believe in a woman’s education and being able and empowered to make decisions, to work and earn a living to ensure that her children have their meals and are educated without depending on anyone else.  For him it seems the woman’s role is to be with the children at all times, even if they are to starve. However trying to make sense with him at that point did not seem the best decision. So I leave thanking the education received which had enabled me to make decisions on my own, and strive for better, which was less available to Lojini.

I leave hoping that Kusalini would not be hindered to reach higher and follow her dreams, that one day would have options in life just like my Akashiv does, not withstanding her gender, nor ethnicity. And I hope she gets access to education which would enable her to become what her mother dreams she would be, or anything else she aspires to be.

Water for Sustainable Development: Addressing Water Issues in Sri Lanka

21 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by in Climate Change, Sustainable Development

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One does not need additional explanations to highlight the importance of water for every human’s survival. In addition to being a basis for our survival, it is also at the core of sustainable development. This further indicates water as being critical for social as well as economic development with sectors of health, welfare as well as production all being dependent on it. Given its great importance it is vital that countries understand the impacts of climate change on the water resources of their countries, and set up plans that would address the needs of their people to ensure that there are sufficient water supplies for their survival.

Climate Change and Water Resources

Research data provide that 1.7 billion people across the world live in river basins where water use exceeds natural discharge, a trend that will be seen in two-thirds of the world’s population living in water-stressed countries by 2025.

The fifth assessment report of the IPCC (AR5) provide that water scarcity is expected to be a major challenge for most of the region as a result of increased water demand and lack of good management. Further it points out that water resources are important in Asia because of the massive population, and that the need for it varies among regions and seasons.

The Report provides also that with the increase of population, and the increase of demands arising from higher standards of living could worsen water security in many parts in Asia and affect many people in the future. It highlights the need for integrated water management strategies  which could help adapt to climate change, including developing water-saving technologies, increasing water productivity, and water.

Sustainable Development and Water

Water is a critical element of socio-economic development. Lack of water resources, and lack of equitable distribution of water resources in a country would create additional issues of governance, and peace. In order to achieve economic development there is also a great need for water for production. And on the social level, in order to satisfy the indicators of sustainable development, health of a country’s citizens is important. Lack of portable water will have adverse impacts on a country’s capacity to ensure a healthy life for its citizens.

In addition to this,  the impacts of climate change according to the AR5 of the IPCC is expected to adversely affect the sustainable development capabilities of most Asian developing countries by aggravating pressures on natural resources and the environment.

Water in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

MDGs which were established in 2000 aim to reduce by 50% the proportion of people living without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation between 1990 and 2015. However the United Nations data provide that a total of 748 million people still do not have access to an improved drinking water source and existing indicators do not address the safety and reliability of water supplies. The data also provide that to reach the requirements of the right to access to safe drinking water requires real improvements for several billions of people.

According to reports, MDG target for sanitation is of high importance with the number of people currently lacking access to improved sanitation being at 2.5 billion. The predictions provide that at current rates of progress, the sanitation target will be missed by over half a billion people. The data provided being collective data, they hide the disparities that exist between nations and regions, rich and poor as well as the communities living in rural and urban settings.

Water in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

In order to address the concerns that still exist at the time limit for the closing of MDGs in 2015, and to move towards a sustainable future the global community is turning towards an agreement where human rights, equality and sustainability should the basis of the development agenda.

The overarching goal of UN-Water is “Securing Sustainable Water for All”. This includes creating space among other things, for healthy people, increased prosperity, equitable societies, protected ecosystems and resilient communities, through universal access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. This also includes the sustainable use of water resources as well as robust and effective water governance systems.

Furthermore in order to achieve sustainable development and have food security, countries need to focus on sustainable use of water resources. Agriculture accounts for 70% of water withdrawals worldwide, with figures varying across countries, while industry and energy account for 20% of water demand. The numbers highlight the disparities among regions with developed countries having a much larger proportion of freshwater withdrawals for industry.

In addition to this World Health Orgnisation’s study conducted on meeting the MDGs provide that 1.5% of gross domestic product of the counties is accounted through the economic loss from the inadequate delivery of water and sanitation.

Sri Lanka and Sustainable Use of Water

Research provides that the main concern in Sri Lanka regarding water are depletion and degradation caused by anthropogenic activities. The Water Resources Board of Sri Lanka explains that although, Sri Lanka is not considered as a water scarce country, in particular to groundwater, quantity, quality and availability of groundwater has started to deteriorate due to increasing human activities. The information provided also state that this groundwater deterioration relates to land subsidence and seawater intrusion; coinciding also with urban development and excessive groundwater extraction.

While Sri Lanka has a high percentage for access to improved water supply which is at 84%, the figures do not provide clarity on the distribution of this across geographic location. This includes the remote rural areas, and the plantation sector, as well as some areas of the North and the East which are not sufficiently reflected in the data.

Access to Water: A Human Right

In 2010, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution, which “recognised the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights”.  In spite of the existing obligation to secure such right to citizens countries are yet to reach this objective. In Sri Lanka in the past week media reported on school children in the North who were admitted to hospital due to consumption of contaminated water. When we celebrate the Water Day on 22nd of March, it would be productive if we take steps to address the issues related to water which have been spoken of by many in the past few months, and provide solutions that will address the needs of the country’s people.

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Colombo Port City Project: A Threat to Sustainable Development?

03 Tuesday Mar 2015

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Tuesday, 3rd March 2015, environmentalists and took to the roads in protest of the Colombo Port City Project. One of the many projects of the Rajapasksa government, and one that has been used freely by President Sirisena’s election campaign days, the project is planned on 252 hectares of reclaimed land in Colombo. This land (if the project is carried as per plan) will include shopping areas, water sports area, a mini golf course, hotels as well as a Formula one track. The project by China Communications Construction Co Ltd would also create way for a 3.25km long breakwater and a large internal artificial canal in the city. The work on the project commenced 17th September 2014. The city is expected to cover an area of 5.2 million square metres and have the capacity to hold 160,000 people.

(C) Wikipedia An artists impression of the Colombo Port City

(C) Wikipedia
An artists impression of the Colombo Port City

Permission for the Project

Information available provide that the approval for the project was granted by the Standing Cabinet Appointed Review Committee (SCARC). The Coast Conservation & Coast Resources Management Department has issued final approval for the EIA pertaining to the Port City Development Project in October, 2014.

In addition to this, an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) has also been submitted by China Communications Construction Company, as per the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment, and has been approved by the Coast Conservation & Coast Resources Management Department in December, 2014. However it is argued that this EIA report is not abiding by the required standards, and is only for the reclaimed area. It is also alleged that it does not reflect the amount of resources such as sand, rock that is needed to fill the area nor an explanation as to where these resources will be found.

EIA Violations

While it is repeatedly stated that there has been an EIA process, which allowed for the commencement of work on the project, what has been not highlighted is the fact that there is a lot of information which has not been made public. Further there has not been enough information for public participation form of active engagement of the public.

The EIA process is laid down under the National Environment Act No.56 of 1988, amended in year 2000 as Act No.53. It is further prescribed in the Gazette No. 772/22 of 24.06.1993. The process includes the steps of the project proponent submitting preliminary information to the Central Environment Authority (CEA), which would then decide whether the project could be carried out with an Initial Environment Examination (IEE) or whether there is need for a further EIA. For projects underdoing this process, there is also a mandated 30 days for public consultations requiring the  project proponent to respond, before approval is granted. However whether this requisite has been satisfied concerning the port city project remains ambiguous.

Another addition to the doubts of the validity of the EIA is based on the data which vary. There are further allegations that the report covers only 300 acres, whereas the port city expands to over 500 acres. The project is also deemed to create issues to marine biodiversity which will be impacted by the rock blasts as well as the large construction activities carried out. In addition to this, there is also a large amount of water needed for the contruction on a daily basis, which amounts to around1,000 cubic meter of water per day. However where the water shall be provided also is remains unanswered.

Threat to Sustainable Development

While to world speaks of sustainable development goals which need to satisfy three pillars of social, economic and environmental development, the Colombo Port City project seems a blatant violation of the concept. Articles 27(14) and 28(f) of the 1978 Constitution could be interpreted as enshrining the principle of sustainable development in its Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Duties. These impose duties on the State as well as every individual to protect the environment [Articles 27(14) and 28(f)]. Further in the Eppawala Phosphate Mining case [Bulankulama v. Secretary, Ministry of Industrial Development (2000) 3 Sri. L.R. 243], it was stated that while international legal principles are not legally binding in Sri Lanka’s dualist legal regime and are regarded merely as ‘soft law’, as a Member of the United Nations, they could hardly be ignored by Sri Lanka.

The prevalent legal regime also provides that environmental protection needs to be considered as an intergral part of the development process to achieve sustainable development.  However the environmental impacts of the project highlight that these principles for sustainable development have been ignored when adopting the port city project.

Environmental Impacts

Environmentalists claim that the proposed project if done without a proper assessment will adversely impact the western coastal line including Panadura, Angulana, Mount Lavinia, Uswetakeyyawa and Negombo. This is due to the filling of sea area that would lead to coastal erosion, altering the marine biodiversity.

Sand, rock, and debris dumped into the sea would also impact the natural coral formations, weeds in the sea bed leading also to a depletion of mangrove coastal areas as well as sea grass habitats.

Further doubts exist whether there is enough sand in offshore deposits to satisfy the need for reclaiming land. And concern has ben raised on the need for a study to evaluate the impacts on the marine life due to the exaction of sand.

In addition to this, there are also other environmental threats. One being the pollution of air which the project would create, sweeping pollution to the Colombo city through the sea breeze, as well as threats on resources such as water due to the large supply of water needed for the construction (does the Kelani basin have the capacity to support this?) as well as the supply for energy needs. Where would the large energy supply needed for construction come from?

Energy for the Project

The government on its path to an energy secure Sri Lanka is shifting to a huge project needing a grand supply of energy, which would necessarily be able to fulfilled with the current energy supply. While we need more energy supplies that are not fossil fuel emitting (despite the coal power plants which generate energy for the country at present) a shift to a large project such as the Port City Project would require an immense supply of energy for its construction work, as well as its maintenance when finalised.

The presidential manifesto of President Sirisena highlights a phasing out of fossil fuels and leading towards a renewable energy based energy security. Would this resolution of the new government be compatible with the energy needs stemming from the project? Has there also been an evaluation of the emissions created due to the project, and how much fossil fuel will be used for this project impacting the already serious situation of global warming?

Access to Information on Development Projects

Another key deliverable promised by President Sirisena’s election manifesto is the access to information on development projects. Information on the port city project remain ambiguous. It is not clear whether cost provided as $15 billion is only the cost of reclaiming the land, or whether it encompasses the cost of construction of utilities and buildings as well. This is not the only remaining doubt, the figures for the extent of land to be reclaimed is also featured differently. There is clarity needed on the numbers and public needs to be provided access to this data.

Access to information to the public is at the heart of the EIA process as well. Upon receiving the EIA report, the project approving agency is required to publish a notice in the Gazette and in one national newspaper published daily in the Sinhala, Tamil and English languages. This is to facilitate the public to make written comments within thirty days if there are concerns regarding the proposed project. The level of public participation and access to information to the public regarding the port city project remains unclear. In the Water’s Edge case (Sugathapala Mendis and Others v. C B Kumaratunga and Others, SC (FR) 352/2007, Supreme Court Minutes 8th October 2008.) it was further noted that “the mere fact that the various environmental authorities said the project could be done, does not in itself suggest that it should have been done.

Expert Committee and Conflict of Interest

A Cabinet Sub Committee headed by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has been appointed in order to address the concerns raised about the project. The Committee is to decide on the continuation of the project after studying a report which will be prepared by an independent expert committee. The expert committee is headed by Mr. Ajith de Costa.

Foul play in the expert committee is already highlighted by environmentalists. While not contesting the ability of the experts, there is concern based on conflict of interest of one of the members of the committee. This concerns the appointment of Prof. Samantha Hettiarachchi of Moratuwa University who is also claimed to be a consultant to the China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC), the project proponent of the Colombo Port City. If what the environmentalists claim are grouded, then this would be a conflict of interest whereby an individual is linked to the body on which an assessment is conducted. It is further added that the Prof Hettiarachchi was also the team leader of the  EIA, of which the validity is challenged.

Whither the Election Promises?

One of the promises made by the new President during the elections has been to address the concerns raised over the  USD 1.5 billion China-financed Colombo Port City project. One month into the project, one wonders whether the promises shall be kept or broken.  The promise by the President was due to protests by environmental lobbies and  people of Negambo, which demanded the abolition of the Colombo Port City project.

Many nature groups have already handed over a petition to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) calling to put a stop to the project based on the human rights violations caused by it. The petitioners included environmental groups, fisheries organisations as well as religious representatives. The petition was filed by the Sri Lanka Nature Group, Environment Conservation Trust and Centre for Environment Studies representing environmental groups, Trade Union for fisher folk representing the fisheries associations, Movement for National Agriculture Land Reform and Mothers and Daughters of Sri Lanka representing the civil society and religious representatives.

A Negotiating Text for 2015 Climate Agreement Reached in Geneva

13 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by in ADP 2015, Climate Change, Features

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Delegates from 194 countries who gathered in Geneva  for a week long process of climate negotiations will return home with a negotiating text for the 2015 Climate Agreement which is set to reach in Paris end of this year, and to come to effect in 2020.  

With the 5th Assessment Report of the IPCC highlighting the need for immediate actions to address climate change, the negotiators discussed ways to accelerate action on climate change before 2020. They started to outline ideas on a possible pre-2020 actions that will be decided in Paris. With floods and droughts to hurricanes, typhoons and heat waves, the impacts of climate change are felt they have been ever before. This in turn highlights the need all all over the world. Negotiators, ministers, and national leaders to actively engage with each other in the months ahead to get the strongest deal possible in Paris.

Progress Made

“I am extremely encouraged by the constructive spirit and the speed at which negotiators have worked during the past week,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“We now have a formal negotiating text, which contains the views and concerns of all countries. The Lima Draft has now been transformed into the negotiating text and enjoys the full ownership of all countries,” she added.

Speaking on the process of reaching this end in Geneva, Figueres said, “The text was constructed in full transparency. This means that although it has become longer, countries are now fully aware of each other’s positions.”

The Negotiating Text

The text that is to be used as the ground for negotiations for the 2015 Agreement covers the substantive content of the new agreement including mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology and capacity-building. While there were divergences on certain matters, the countries worked together in order to identify the main choices

The text will be edited and translated into the UN’s official languages, after which the text will be communicated to the world’s capitals by the UNFCCC secretariat in the first quarter of 2015 which would respect the internationally-accepted timetable for reaching a possible treaty because it alerts capitals to the fact that a legal instrument could be adopted in Paris.

A Legally Binging Agreement in Paris?

The mere fact that the negotiating text is finalised does not ensure that there will be a legally binding outcome reached in Paris.

Speaking on this possibility, Ms Figueres said, “It does not, however, set this possibility in stone – it merely opens the door for this possibility. As for the legal nature of the agreement, this will only be clarified later in the year,” Ms. Figueres explained.

“Our view is that a legally binding protocol under the convention that is applicable to all Parties, and in line with keeping global temperature increase to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, is the best way to achieve that objective. We certainly have our work cut out when we convene again in June, but we have made important progress here, and AOSIS is committed to working with all parties, groups, and the ADP co-chairs to transform the negotiating text into an ambitious agreement in Paris,” said Ambassador Ahmed Sareer, the Maldives’ Permanent Representative to the U.N. and Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)

Next Steps

The negotiating text is not a narrowed down text, and has many options proposed down by country Parties. This requires that the negotiators to narrow down options and reach consensus on the content. Further work on the text will continue in Bonn in June, and two more formal sessions (with many other informal sessions being held) planned for later in the year ahead of the Paris climate negotiations.

In addition to the meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, there will also be ministerial-level meetings throughout the year that will include climate change on their agendas, among these being the Major Economies Forum; the Petersburg Climate Dialogue and the African Ministerial Conference of the Environment with the upcoming G7 and G20 meetings affording further political engagement on climate change and the Paris agreement.

Climate Change: Not a Stand-alone Issue

Observing climate change impacts across the globe point to the fact that addressing climate change cannot be a stand-alone action. It overlaps with many other aspects such as economy, human rights and development. In 2015 given the key actions that converge it is important that countries work on building links to elements of developmental agenda, and treat climate change as a key issue which would impact the country’s growth.

“We leave Geneva with a lengthy text to work on in the coming months, but it importantly reflects the views and enjoys support from all Parties. As representatives of some of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, including total inundation from sea level rise, our primary motivation is to make sure the global community moves as quickly as possible to cut the emissions responsible for climate change, and provides the support necessary to help vulnerable communities build sustainable futures and adapt to climate impacts that can no longer be avoided,” said Ambassador Sareer.

The countries will convene in Bonn, in June where the next formal negotiations on the climate Agreement will be held.

 

What Happens to Animals or their Rights in Sri Lanka?

02 Monday Feb 2015

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(C) Creative Commons

(C) Creative Commons

Today I was woken up to the howling of a poor puppy who the neighbour had decided to adopt by picking it off the street. The animal was probably days old and the mother of the puppy having spent a day walking around the wall as its pup howled trying to find its mother from a cage he was unfamiliar had decided to lie on the road helpless, with no custodial rights over its pup (now that would unimaginable, a dog to have rights?) while the whole neighbourhood listened to the crying which went over night, and then to the morning as well.

Many assumed that the poor animal was locked up and the wonderful neighbour had gone out for a walk. But on giving them a call I find that they were in the house, and was quite courteous enough to rudely hang up the phone on me. I try to dig out my law books to find out where the animal rights would be protected in this country, though not very hopeful having read a bit on it last night and realised that it most likely would not be much of help. And as usual like many other things in this land the direction is clear: treating animals humanely seems to be something that needs to be added to the country’s list of “to-dos” though we claim we are a very compassionate land where we treat everyone with dignity (everyone not every being of course, which excludes animals).

Me being the not going to courts lawyer, I call up a friend who works for the Attorney General’s and ask him what might be the best move in this situation to ensure that the poor animal be released from this suffering. He advises me to file a complaint on nuisance. His theory being: the police would have to come and check on it, and if the animal is being a nuisance with its howling, then the howling would be stopped. Though my expectation was not to prove that the dog was a nuisance, (rather that my neighbours were inhuman) I realise that most of us in our legal education had skipped studying the section on animal protection in detail.

I started writing an article with the law and its efficiency on not addressing this issue, but then on reading a bit more realise that it is not necessarily the nonexistence of the law that prevents animals from being protected, but the oblivion of its implementation. To do justice to the cause, I think I will be writing a bit on animals and their rights in the coming days, that too with a bit more legal analysis than this article would have carried had I just typed it out from my few hours of reading last night.

My next few days (be it in this land, in transit or some other land) will be about getting a few people together who might be interested in this topic, if you are reading this and are a person who had done a bit of thinking on animal rights protection and legal reform, do drop a comment. Your opinions are most welcome, (constructive ones of course).

PS. I am not a tree hugger, nor an animal hugger. But I do believe that animals are not in the world to carry humans, and be tormented for insecurities and psychopathic disorders that humans possess (this would bring me to write on another issue which is on mental health which would be for a different blog post I think).

Case of Raif Badawi & Flogging in Modern Day World

01 Sunday Feb 2015

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by Vositha Wijenayake and Vidya Nathaniel

Punishing by flogging has come to the forefront of legal and political discussions due to the attention brought to it through the case of Raif Badawi, a Saudi Arabian blogger sentenced to ten years and 1000 lashes for setting up a blog by the name of Saudi Free Liberals Forum which promoted free speech on religion and governance. While world calls for freedom of speech for journalists following the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, the conduct of the Saudi government on flogging Badawi has created  a lot of criticism. However the country is not alone in its practice of flogging as a judicial sanction. Other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Nigeria, Iran, Maldives, Qatar, Brunei and Indonesia also practice flogging, though it is seen as a form of torture, and a violation of international law.

International Law on Flogging/Flagellation

The terms ‘flogging’ or ‘flagellation’ is not explicitly referred to in the international legislations. However the interpretation of torture provided through many international legislations succeed in bringing it within the acts that are violations of international law. Among these legislations are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which Article 5 states, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 7 which provides, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”.

Prohibition against Torture is well established under customary international law as jus cogens which in turn make it supersede all other treaties and customary law.  Jus cogens are a body of peremptory principles or norms from which no derogation is permitted; those norms recognised by the international community as a whole as being fundamental to the maintenance of an international legal order. Elementary rules that concern the safeguarding of peace and notable those that prohibit recourse to force or the threat of force. Norms of a humanitarian nature are included, such as prohibition against genocide, slavery and racial discrimination. Jus Cogens may therefore operate to invalidate a treaty or agreement between states to the extent of the inconsistency with any such principles or norms.

Convention Against Torture

September 27, 1997 Saudi Arabia acceded to the Convention against Torture or Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention against Torture). Article 1 (1)  of this Convention defines torture to be “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.” However the same section provides that torture does not “include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.” It is this aspect of the interpretation which is leaves a grey area on how the grievance of victims of state administered torture will be addressed.

Flogging can be easily brought under the definition of torture, as it does cause “severe pain” as well as “suffering”. Badawi is punished for an act he is claimed to have committed. It is also clear that the punishment to be executed in public in front of many on lookers is a form of “intimidating” any other who seeks to challenge the same grounds that Badawi challenged through his blog. Yet the imposing of flogging on Badawi has been done through the judicial system of Saudi Arabia, and as a sanction imposed by the court. Would this in turn evade it constituting torture? And if an act that fits the description of torture is to be removed from constituting torture as it is “arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions,” then would this not provide a free pass to governments to claim that as it is imposed by the country’s judicial system, which in that country is a lawful sanction, making it not an act of torture?

If this argument is to be upheld, then we are facing a grey area where countries are provided the green light to act as they please, and bring it under the loophole of claiming as a lawful sanction. The best way to address this would be to base flogging as a violation of international law under jus cogens. Torture is a violation of jus cogens, and any act that is in violation of it even mandated by any treaty would be invalidated and will be a violation of international law. However cases such as Jones V Saudi Arabia case does not shed positive light as it provides that state immunity takes precedence over torture or any claim in international law which is considered to be jus cogens.

Obligations on Parties to the Convention Against Torture

Article 2 of the Convention Against Torture states, “Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction,” which in turn creates the obligation on Saudi Arabia to remove punishments such as flogging from the list of lawful sanctions by their judiciary. The Article further elaborates that “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.”

Article 4 (1) also provides that “Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law,” which creates an ironic situation for Saudi Arabia where there criminal law sanctions such as flogging is an act of torture which needs to be categorized as offences under criminal law.

Flogging as a Punishment in Sri Lanka

In the Penal Code of Sri Lanka, whipping used to be a punishment.  However this has been repealed through Section 3 of the Corporal PunishmentAct No. 23 of 2005 which states “Wherever in any written law, there is included as part of a sentence of whipping, such law shall from and after the date of the coming into operation of this Act, be deemed to be amended by the omission therefrom of such part of such sentence as relates to whipping ”

Further, Children and Young Persons Ordinance Section 29 (1) provides, “Where a child or young person who is a male is found guilty by any court of any offence, the court may, if it is for any reason of opinion that the case is one in which corporal punishment should be inflicted, make order that the child or young person shall receive not more than six strokes with a light cane or rattan,- such strokes to be inflicted in the presence of the court and, if the parent of the child or young person desires to be present, in his presence.” This punishment is no longer practiced by the Sri Lankan judiciary.

Previously, whipping was allowed under the Corporal Punishment Ordinance No. 16 of 1889. According to Section 7 of the Act, the following offences were punishable by whipping:

  • Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means, (as defined in Section 315 of Penal Code)
  • Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means (as defined in Section 317 of Code)
  • Rape and attempting to commit same (as defined in Section 363 of Code)
  • Unnatural offences (as defined in Section 365 of Code)
  • Theft after preparation for causing death or hurt (as defined in Section 371 of Code)
  • Extortion by threat (as defined in Section 377 of Code)
  • Putting a person in fear of accusation in order to commit extortion (as defined in Section 381 of Code)
  • Robbery (as defined in Section 379 of Code)
  • Attempting to commit, robbery (as defined in Section 381 of Code)
  • Robbery with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt (as defined in Section 383 of Code)
  • Attempting to commit robbery when armed with deadly weapon (as defined in Section 384 of Code)
  • Lurking house-trespass or house offenders above the age of sixteen breaking in order to committing of any offence punishable with whipping, (as defined in Section 429 and 431)
  • Lurking house-trespass by night or house-breaking by night, in order to commit any offence punishable with whipping under this section (as defined in Section 439 and 432 of Code)

These provisions are only applicable with respect to a male offender above the age of 16 years (Section 7(2) of Corporal Punishment Ordinance). This Act was repealed by the Corporal Punishment (Repeal) Act No. 23 of 2005.

Badawi and the 950 Remaining Lashes

Raif Badawi received his first 50 lashes 9th January, 2015, and has a remaining 950 lashes of his punishment which is expected to be administered on him in 19 sessions. However following the first execution of his punishment he has been considered as  not been medically fit to undergo the next session of 50 lashes, and the punishment has since been postponed for a third time this week. The global community calls for his pardon, and his release from charges that are viewed a violation of his freedom of expression. How does one justify such inhuman treatment?