Features

Internal unity is priority to face external challenges

Published

5 years ago

2021/04/6

by Jehan Perera

The government’s first reaction to the passage of the UNHRC resolution was to make the point that there was no unanimity within the international community with regard to it. Government spokespersons pointed out that the countries pushing for the resolution came from the Western bloc and that those non-Western countries, that voted in favour of it were dependent on Western patronage and themselves not implementing human rights in an acceptable manner. Of the 10 or so countries subjected to resolutions at the recently concluded UNHRC session, only of them was a Western ally, and that was Israel. The other countries were Belarus, Burma, Burundi, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Venezuela, South Sudan and Yemen. This and similar observations, have enabled the government to convince the majority of the population that it is being found fault with for defending Sri Lanka’s national sovereignty and for not falling prey to the demand to take sides in geopolitical rivalries.

Most of the commentary in Sri Lanka on the issue of the UNHRC resolution and the High Commissioner’s report from which it draws inspiration take the position of the government and agree that there is a double standard at play with regard to Sri Lanka. On the one hand, there is a problem within Sri Lanka as evident in the long-standing campaign on behalf of missing people and the many national commissions that have been appointed to inquire into war-time violations. On the other hand, in comparison to violations taking place elsewhere in the world, there are violations taking place that can be considered be on a much larger scale. These include countries such as Saudi Arabia with regard to the war in Yemen, India with regard to the Kashmir problem or China with regard to its Muslim minority. However, the UN human rights system has not made similar heavy-handed threats of referring the leaderships of those countries to the International Criminal Court, imposing travel bans and freezing their bank accounts or having them subjected to the principle of universal jurisdiction.

With the UN consisting of 195 countries, the focus upon Sri Lanka since the end of the war in 2009 has given rise to the belief, within the country that there is more at stake than human rights. Despite the regression that is currently taking place, Sri Lanka still remains one of the better countries in the world in terms of political freedoms and personal safety. Indeed, Sri Lanka has always been special, and internationally in the spotlight, from having had the first woman Prime Minister in 1960 to being a model of social welfare, in the 1970s, and then getting trapped in a destructive internal war. Although the trend line in the past year has been negative it can be argued, as the government and majority public commentary does, that Sri Lanka does not merit the special attention it is receiving if the only criterion is the scale of human rights violations and absence of good governance practices. This accounts for the anger that opponents of the UNHRC actions have that Sri Lanka is being repeatedly challenged by the international community on human rights issues.

GOVERNMENT RESTRICTIONS

Among the first acts of the government in the aftermath of the UNHRC resolution, was to ban seven Tamil Diaspora organisations and 399 individuals based abroad. The previous government, which committed itself to following the UNHRC mandated path to national reconciliation, to which it had also contributed and which it co-sponsored, had de-banned those organisations and individuals in order to enlist their support for the reconciliation process. This created a visible rift within the Tamil Diaspora which was visible at UNHRC sessions where those who were no longer under the ban were criticised and ostracised by those who continued to be subject to the ban. The re-banning of Tamil Diaspora organisations and individuals will not make them go away but will instead make it more likely that all factions work together in a common cause.

A second sector that is under pressure in the aftermath of the passage of the UNHRC resolution are civil society groups within the country that are working for human rights and peacebuilding. Their work is not easy in a society in which government leaders,at various times have denied there is an ethnic conflict and there is no need for a political solution. In any country that is polarised on ethnic and religious lines, and not only in Sri Lanka, each community will believe that the problems and threat lie with the other communities. To mitigate this problem there is a need for consciously creating opportunities for inter community mixing and joint activities.

The ground reality in many parts of Sri Lanka is that society at the community level is plural, with different ethnic, religious, class, caste and gender groups seeking to coexist peacefully and productively. This diversity is a reality from the overall perspective of the country also. It is important that these different communities should not remain in their own compartments but should actively engage with one another in a constructive way. Without such positive engagement the engagement can take a negative form through competition over resources, to discrimination and even to violent conflict. Peacebuilding organisations seek to promote positive engagement by forming inter-religious and inter-ethnic groups at multiple levels who can engage in common problem-solving activities. However, there is a view within the government that this work is no longer necessary as there is peace in the country.

INFORMATION FLOW

In terms of the UNHRC resolution, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has been mandated to set up a special investigation unit to collect information on violations that have taken place and continue to take place in Sri Lanka. One of the concerns expressed by government members is that such information will be provided by civil society organisations and this should be stopped by restricting the scope of their activities. There was a recent media report that an environmental organisation had provided its donor agency with reports detailing corrupt practices taking place in the country. However, these are not secrets known specially to only civil society groups but are being reported every day in the national media by investigative journalists. These news reports are available on the internet for any competent researcher to collect in any part of the world.

The same holds true for allegations of human rights abuses which are also reported in the media with varying emphasis in English, Sinhala and Tamil language. The flow of adverse information will continue through the mass media which includes the social media which is virtually impossible to control. Rather than seek to control the flow of such information with a heavy hand the better way is to reduces it by ensuring that the media or civil organisations have not such incidents to report. This calls for improvements in the practices of governance which includes strengthening the systems of checks and balances and also the resolution of deep-seated political problems by means of negotiated settlements.

The government’s rejection of international strictures regarding the human rights and governance problems within the country will become more convincing if there is true healing and peace within the country. On the other hand, the international community is likely to hold to its positions if the opposition political parties and minority parties are complaining that they are being disregarded and that the human rights of their constituencies are being violated. It is therefore necessary for the government to reach out to these political parties and to enlist civil society support for its efforts to bring healing and reconciliation to the country through domestic mechanisms as it has proposed in order to meet the challenge posed by the UNHRC resolution. Pointing out that the Western bloc of countries have a geopolitical agenda and practising double standards will not change the situation for the better as much as unifying the country internally will.

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Features

The challenge of keeping value-based politics alive

Published

6 hours ago

2026/05/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Anti-migrant protests in Durban, South Africa. BBC

The current outbreak of anti-immigrant protests in Durban, South Africa is bound to have taken many a subscriber to value-based politics or political idealism quite by surprise. After all, this is evidence that despite the historic accomplishments of nation-builders of the stature of the late President Nelson Mandela it cannot be taken for granted that identity politics, including racism in its worst forms, is no more in South Africa.

At the time of this writing details are scarce on the substantive root causes of the protests but it could very well be that economic grievances, particularly on the part of the majority community in South Africa, are contributing considerably to the disaffection. Shrinking employment and material prospects are likely to figure majorly among the factors igniting the unrest.

Fortunately, the local authorities in Durban are losing no time in calling for peaceful co-existence among the relevant communities and are pointing to the vital importance of stepping-up national integration processes. Apparently, immigrants in sizable numbers from neighbouring countries are present in Durban. However, international TV footage of the protests quoted some local authorities as saying that the majority of the immigrants in some centres that housed them were not illegal migrants and had the documents that entitle them to be in Durban.

In the Durban protests the world has fresh proof of the socially divisive consequences of the gathering globe-wide economic disaffection, touched off particularly by the continuing crisis in West Asia. Going ahead, the world would need to brace for increasing identity-based unrest of the kind it is just witnessing in South Africa.

Considering that the material lot of ordinary people everywhere could only aggravate progressively, with the US and Iran showing no signs of negotiating an end to their confrontation any time soon, it will be left to the more democratic and progressive sections of the world community to initiate positive measures collectively to bring a measure of relief to the discontented.

The swiftness with which such relief will be provided would depend crucially on the importance those sections taking up these undertakings attach to value-based politics as opposed to Realpolitik of power politics.

Going by these yardsticks, Italy could be considered to be moving in the right direction. Recently Italy came to the fore in initiating the collective named, ‘Rome Coalition for Food Security and Access to Fertilizer’, which has as one of its aims the swift provision of fertilizer to economically weak African countries.

In a recent statement Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, said that a principal aim of the project was to ensure that the farmers of Africa gained easy access to fertilizer, considering that food security is a growing concern among some of Africa’s economically vulnerable countries.

The statement went on to mention that some 30 countries hailing from the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, the Balkans as well as the FAO had been invited to join the coalition. The venture is far-seeing in that food security is main among the reasons for social discontent which in turn could degenerate into endemic political turmoil and bloodshed. Separatist violence and geographical fragmentation of countries wouldn’t be too far behind these developments, as Africa itself has often proved.

It is hoped that more G7 countries would take the cue from Italy and do what they could to ease the hardships of economically distressed countries, particularly of the global South. In these efforts they would need to break rank with the US, which is today brutally indifferent to the consequences of its policy of making ‘America First’, come what may.

Going by current developments, the Trump administration seems to be blithely oblivious to the wider, deleterious effects of its policy course in West Asia. Besides rendering Iran militarily and otherwise impotent nothing else seems to matter to Washington, as regards West Asia. This is policy short-sightedness of an extreme kind. After all, right now West Asia could be said to be sitting on the proverbial powder keg.

On the other hand, Iran is not giving the world the impression that it is doing anything constructive to get out of the policy straitjacket that it wove for itself decades ago. Rather than enter into a policy of ‘live and let live’ in relation to Israel in particular and initiate a process of reconciliation with the latter, it has chosen to operate within policy parameters that continue to damn Israel. This has put Israel always on the ‘defensive’ so to speak and prevented the opening up of space for meaningful dialogue.

That said, Israel is obliged to explore the possibilities of entering into a negotiatory process with the Arab-Islamic world that could lead to a de-escalation of tensions and bloodshed. It cannot continue to look at its neighbours through lenses that distort them as archetypal enemies who should be ‘wiped off completely from the face of the earth.’

In other words, the need is urgent for Realpolitik to give way to value-based politicks. Italy is beginning to prove that the latter approach could be pursued with some success. May be the EU and the UK could throw their weight behind these initiatives as well and establish that international politics could be refashioned on the basis of humane, civilized norms. The UN would need to be fully supportive of these moves and prove an organizational nucleus of the operations that follow.

In fact the time is ripe for people of conscience to collectively stand up on the side of peace and say ‘No’ to war and violence. Organizations such as the ICRC, the WHO and Medicines Sans Frontiers have already taken up this call. Referring to the widespread destruction of health facilities and their dehumanizing results these organizations have said, among other things, that ‘This is not a failure of the law. It is a failure of political will.’

True, ‘failure of political will’ among those powers that matter accounts for the runaway, uncontrollable nature of war and destruction in contemporary times, but more fundamentally it is a failure of the human conscience. It could very well be that the phenomenal levels to which violence and war have been unleashed today have had the effect of deadening consciences. This is a matter for urgent study and wide discussion.

Features

Vesak celebrations … with Cuteefly

Published

6 hours ago

2026/05/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Perfect for celebrations, gifts, and meaningful occasions // Gift pack

I would describe Indunil Kaushalya Dissanayaka as innovative and creative, and she operates under the name of Cuteefly.

Indunil always comes up with something novel to celebrate special occasions, and she does it with candles … and that’s her profession.

She was in the spotlight when she created a happening scene, with candles, for Christmas, Sinhala and Tamil New Year, and Valentine’s Day.

As lanterns light up Sri Lanka for Vesak, the Colombo-based candle maker is quietly turning wax and wick into little pieces of the festival.

Candles reflecting Vesak themes

Her candles reflect Vesak themes – light, peace, remembrance, giving, etc., to enable you to fill your Vesak celebration with devotion and beauty.

Among her Vesak creations is a lotus-shaped soy candle, scented with sandalwood, lavender, etc., meant to burn during this Vesak Poya Day.

Indunil Kaushalya Dissanayaka: Customers
praise her for her creativity

These handcrafted Vesak candles are perfect for offering at the temple, she says.

What makes her creations so novel is that they come in different shapes, scents, themes, and all are handmade.

What’s more, her customers have heaped praise on her for her creativity.

According to Indunil, her creations are perfect as a thoughtful gift … to bring beauty, unity, and light into every moment.

Says Indunil: “Our beautifully handcrafted Unity candles are designed with premium detail and love, making them perfect for celebrations, gifts, and meaningful occasions.”

Cuteefly, says Indunil, is available online.

Readers could contact Indunil on 0778506066 for more details.

He Facebook Page is: Cuteefly.

Handmade with love

Features

Dark Spots …

Published

6 hours ago

2026/05/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Yes, dark spots do crop up on the skin, especially with sun exposure and, of course, as the skin ages.

However, these tips should be of immense benefit to those who are faced with dark spots.

* Lemon and Honey Glow Mask:

You will need 01 teaspoon lemon juice and 01 teaspoon honey.

Mix the lemon juice and honey well and then apply this mixture, only on the dark spots.

Leave for 10–15 minutes and then rinse with cool water.

Benefits:

Lemon helps brighten pigmentation.

Honey moisturises and heals skin.

Gives a natural glow.

* Aloe Vera Gel Treatment:

All you need is fresh aloe vera gel.

Apply the gel apply on dark spots, before going to bed.

Leave overnight and wash in the morning.

Benefits:

Reduces acne marks and pigmentation.

Soothes irritated skin.

Helps skin repair naturally.

* Turmeric and Yoghurt Paste:

You will need 01 teaspoon yoghurt and a pinch of turmeric

Mix the yoghurt and turmeric into a smooth paste and apply on affected areas.

Leave for 15 minutes and then wash gently with lukewarm water.

Benefits:

Turmeric brightens skin naturally.

Yoghurt removes dead skin cells.

Helps fade dark spots gradually.

Use these packs 02-03 times a week as results are generally seen over time.

You can also try this out: Mix a ripe papaya into a smooth paste and apply to the face, or directly on to the dark spots. Leave for 15-20 minutes and then wash with lukewarm water.