PRESS RELEASE
The Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights notes the release, on 11 March, 2010, of the 2009 Country Report on Human Rights Practices pertaining to Sri Lanka compiled by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the United States' Department of State. Apparently in conformity with the usual practice in the preparation and release of this report, the document is a conflation of historical background, repetition of statements in earlier reports, unverified assertions of fact and broad generalizations. The basis for many assertions are "repo
Rs. 250 Million Worth Five (5) Bozens + 4 Demining machines gifted by the Australian Government to Sri Lanka
Five (05) Bozens + 4 Demining machines and spare parts valued at Rs. 250 Million were presented by the Australian Government to Sri Lanka today (the 16th.) These machines of Czechoslovakian origin are to be used to remove land mines placed by the LTTE terrorists in the northern areas during the war.
Honoring a request made by the Government of the Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka, Her Excellency Ms. Cathie Key Klugman, the Ambassador for Australia handed over these machines to the Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights.
These machines, as advised by His Excellency the President and with the intervention of the Hon. Basil Rajap
The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva
MEDIA RELEASE
The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva
Minister Samarasinghe Briefs High Commissioner for Human Rights, Country Missions to the UN in Geneva
Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, met with Navanetham Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the Palais Wilson in Geneva on Tuesday (09). The Minister, who
Development of Small Tank (Cascade) System for Drought Risk Reduction in NWP
The Disaster Management Center (DMC) in collaboration with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and with the technical support of the Department of Agrarian Development has commenced a project for the development of the small tank (Cascade) system for reducing the effect of drought in North Western Province as a model. It is based on the Madawachchiya tank cascade system in Siyambalawa and Padipanchawa GN divisions in the Galagamuwa DS division in Kurunegala district. The project consists of 3 phases including a study of the watershed, collecting weather & climatic data, evaluating soil & geological functions, water balance study, infrastructure development and mobilizing of
The Road to Reconciliation 7 Individual innovations and initiative Rajiva Wijesinha
Trincomalee is associated in my mind with two individuals, whose life and work continue to provide guidelines for effort. The first was Denzil Kobbekaduwa, who was in charge of the area when I visited in 1988, to check on the schools furniture project. That was the time of the IPKF, and one could sense some tensions, even though in general officers on both sides behaved with perfect conviviality at army headquarters.
We had stayed with the navy, and were treated right royally since the British High Commissioner headed the delegation. This was David Gladstone, and he was even taken whale watching - though we saw none - and for an early morning swim in China Bay. The British Defence
The Road to Reconciliation 6 Making Connections Rajiva Wijesinha
Trincomalee has always struck me as a magical place, and I have often wondered whether we might not all have been much better off had President Jayewardene moved the capital there rather than ten miles down the road from Colombo to a place that had no merit, even in his eyes, except for its name. And, even if that idea might be fanciful, our failure over nearly half a decade to develop decent communications, to improve connections between the different areas of Sri Lanka, has struck me as a mark of monumental foolishness, which certainly contributed to the spread of resentment and then terror.
The government now seems to have realized that, and its programme of connectivity is per
The Road to Reconciliation 5 Promoting Contact Rajiva Wijesinha
There has been so much interest about resettlement and rebuilding in the North that the East has been comparatively neglected. I had not been there for six months myself, which was sad for that was an area I had been in constantly from the eighties onward.
Way back then, I had persuaded the British Council to stage cultural events there, solo performances by Geraldine McEwan and Richard de Zoysa, and even an extraordinary Exhibition called ‘Painting the Town' which allowed me to stay nearly a week at the Batticaloa Resthouse. Then there had been a period in which we implemented a project to supply furniture to schools, part of British aid after the signing of the Indo-Lankan
