NSSP 36th Anniversary today!

Nava Sama Samaja Party is celebrating it's 36th anniversary today at Colombo. NAFSO has been invited to the celebrations as usual. Dr.Vickramabahu Karunaratne, the NSSP leader is one of a key figure at Samagi Balawegaya, Force for Unity, and plays very decisive role at the forum. I take the opportunity to convey our revolutionary Salute to all the Comrades, Bahu, Sarane, Linus, Mahendran, Ranath, Thiru and all for their commitment on the ethnic issue and the globalization. We as NAFSO

are close to their ideologies to have a better world through Social Transformation.

How do we interpret these incidents?

This message is followed by the previous message of the abduction of Suriakumar's son. Today, I watched ITN news at 7.00 pm, which is pro-government, government own media station in Sri Lanka. The person whom I reported as abducted has been appeared in the TV news. He says, "There is no such abduction happened and he was hiding in one of his friends home for get the police complaint report which could be used as a supportive document to seek asylum in Australia." With our surprise further he said, "I was hiding with my father's knowledge. There was no such abduction at all.We are trying to find ways to go abroad with those supportive documents." The police media spokes person was also gave a message to the citizens. "All these are attempts to tarnish the image of the country. We ask from all citizens not to engage such incidents and police will take strong actions against such persons." So, the ITN reported this as a conspiracy against the country and this was revealed with this incident. Now, we are attempting to contact Suriyakumar, the secretary to the Northern Province Fisher People's Alliance to verify this information. We are sure, there won't be any difference between the ITN news and the information we get from Suriyakumar due to the security reasons of his son. Herman

Abduction of Son of Suriyakumar in Vadamarachchi: Challenge ahead of the HR Defenders

I got a serious and disturbing news today from my colleague. "Suriyakumar's son has been abducted this morning by a White Van at his home at Vadamarachchi." What? Abduction again on so called "National Safety Day?" Suriyakumar's first son was also abducted during the war period in 2008. Suriyakumar's wife is in a mental disorder due to the abduction of her first son. Now, the second son also face the same fate, even the time of so called "PEACE". How do we see this situation as the GOSL is saying there is PEACE in the country.? Just after three days time, President Mahinda Rajapakse announced that, "In Sri Lanka, there will be no more minorities. We have only two categories. Those who are Love to Country and who do not Love to the country." So, it is Patriots and Traitors are the only groups living in the country. The persons who are disappearing must be traitors. Also, there are news coming from various parts of the country about killings of underworld leaders. Police always says, "The accused was taken to find arms and while searching the arms, the accused threw a bomb to the police and police had to shoot him for self defense." The society justify those extra judiciary killings with the police claim of Under World Leader. The Right to Life HR organization, my friend Brito Fernando in particular is working on Disappeared Families. During the time of CHOGM, the HR groups who are working on disappearances were in the forefront to highlight the HR issues as this is well known to the world. We the concern groups on HR are now trying to minimize those abductions, killings and threats to HR Defenders as this is going to be a serious challenge to us coming years. Herman

South Asian State Heads Met at Thimpu, Bhuthan on Silver Jubilee SAARC Summ

This is a delayed post. There was no such, so called SAARC summit this year. The post is about 2010 SAARC summit only. Herman SAARC SUMMIT.DECLARATION
Thimphu Silver Jubilee Declaration

“Towards a Green and Happy South Asia”

The President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, His Excellency Mr. Hamid Karzai; the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina; the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan, His Excellency Lyonchhen Jigmi Yoeser Thinley; the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, His Excellency Dr. Manmohan Singh; the President of the Republic of Maldives, His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Nasheed; the Prime Minister of Nepal, His Excellency Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal; the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, His Excellency Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani; and the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, His Excellency Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, met in Thimphu, Bhutan, on 28-29 April 2010 for the Sixteenth Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

2. The Leaders expressed satisfaction that SAARC had achieved a number of important milestones with the completion of twenty five years of its establishment. The Leaders underscored the relevance and importance of the Association in providing a platform for regional cooperation to accomplish the Charter objectives.

3. In this Silver Jubilee Year of SAARC, the Leaders emphasized the need to develop a ‘Vision Statement’. They agreed to form a ‘South Asia Forum’ for the generation of debate, discussion and the exchange of ideas on South Asia and its future development. The Forum will consist of eminent personalities of diverse background including from all SAARC Member States. The Forum would provide inputs, based on a comprehensive understanding, for charting out the future course of SAARC in the medium and long run and recommend, if required, the necessary improvements required in the existing mechanisms. Such a forum could function on public-private partnership lines, and allow for multiple inputs beyond governments into the consideration of the future of SAARC.

4. In order to commemorate the 25th anniversary, the Leaders laid emphasis on effective communications and public diplomacy. They drew attention in this regard to the need to reach out to different sections of the South Asian community, particularly its students and youth, private media, private sector, think tanks, civil society, and institutions of economic development.

5. The Leaders agreed that the scope and substance of cooperation had expanded to diverse fields, providing a firm basis for genuine partnership. However, a number of these had not translated into meaningful and tangible benefits to the people. They, therefore, highlighted the need for more efficient, focused, time-bound and people-centric activities and called for appropriate reflection of all the SAARC decisions into the national policies and programmes of Member States. They resolved that the Silver Jubilee Year should be commemorated by making SAARC truly action oriented by fulfilling commitments, implementing declarations and decisions and operationalizing instruments and living up to the hopes and aspirations of one-fifth of humanity.

6. The Leaders, while appreciating that all the Member States had evolved into multi-party democracies, underlined the challenges faced by them in ensuring effective, efficient, transparent and accountable governments. In this regard, they emphasized the need for regional cooperation to strengthen good governance through sharing of experiences, best-practices and establishing institutional linkages. They noted the proposal by Bangladesh to convene an Inter-governmental Meeting in Dhaka on the idea of a SAARC Charter of Democracy on which Bangladesh offered to circulate a Concept Paper.

7. The Leaders recognised the need to draw on the democratic and participatory tradition collectively represented by the Parliamentarians of South Asia for the progress of SAARC. In this context, the Leaders recommended the convening of a “Conclave of SAARC Parliamentarians” in line with the SAARC Charter and directed the SAARC Secretariat to convene a Working Group, comprising nominees of the Member States, to workout the modalities for establishment of such a Conclave.

8. The Leaders emphasized on a greater focus to pursue people-centric development with due emphasis on socio-cultural progress and upholding traditions and values and in that regard, noted the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) pursued by Bhutan, inter alia, in ensuring people-centric development, culture, preservation of environment, better governance. They further noted that other Member States might consider Bhutan’s experience with the concept and welcomed Bhutan’s offer to host a SAARC Workshop on GNH in 2010.

9. The Leaders emphasized on deepening regional efforts on poverty alleviation, the overarching objective of SAARC. They called for the expeditious mainstreaming of the SAARC Development Goals (SDGs) in the national processes and completion of the Mid-term Review of the SDGs as scheduled. They further noted the useful finding and recommendations made by successive regional studies through the Regional Poverty Profiles (RPPs) and directed the relevant SAARC mechanisms to act on them. In this regard, they welcomed the offer of the Government of Nepal to host the Third Ministerial Meeting on Poverty Alleviation in 2011.

10. The Leaders welcomed Climate Change as the theme for the Summit and reaffirmed their commitment to address this challenge. In this context, they adopted the Thimphu Statement on Climate Change and directed that the recommendations contained therein be implemented in earnest.

11. The Leaders noted that while climate change impacted every country, the SAARC Member States as developing countries were shouldering a major burden, in spite of having contributed least to the problem. They emphasized that global negotiations on climate change should be guided by the principles of equity, and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities as enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and should be conducted in an open, transparent and inclusive manner.

12. The Leaders, underscored the need to initiate the process to formulate a common SAARC position for COP16 and thereafter, including on issues such as separate financing for adaptation and mitigation as well as technology transfer. In this regard, they welcomed the offer of Bhutan to host an Inter-governmental Expert Group meeting.

13. The Leaders welcomed the Government of Nepal’s initiative to organize a Ministerial Meeting of Mountainous Countries in Kathmandu later this year.

14. In pursuance of the recommendation contained in the SAARC Ministerial Statement on Environment on conservation of aquatic ecosystem, trans-boundary bio-diversity zones, automated network of weather stations and regular and systematic sharing of scientific data, the Leaders called for focus on water management and conservation and development of cooperative projects at regional level in terms of exchange of best practices and knowledge, capacity building and transfer of eco-friendly technology.

15. The Leaders, deeply concerned by the extent of environmental degradation in the region, reiterated the importance of sustainably managing environment and development through adoption of eco-friendly approaches and technologies and that South Asia should become a world leader in low-carbon technology and renewable energies. They welcomed the signing of the SAARC Convention on Cooperation on Environment and called for its early ratification and implementation.

16. The Leaders, concerned by the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters, called for effective regional programmes in early warning, preparedness and management including response and rehabilitation while remaining within their respective national laws and procedures. They called for further negotiations and early finalization of the SAARC Agreement on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters.

17. The Leaders noted with satisfaction the ongoing initiatives in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment through regional cooperation. In this regard, the Leaders welcomed the announcement by the Government of Maldives to nominate a Woman Secretary General as the Tenth Secretary General of SAARC.

18. The Leaders appreciated the comprehensive directives of the Colombo Statement on Children of South Asia, specially highlighting the importance of the in-depth assessment of the SAARC Decade of the Rights of the Child (2001-2010) and its follow up. Recognizing the important role young people play in the region, the Leaders directed the development of a SAARC Youth Action Plan, in line with the SAARC Youth Charter, to guide regional cooperation in this area. To achieve this end, the Leaders directed to organize SAARC Youth Summit, involving policy makers and youth leaders from all Member States.

19. The Leaders underlined the important role of the SAARC Development Fund (SDF) for financing regional and sub-regional programmes and projects. They welcomed the ratification of the SDF Charter. The Leaders also welcomed the inauguration and operationalization of the Permanent Secretariat of the SDF including the appointment of its first Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The Leaders also urged the importance of projects being funded through SDF are demand-driven, time-bound and aligned with the developmental priorities of the region. The Leaders also emphasized the need for the Member States to take full advantage of the mechanism of the SDF through expeditious clearance and implementation of the projects and programmes to promote the welfare of the people of the SAARC region, to improve their quality of life and to accelerate economic growth, social progress and poverty alleviation in the region.

20. The Leaders reiterated their commitment to implement SAFTA in letter and spirit. They emphasized the need to realize the full potential, through reduction of the size of the sensitive lists, acceleration of trade facilitation measures, and removal of non-tariff, para-tariff and other barriers. They directed the SAFTA Ministerial Council to work in earnest in these areas in a time-bound manner.

21. The Leaders welcomed the signing of the SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services and expressed that this will open up new vistas of trade cooperation and further deepen the integration of the regional economies. They called for the early ratification of the Agreement. The Leaders also called for the early conclusion of negotiations on the specific schedule of commitments under the Agreement.

22. The Leaders emphasized the need to strengthen the role of private sector in regional initiatives through appropriate mechanisms including through Public-Private Partnership as well as the need for greater intra-SAARC investment promotion efforts.

23. The Leaders underlined the need for taking concrete measures to improve trade facilitation. They directed the relevant SAARC bodies to expedite their work in these areas. They also recognized the importance of development of communication system and transport infrastructure and transit facilities specially for the landlocked countries to promote intra-SAARC trade.

24. The Leaders noted with appreciation that SAARC Commerce Ministers had coordinated SAARC position on WTO Issues and Doha Development Agenda during the Seventh WTO Ministerial Conference and agreed on the SAARC Ministerial Communiqué. They directed the Commerce Ministers to continue the process.

25. The Leaders emphasized the need to strengthen cooperation in education and directed greater interaction among the universities in the region towards undertaking of joint programmes on collaborative research and exchange programmes. They underscored the imperative of recognition of degrees, and where possible facilitation of credit transfers for open and distance education etc. They directed the expeditious finalization of mutual recognition of academic and professional degrees as also harmonization of educational curriculum in South Asia.

26. The Leaders took note of the Reports of the Steering Committee of the South Asian University, and appreciated the progress being made towards establishing the University. They also underscored the importance of establishing regional campuses of the South Asian University. They appreciated the announcement of the CEO of the SAU project office to initialize the first academic session of the University with effect from August 2010. Further they asked the Steering Committee to work towards finalizing the modalities of the University.

27. The Leaders called for collaborative efforts to achieve greater intra-regional connectivity and endorsed the recommendation to declare 2010-2020 as the “Decade of Intra-regional Connectivity in SAARC”. They agreed on the need to expedite negotiations with a view to finalizing the two agreements on Motor Vehicles and Railways.

28. The Leaders, reiterating the centrality of connectivity to further deepen and consolidate regional integration, mandated the Chair to convene an Inter-Governmental Meeting to recommend specific measures to enhance multi-modal connectivity including air, sea and surface transport.

29. Acknowledging the enormity of the challenges related to food insecurity and poverty, the Leaders directed the SAARC Agriculture Ministers to vigorously pursue regional cooperation in agriculture covering all sub-sectors to enhance overall agricultural productivity. They called for regional efforts on increased sharing of best practices, technologies, techniques, and materials. Given the importance of quality seeds in enhancing productivity, they further directed early consideration of the concept of a regional seed bank, regional testing and certification of seeds, and a framework for transfer of plant genetic material and seeds. They agreed that South Asian agriculture must benefit from collaborative efforts from within and among SAARC countries by undertaking specific initiatives and projects.

30. The Leaders underscored the need for promotion of tourism to enhance greater people-to-people contacts in the region and called for the creation of tourism-friendly environment. They welcomed the offer of the Government of Nepal to host the Third SAARC Ministerial Meeting on Tourism in Kathmandu in 2011 which coincides with the Nepal Tourism Year 2011.

31. The Leaders recognized the need to enhance cooperation in the energy sector to facilitate energy trade, development of efficient conventional and renewable energy sources including hydropower. They emphasized the need to undertake studies to develop regional energy projects, promote regional power trade, efficiency, conservation and development of labeling and standardization of appliances, and sharing of knowledge and technologies.

32. The Leaders agreed that an Action Plan on Energy conservation would be prepared by the SAARC Energy Centre (SEC), Islamabad with inputs from the Member States and submit to the inter-governmental mechanism for consideration. They called for the creation of a web portal on Energy Conservation for exchange of information and sharing of best practices among SAARC Member States.

33. The Leaders noted the proposal from India for preparing a Roadmap for developing a SAARC Market for Electricity (SAME) on a regional basis, as SAARC is considering electricity trading, supported by enabling markets in the Member States.

34. The Leaders strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and expressed deep concern over the threat which terrorism continues to pose to peace, security and economic stability of the South Asian region. They reiterated their firm resolve to root out terrorism and recalled the Ministerial Declaration on Cooperation in Combating Terrorism adopted by the Thirty-first Session of the Council of Ministers in Colombo. They emphasized that the linkages between the terrorism, illegal trafficking in drugs and psychotropic substance, illegal trafficking of persons and firearms all continue to remain a matter of serious concern and reiterated their commitment to address these problems in a comprehensive manner. The Leaders emphasized the need to strengthen regional cooperation to fight terrorism and transnational organized crimes. They reaffirmed their commitment to implement the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and its Additional Protocol and SAARC Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. They re-emphasized the importance of coordinated and concerted response to combat terrorism. The Leaders also recognized in this regard the value of the proposed UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism and noted the progress made during the recent rounds of negotiations and called for an early conclusion of the Convention.

35. The Leaders welcomed the hosting of the Third Meeting of SAARC Home/Interior Ministers and related Meetings in Islamabad to review the implementation of relevant SAARC Conventions. They underscored the importance of the SAARC Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and called for its ratification.

36. The Leaders welcomed the Observers from Australia, the People’s Republic of China, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mauritius, the Union of Myanmar, the United States of America and the European Union and appreciated their participation in the Summit. They acknowledged that Australia and Myanmar were attending the Summit for the first time. They appreciated the interest shown by the Observers to work with SAARC.

37. The Leaders welcomed the offer of the Government of Maldives to host the Seventeenth Summit of the Heads of State or Government of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 2011.

Stop harassments on Human Rights Defenders of NAFSO

We are living in a so called democratic society where the right to freedom of association is well recognized,  respected and promoted. We as NAFSO working within the frame work of SL national constitution should also exercise these rights.

But there are two incidents to report today as my colleagues are day by day threatened or harassed by CID/NIB or military in the country, irrespective of north or south.

INCIDENT 1
My colleagues attended the fishermen's and boat owner's protest organized at Thoppuwa today and distributed the leaflet we prepared against the foreign fishing vessels operating and unloading fish which are badly affect the income of the fishermen.
 After attending the protest at Thoppuwa junction, my colleague Suba received a phone call from CID officers at Negombo asking what is the protest at Thoppuwa? What is the relationship with this protest and NAFSO? Who is Nalaka Rosairo? Why he took the photographs of Police? etc. Etc.
We do not have right to organize or even to attend a protest?

INCIDENT 2
I had to accompany, Rev. Bandiwewe Diyasena who comducted 5 day huger strike to bring SL fishermen who were detained in Andaman Jails more than a year, to CID head quarters today. The charge was to inquire about some of the monies he had taken from a boat owner promising to release the same fishermen held in Andaman jails in 2011.
The CID officers were informed to Rev. Diyasena thero's temple to attend for the inquiry about the same incident while Rev. Diyasena was out of the country for some time.
Rev. Diyasena work with NAFSO closely and attended several activities in relation to fishermen, land issues and well as human rights issues such as protests of people of disappeared, human rights day celebrations etc.
As a result of the fisheries hunger strike Rev.Diyasena conducted, he got very bad mud slinging from Minister Fisheries Rajitha Senarathne  and the boat owner and a corrupted person who claimed to be attended the release of fishermen when they were held in foreign jails.

Social Transformation is our Role as always!

What is our role in the present social, political and economic order of the day? The democratic values are degrading seriously. The rule of Law is totally disrupted. The freedom of expression can not expect in the threatened, oppressed environment. People, small food producer groups are losing their resources and taken away from the people, in the name of development. In the road to Miracle in the Asia. Ambitious plan for Economic Hub of Asia. For the collective actions of trade unions are being blocked with interim orders taken through the court. There is no such citizens as we expect to come forward to uphold the democratic values. Individualistic life and selfishness is the main governing regimes in the world order. Profit, more profit and further Profit is the only motivation today. There is a serious social, economic, political degradation in our society today. What is our role? I repeat my question again. What is our role as Civil Society Organization/s? Is it structural reforms of present social, economic and political system? Or do we need towards regime change? This is our dilemma today. Once we plan for regime change, there should not be personal change, it should be social transformation which lead wider structural change in the society. We all in NAFSO and those engage in related work, need to understand our role as political and towards social transformation. This is our challenge to aware our own colleagues and comrades during the 2014. Herman

Nepal election was conducted 19th November and just now the final result is coming up.
The clear message this time election result is the defeat of Maoist group who got the majority in the 2008 parliamentary elections which seems a major defeat of extreme left groups while Communist Party of Nepal [the UML] got second highest with 91 sheets in constituent assembly. However, the Nepal Congress, the country's oldest, pro Indian, close ties with India won 105 sheets out of 240 of the constituent assembly.
According to Farook Tariq, the General Secretary of Awami Workers Party of Pakistan, who was a member of the election monitoring team circulated a detailed report of his monitoring visit to Nepal claimed, the victory of the Nepali Congress is in the amidst of the majority voters sympathy over left parties, including UML and UCPN[Maoist party].
It is important note which comrade Farook sent to us about the new Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, [RPPN] which is calling for restoration of Royalty and has secured significant  number of votes from the capital city of Kathmandu leading with 106,830 votes with 6 constituencies out of 10.

Sadly, the Maoist who were played a significant role to defeat the Royal Family dynasty could not retain the trust  among the poor people during 2013 election.
Just a day after the elections the Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal known as Prachanda declared the elections as a "conspiracy" against them and announced boycott of the polling count. He only went to press after it was clear the Maoists are losing badly in the elections. They were the single largest group in 2008 parliament and failed to retain their support among the extremely poor masses of Nepal.
We need to wait and see, how the Nepal Congress lead the country from the constitutional crisis the country faced with the support of Opposition party UML at the moment. 
We congratulate Nepali people, our comrades at ANPfA and ANWA, RRN and SAAPE secretariat for their commitment to a Just and Free Society with democratic and socialist values.

Herman

Viva African Continent! Viva Women and Men in Africa

Friends,
There are so many progressive decisions and decisive events taking place all over the globe today.
African commission has adopted a resolution to recognize women's right to Land and other Productive Resources. This has been a very radical decision by the African Commission and we welcome this and congratulate the leaders who had the courage to take such decision.

As advocates of People's Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, we highly appreciated the brave stand of the people engaged. It is our struggle to gain equal rights for men and women who depend on the natural resources, particularly on Land.

Here you can see the important note as quoted from the message I received today.
Herman

African Commission Affirms Women’s Right to Land and Other Productive Resources

In November 2013, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted a groundbreaking resolution on women’s right to land and other productive resources.  With this resolution, the African Commission urged States “to fully comply with their obligations and commitments to ensure, protect and promote women’s right to land and property” and encouraged them “to repeal discriminatory laws and adopt legislative measures to sanction customary practices that limit or have a negative impact on women’s access to, use of and control over land and other productive resources.”  The Commission also called on States “to organise sustained public sensitisation, information and education campaigns for community and religious leaders in order to transform socio-cultural patterns of conduct that deprive women of their security of enjoyment of and equal access to property, land and adequate housing” as well as “to undertake land and agrarian reforms to ensure equal treatment for women in rural development, land distribution and social housing projects.”

The resolution further urged States to:

i) provide legal protection to women against forced evictions and dispossession of land for use by public and private actors;

ii) ensure widows’ right to inheritance, including the right to inherit the movable and immovable property of their husbands, as well as their right, irrespective of the matrimonial regime, to continue to live in the matrimonial house;

iii) ensure access to public justice services for underprivileged women by providing effective remedies for violations of their right to land and property, and free legal assistance in order to ensure compensation and the restitution of land;

iv) ensure that financial and microcredit institutions integrate the specific needs of women into their policies and practices, including access to credit and income-generating activities, especially for poor women and women heads of households;

v) integrate into national HIV/AIDS control strategies, as well as farming and land policies, women’s right to land and property;

vi) put in place special measures to protect the property rights of women with disabilities; and

vii) allocate specific resources to investment programmes that support and strengthen initiatives by rural women, in particular small-scale farmers.

Mayra Gomez, Co-Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, noted that “The Global Initiative has worked with its partners in a concerted effort to achieve this goal and we are quite happy with this result.  The challenge now, however, is for all of us to use this resolution in our advocacy for women’s substantive equality in Africa and elsewhere, as well as to continually highlight the important link between human rights and access to, control over and use of land generally.”  She added that “The Global Initiative worked closely with Initiative for Gender Equality in Development – Africa, ActionAid – Burundi, FIDA – Kenya, and others to make this resolution a reality.”

With the adoption of this resolution, women’s right to land and other productive resources has clearly been established as a component of both the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol).  The Commission also made clear that “women’s access to, control over and use of land and productive resources contribute[s] to promoting gender equality and constitute[s] a solid basis for improving women’s social, political and economic status.”

My colleague Sunesh, Basil Soosai's life is in danger.
Sunesh is working in Mannar district and serving as the coordinator of Mannar District Fisheries Solidarity Organization. He is active in many fields, including fisheries, IDPs, Families of the disappeared, Land rights groups, Citizen forum of Mannar, Fisheries Cooperative Federation in Mannar district and many more.
By now there were three attempts to abduct Sunesh and he was cleaver enough to escape all these times.
Again last 21st early morning around 1.30 am, some fellows came to his home and had asked him to come out from his home. Since he was on the way to Negombo where he was supposed to attend to National Land Convention while commemorating World Fisheries Day, organized by National Fisheries Solidarity Movement, NAFSO, this attempt was also a futile as he was not at home.
However, as Human Rights Defenders, we decided to approach various responsible agencies on Mannar urging the security of Sunesh.
Mannar SSP police, Divisional Secretary of Mannar and Army area Commander were some of the authorities whom we met and handed over the petitions urging security of Sunesh.
Bishop of Mannar Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph, Fr. Sebamalai the chair of Citizen Committee, A.Jesudasan, NAFSO coordinator, Brito Fernando, Chairperson of Families of Disappeared, Fredie Gamage of Meepura news web and several community members of Mannar were attended the work conducted at Mannar.
People registered their anger with a protest at Mannar too.

Please see the video thanks and quoted from Global Tamil News.

http://www.globaltamilnews.net/GTMNEditorial/tabid/71/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/99363/language/si-LK/----.aspx#.UpBMtFEmSCg.gmail

Herman

68th National Budget and the Fisheries Sector

The 68th National Budget speech was held by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday at the Parliament and this is the 9th budget of his own government.

According to the budget proposals, President Rajapakse has proposed to maintain the imported tax for fisheries products in a higher rate. But, it is not clear on what level though we see this as an important move.
At the same time, the proposed allocations for fishery harbors in Gandara, Wennappuwa, Dodanduwa, Chilaw, Kapparathota, Kalamatiya in the southern and western coasts as well as Gurunagar and Silawatura in the north areas.
Encouragement of boat construction locally is another aspects of the positive side of the budget.
We need to study further the 68th budget in relation to fisheries specific matters and overall national economy.

Herman

The 4th General assembly of South Asian Alliance for Poverty Eradication, [SAAPE] was held at Kathmandu, Nepal from 17-22nd December. There were more than 40 prominent civil society actors representing political parties, trade unions, farmers, peasants, fisheries, women and many more attended the gathering.
The country up dates of each country was discussed in detail. And also seek the possible collective actions to the challenges of eradication of poverty, hunger, militarization and religious fundamentalism, social insecurity in the South Asian region which is largest poor population living in the globe.
According to the FAO, it is around 640 million people more than 60% of hungry people live in the region and is a big challenge to the Human kind in the globe. So, the SAAPE general body meeting was a decisive event to seek possible collaborative actions among the civil society across the region on Food sovereignty and Land grabbing issues, Gender, Militarization and Democratization of the region. 
Afganistan, Bangladesh, Bhuthan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lankan delegates reaffirmed their commitment to work together on above issues more than ever as the threats and challenges are also so severe on us.