New light for the displaced in Sri Lanka

Following much pressure from the opposition, civil society and the international community on the slow progress in the resettlement of some 350,000 internally displaced persons (IDP), the Sri Lankan government has finally taken a step forward in the process. Over the past few days nearly 6000 refugees have been released; and according to the government, another 40,000 would be released within this week. Most of them would be from Manik Farm in Vavuniya, the largest batch to be released since the end of the war in May this year.

The Ministry for Disaster Management and Human Rights says that as of October 26, the figure for IDPs held in camps have come down for the first time to 200,000. From Manik Farm alone, 45 000 have been resettled in their original districts of domicile such as Jaffna, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Vavuniya and Killinochi.

According to the government a report issued by the international monitoring center for IDP’s says that Sri Lanka is the only country that has managed to resettle the largest number of IDPs within such a short period. Government’s reports say that 480 million rupees a month have been spent on their daily needs. A delegation from Tamil Nadu, India, comprising of MPs of DMK, Congress and VCK, also expressed their satisfaction with the measures taken by the government and has offered to lend more support if needed.

Walter Kalin, representative of the UN secretary general on human rights for IDPs, spoke of the situation in camps to the UN General Assembly on October 27 of October. After visiting the country twice in the past six months, he acknowledged that progress has been made where the government has speeded up the screening procedures and released those who did not pose a threat. He also said that the ultimate goal is to restore freedom of movement for the IDPs and finding a durable solution for them.

Despite the progress that has been made there are parties that remain skeptical about the situation. The party in opposition, United National Party (UNP) says that the government is continuing to hold the displaced by force; however, the government has denied such claims. Amnesty International in a report says that the camps are overcrowded, and without adequate water, sanitation and food and healthcare facilities. Even a report issued recently by the European Union may have adverse effects on the country. The EU expects to vote in the next two months on whether or not to suspend Sri Lanka’s Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) plus concession. The concession was granted to Sri Lanka after the tsunami in December 2004; but due to poor conditions in the welfare camps and human rights violations at present, EU nations believe that the Sri Lankan government does not deserve the concession any longer.

One of the biggest post-conflict challenges facing the Sri Lankan government is the resettlement and rehabilitation of the displaced community. The demining process in many areas still needs to be completed. The government has been working with selected organizations but has called for more assistance to speed up the process. However, with such criticism clouding over them, the government still has to prove whether they are true to their word and worthy of any form of international assistance.

Global warming: is it really a scam?

As the world gears up for action against climate change, a recent study shows that a number of people who believe in the theory are now declining. Pew Research Center for The People and The Press say that 35% of Americans see global warming as a serious problem today compared to the 44% in April last year. It also says that younger Americans are more likely to see global warming as a serious issue compared to older Americans.

The poll which was conducted with 1500 Americans found that only 36% believe that human activities such as pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles are behind the increase in temperature. This is less compared to the 47% from 2006, results from the last year’s poll.

So why is there a sudden loss of faith in global warming?

According to The New Media Index recent comments and articles regarding climate change has become a hot topic especially within the social media such as blogs and Twitter. A story by the BBC titled ‘What happened to global warming?’ says that for the last 11 years we have not observed any global rise in temperatures and the warmest year recorded was not 2008 or 2007 but 1998. The story highlights the views of several scientists that point out how man made climate change is not occurring and in fact the globe will be cooler in the coming years.
John Coleman the founder of The Weather Channel believes that global warming is a scam. Coleman along with 30,000 scientists, researches and meteorologists is suing Al Gore for fraud claiming that his documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ is misleading. They state that Co2 is not harming the earth and humans are not causing changes in weather conditions.



This claim was also made two years ago by a British high court judge, Michael Burton, who characterized the film as alarming and exaggerated. The judge based his decision on nine inaccuracies in the movie. Although ignored by mainstream media, his claim is featured in a newly released movie called ‘Not Evil Just Wrong’.

Lord Christopher Monckton, former policy advisor to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, has also announced that the science linking rising Co2 levels to environmental changes is totally flawed. A new method of measurements suggests that Co2 levels will only increase by half a degree Celsius in 150 years. Lord Monckton says that this global warming catastrophe is harming humans and that the scare must be put to an end. Recently he was interviewed on The Glenn Beck radio show where he discussed global warming and the UN climate change treaty.



The shortcomings of the global warming theory don’t end here. Former Greenpeace leader Gerd Leipold admitted that their claim of Arctic ice melting by 2030 was a mistake. On BBC’s ‘Hard Talk’ he was confronted by reporter Stephen Sackur on two aspects. One, that Arctic ice is a mass of 1.6 million square kilometers with a thickness of 3 km in the middle, and two, that it had survived much warmer periods in history than the present. Leipold defending the organization said that such claims were made at the beginning to alter public opinion and way of thinking.
Critics further claim that activists have changed their language from Global Warming to Climate Change because the globe is actually not warming up. Recent satellite measurements of the Atlantic Ocean indicate a rise of .0075 centimeters in 2007, the last year of global warming, which is not considered to be a threat at all. In 2006 Al Gore gave 10 years to reach the tipping point; however, after Obama was elected James Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies says that only 4 years remain to save the world. Even Prince Charles in May last year said that the world had 18 months for urgent action but this year he increased it to 100 months. These statements have confused and led people to believe that the theory may be relatively faulty.

The support for global warming is nevertheless still large. On October 24, thousands of people in more than 180 countries gathered in protest against the carbon emissions that cause global warming. It was International Day of Climate Action centering on the number 350 which refers to 350 parts per million of Co2 in the atmosphere which some scientists say must not be exceeded to avoid global warming. Thousands of events have also been organized before the UN summit. Furthermore, the poll by the Pew Research Center was released a day after 18 scientific organizations wrote to Congress to reaffirm the consensus behind global warming. A federal government report last week found that global warming is upsetting the Arctic’s thermostat.

What does this all mean?

The contradictions and accusations related to global warming are increasing but right now the commotion is not large enough for the majority to take notice. But are they true? According to the BBC there are so many other natural sources of warming and cooling in the planet that even if man is warming the planet, it is a small part compared with nature. This is not the last we have heard of global warming in the media. With the UN summit scheduled to take place in two months, it is a theory that will be much discussed all over the world. However, it is only hoped that the truth is found out sooner rather than later.


Global warming and Carbon tax scam -



Greenpeace leader admits Arctic ice mistake –

The ongoing battle for the freedom of Sri Lanka’s displaced population

The three-decade-long war in Sri Lanka maybe over, but the hardship and suffering of over 270,000 Tamils living in temporary welfare villages in the north continues.
A recent statement by the Human Rights Watch vehemently condemned the promises made recently by the Sri Lankan government that it would resettle half of the displaced population by the end of this year. "Enough is enough," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "It is well past time to release civilians detained in the camps. Sri Lanka's international friends should tell the government that they will not accept any more broken promises."
Earlier this year - in May - the government had promised that it would resettle 80% of the displaced Tamils by the end of 2009. However the government has only released 24,000 people so far, leaving more than 240,000 people in camps. The statement released on the HRW website also lists the broken promises made by the government throughout the year.
The international community has been coercing the government for long to step up the resettlement process of the displaced in the welfare villages. The United Nations and the International Monetary Fund as well as countries such as United States, Russia, United Kingdom and India, have provided the Sri Lankan government with financial aid and support for this purpose. However, over the last few months the government has been criticized widely as it has failed to keep its word. On September 29th the United Nations also issued the strongest criticism yet as the government was not making sufficient progress in implementing a promise made to Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in May to resettle the refugees within six months.
Since the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) in May 2009, over 300,000 civilians have been held in temporary welfare camps in the north. Apart from the camps being poorly set up, the civilians were also tightly guarded as it restricted their freedom of movement which violates their human rights under international law. Officials, media personnel, and international and local aid workers were denied access to these camps unless they were accompanied by the military.
According to the government, during the last few months almost 55,000 persons have been resettled in the northern and eastern parts of the country or sent to host families. The resettlement process only began after demining in those areas had been completed. The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were subjected to a screening process in order to weed out suspected LTTE carders. They were also provided with special identity cards designed by the government.
Despite such efforts, the personal accounts of those released are saddening. Testimonials on Citizen Journalist website Groundviews and several other media reports stated that about 200 persons who were recently taken out of the biggest camp, Manik Farm, were asked to leave without any assistance provided. No transport was provided and no proper documents were handed out in support of their release.
Within the camps the situation is worsening. Tensions between the displaced persons and aid workers have led to the IDP’s being abused or mistreated by the military. In another recent incident, as the troops prevented a group of IDP’s from moving between camps, two children sustained injuries - of whom one is now paralyzed – as security forces opened fire to control the crowd. However, details of the incident released by the Ministry of Defense (MOD) and the UNHCR vary. Furthermore, with the onset of the north-east monsoon heavy winds have destroyed more than 2000 temporary shelters holding IDP’s. In mid-August, rains flooded the camps destroying tents and roads which made it difficult for cooking and also transporting essentials such as drinking water. The government had assured that they were ready to face the monsoon; however, concerns are mounting as the heavy rains could flood the overcrowded camps and surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, UK Minister for International Development, Mike Foster who visited Manik Farm on October 6th said that when the monsoon was over, they would withdraw all but life saving emergency interventions in the camps. According to the minister, 70% of the displaced should be able to leave and stay with host families. The people in the camps have told him that the conditions are poor, with inadequate drinking water and drains; most of them are pleading to be sent home. Here is a documented video of the minister’s visit.
With funds being restricted and the monsoon setting in, the future of these Sri Lankans living in the welfare villages appears bleak. Their only hope is to be released and resettled immediately so that they, too, like the rest of the country, can begin to enjoy a life of peace and unity. However, their fate lies eventually in the hands of the Sri Lankan government.

International Day of Climate Action - The day the world came together.

On October 24th activists the world over marked the International day of climate action organized by 350.org. They want to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of climate action ahead of the United Nations climate change summit that will be held in Copenhagen. 350 refers to parts per million of carbon dioxide it considers the safe limit for our atmosphere.
Here are some of the events that took place.