Sri Lanka is developing a system to track and monitor foreign nationals as they enter and travel around the country, after a new online travel approval system is fully operational, LBO reports.

Sri Lanka is starting at electronic travel authorization program from January 01, and is to scrap free visa-on-arrival to 78 countries.

Controller general of Sri Lanka's immigration office, Chulananda Perera told reporters at a recent media briefing that the state also planned to monitor and track foreigners as they went around the country.

"Each hotel and guest house will be given a machine," he said. "Foreigners will have to keep their passport on this machine before going to their room."

Perera said the state would monitor foreigners as they travelled from place to place.

The immigration department already had a 'migration intelligence unit' but another special unit would be created in the future he said.

The immigration office would find it easier to nab overstaying foreigners through this method, he said.

But the real reason is self evident: ‘foreigners’ includes many of the Tamil Diaspora.
 

“We, together with other Commonwealth members, urge Sri Lanka, as host, to demonstrate its commitment to upholding the Commonwealth values of human rights, good governance and the rule of law.

A key part of that will be to address long-standing issues about accountability and reconciliation after the recent conflict.

We have made that clear, and we expect to see progress by the end of the year.”

“We are all aware that some atrocities were committed on both sides during the conflict in Sri Lanka, and it would be extremely good to have an independent investigation of them.

The Sri Lankan Government have set up their own investigation into this-I forget its full name-although there are some doubts about how independent it is.

We continue to press for a thorough and independent investigation.”

In an effort to relieve some of the international pressure being exerted upon Sri Lanka regarding allegations of war crimes, the country's human rights envoy, Mahinda Samarasinghe, proclaimed a five-year action plan for human rights protection.

The plan is to be presented at the UN Human Rights Council session in March next year.

Details of the plan were not disclosed, but a government statement said it would largely involve setting up committees to monitor implementation of existing laws and to ensure better understanding and respect for civil rights. (See AFP's report here).

Samarasinghe, who led the Sri Lankan delegation to the UN Human Rights Council last month, stated that the 'National Action Plan for the Protection of Human Rights' would have three objectives - 'the achievement of genuine and substantive improvements in the protection and promotion of human rights, promotion of greater awareness and the promotion of coordination of human rights activity among diverse stakeholders.'

Predictably, a government statement hinted that the plans would include the formation of committees to monitor implementation of existing laws and to reportedly increase understanding and respect for civil rights.

Samarasinghe added that the plan would cover civil and political rights, women's rights, economic social and cultural rights, labour rights, rights of migrant workers, the rights of the internally displaced and the prevention of torture.

See 'One farce too many' (editorial May 2011)

"Over 60 percent of households in the Northern Province are food-insecure, and lack the income generation and food-production capacity to secure basic needs."

"People ask why they should help a middle-income country; what they fail to see is that there are large pockets of poverty here."

"The reality is that there is food, but it is very expensive, people don't have the income to buy it."

"Soon we will see more unless the tide changes."

The Ministry of Rehabilitation and Prisons Reforms plans to advertise for two hangmen, to execute upto 800 inmates on death row.

Desanayake, the Ministry's secretary, explained,

"There are two vacancies for the hangman position after one person who held the position got a promotion, and the other retired,"

"We are planing to advertise the vacancy calling for applications by next week as we cannot keep the position vacant."

"At least 800 people convicted of murder and drugs offences could potentially be executed" 

The president must sign off on any judicial execution.

The last execution occurred in 1976, following which death sentences were invariably commuted to life imprisonment.

In 1999, then President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, attempted revived the death penalty in cases of murder and drug trafficking, however their was public criticism of such a move. She finally succeeded in 2004, riding a wave of public outrage at the assassination of a high court judge, Sarath Ambepitiya, believed to have been killed by a drug lord. Speculation was rife that the drug baron was well connected within Sri Lankan political circles. 

Over recent months, Sri Lankan activists, lawyers and politicians have reportedly been lobbying for the death penalty to be actively reinstated, in order to deal with a rise in crime over the past two years.

Sri Lanka is one of many predominantly Buddhist countries where the death penalty is legal - others include Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan.

Amidst increasing international criticism of Sri Lanka and allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Tamils, the country's Deputy Minister of External Affairs, Neomal Perara, has been dispatched to Central and South America on a very important mission. 

Perara, who has so far visited Mexico, Peru and the Dominican Republic, has been entrusted to present his respective counterparts with three special gifts - a copy of Sri Lanka's 'Humanitarian Operation Factual Analysis July 2006- May 2009', a CD of the Sri Lanka's 'Lies agreed upon' and a no doubt well-rehearsed spiel as to why prejudgement of the LLRC report is 'unacceptable and unwarranted'.

See 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' screened to Canadian MPs' (Sept 2011)

“ministers have made it clear to the Sri Lankan government that if the LLRC does turn out to be a whitewash and finds no real culpability at the top, you can be absolutely sure we will push hard for a formal UN report.”

“giving returnees the British High Commission's phone number in Colombo is hardly a lot of use if you have been detained and tortured or are too scared for your family’s safety to speak out".

However in August, when Tamils in Jaffna angered by police providing sanctuary to ‘grease devils’ – night prowlers who attack women – fleeing after being identified, the response, predictably, was quite different.

Having driven off the demonstrators, the military raided their homes the following day. Many of the houses were destroyed and hundreds of youth and children were dragged to a public square.

See report from TamilNet here.

The logic? If Sinhalese attack police stations, it’s rightful public anger. But if Tamils attack police station, it is ‘terrorism’.

According to Defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa,

“Surrounding camps of security forces is a major offence and it is taken as a terrorist act for attempting to attack law enforcement institutions."

See his comment in our earlier post: 'Sri Lanka lifts emergency laws, but terror law has same powers' (Aug 2011)

Cairn Lanka has discovered a natural gas field off the coast of Mannar in the Northern Province, the first time that deposits have been found on the island.

President Mahinda Rajapakse was reportedly “elated” at the news, and said,

"With more luck and blessings we hope we can find oil".

Cairn was more cautious in its statement saying,

"Further drilling will be required to establish the commerciality of the discovery".

The discovery comes in the Mannar basin after Sri Lanka sold a block each to Cairn, India and China in 2007. The latter two have yet to commence drilling and are reported to be waiting the outcome of Cairn’s work first.

Cairn Lanka is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cairn India. British-based Cairn Energy, which owns 52% of spin-off Cairn India, has been trying to sell its shares in the company for months, to London-listed mining group Vedanta Resources led by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal.

Drilling in Mannar first began in 1971 by Russia, who failed to find any commercially viable sources and since abandoned the project. The past decade has seen Norway provide seismic studies into the region which has led to the renewed interest.

See our previous post:

‘Speculation as drilling begins in Mannar’ (Aug 2011)

'Scurried pact for oil off Mannar' (Jul 2008)

Speaking at the AmCham's (American Chamber of Commerce) annual general meeting on Sri Lanka's economic outlook, US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Patricia Butenis urged 'full political reconciliation', stressing the need for economic development and political reconciliation to go 'hand in hand', and highlighting the unquestionable 'reservoir of skills and financial resources' of the Diaspora.

See full speech here.

Extracts reproduced below:

"I think that most would agree that in Sri Lanka economic development and political reconciliation must go hand in hand."

"I think about what more could be achieved with full political reconciliation, where every Sri Lankan feels that they have a full stake in the country and where potential foreign investors have confidence in the continued political stability of the country. The overseas Diaspora has a tremendous reservoir of skills and financial resources that could contribute so much to rebuilding Sri Lanka."

"It is not just the money, it’s also the people.  Their skills and overseas connections are just as important, and they can help propel Sri Lanka to the new level of development we all want." 

Highlighting further obstacles to foreign investment Butenis added,

"The World Bank conducts an annual survey on the ease of doing business, and in 2010 Sri Lanka ranked 102th, behind most of its regional competitors.  Similarly, Sri Lanka ranks 91st  worldwide in the Transparency International index of corruption, and this issue inhibits foreign investment, particularly from the United States."

Parents of the 1800 alleged LTTE members, detained without charge by the Sri Lankan government and supposedly released last Friday, have informed BBC Tamil service, that they are yet to be united with their loved ones.

According to the report, none of the 1800 detainees have been given permission by Sri Lankan authorities to go back to their parent's homes.

See 'Rajapakse's self-congratulation'

The supposed release of the 1800 detainees was marked with much pomp and ceremony. The event was attended by ambassadors from the US, India, UK and Australia.

See 'Anger at Australian envoys role at Sri Lankan ceremony'

Britain’s main opposition Labour Party has unequivocally called for an international commission to be set up to investigate the allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Speaking at a 'Tamils for Labour' event on the sidelines of the Labour Party conference last week, Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander said the party's entire front bench was united on the view that Sri Lanka’s own inquiry, the LLRC, is not capable of holding an independent inquiry.

Mr Alexander expressed the Labour Party’s disappointment with the UN Human Rights Council and the continued delay in addressing accountability for alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.

But he also demanded that Britain itself must be held to account with regards to its responsibilities in ensuring war crimes are investigated and the perpetrators held to account.

Mr Alexander said that the primary responsibility in investigating the allegations lies with Sri Lanka but expressed concerns the Labour Party holds about the credibility of Sri Lanka's domestic commission, the LLRC, referring to the safety of witnesses and the neutrality of the panel.

He pointed out it was impossible to ‘judge [the panel] as a genuinely neutral body in assessing evidence’.

"I feel it is right, and after discussions with my shadow frontbench team, to say we are not convinced that this Commission can do its work even with international participation and there does need to be an international commission that looks into the evidence."

Mr Alexander stressed the Labour party is also concerned not just about the past, but about the ongoing situation in Sri Lanka.

The continuing disappearances of civilians speaking up against the government and the manner of resettlement of IDP’s are ongoing human rights issues that the Labour Party wants addressed.

The labelling by Sri Lanka of over 3000 individuals as ‘ex-combatants’ was also questioned by Mr Alexander, who he said "we know include [..] secretaries and clerical workers."

The Shadow Foreign Secretary pledged that Labour MPs will continue to raise Sri Lanka’s human rights issue in parliament and gave his word that there is a "real and genuine concern and a continued determination to give voice to this concern."

See Mr. Alexander's full speech:

See also the address to the Labour Party annual conference by Mr. Sen Kandiah, the Chair of 'Tamils for Labour' - said to the Labour Party's fastest growing affiliate organisation.

Mahinda Rajapaksa was served a US court summons on Friday, under the US Torture Victim's Protection Act for extrajudicial killings - a civil suit.

The case was brought by three plaintiffs who allege that Rajapaksa held command responsibility for extrajudicial killings of Ragihar Manoharan, the son of plaintiff Dr. Kasippillai Manoharan; of Premas Anandarajah, a humanitarian aid worker for Action Against Hunger and the husband of plaintiff Kalaiselvi Lavan and four members of the Tevarajah family, all relatives of plaintiff Jeyakumar Aiyathurai.

Rajapaksa has so far evaded a accepting a legal summons, by simply refusing or instructing his government officials, including the Minister for Justice, to refuse any official summons.

In an unprecedented attempt to overcome this obstacle, US constituitional lawyer, Bruce Fein, has issued the summons via over 100 media outlets in Sri Lanka, social networking sites and the internet - so that it becomes impossible for Rajapaksa to plead ignorance of the summons issued for him.

At the same time as issuing the summons, Fein, filed a motion in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, requesting Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to authorise the novel method by which it has been issued. 

In an interview with The Sunday Leader, Fein outlines the plan:

"First of all the method that we utilized to attempt the service was through an international treaty called the Hague Convention of International Service Process and we sent a copy of the complaint that was received by the Ministry of Justice that is designated by Sri Lanka as the recipient of these complaints that are served in foreign countries.

It refused to deliver the complaint and the summons to the President based upon Article 13 that said an authorization for national sovereignty to decline to serve a particular document.

So we are proposing in a motion that we will file on Friday, September 30 alternate means of service including sending it by publication to a newspapers of general circulation in Colombo as well as posting it on a website that we know Sri Lankan officials monitor very closely.

We intend to also post the summons on the President’s Facebook and Twitter pages as well. He has got a million dollar lobbyist in Washington DC so we propose to serve a copy of the summons and complaint to his lobbyist probably at Patton-Boggs.

So these are… There are some email addresses as well that we may propose to send it to and lastly he did establish a Post Office Box in the United States in which to receive political donations to his campaign and we would propose to send the copy of the summons and complaint to that address as well.

These are all that we think are reasonably calculated to alert the President of the facts of the lawsuit and the necessity to respond in twenty days."

In addition to Sinhala newspapers and websites, the motion argues that Tamil opposition newspapers and websites, in particular Tamilnet, are closely monitored by the Sri Lankan government.

Extract from the motion filed:

"Since the Sinhalese Buddhist majority has maligned the ethnic Tamil minority as “terrorists” or “insurgents,” Plaintiffs can reasonably assume that the Sri Lankan Defense Ministry meticulously monitors its opponents among the Tamil diaspora.

Because of continuous government monitoring of Tamilnet Plaintiffs submit that publication of the Complaint and Summons upon the front page of this opposition website would be reasonably calculated to provide actual notice to the Defendant and would not be prohibited by international agreement.

Despite critics who argue this method of issuing the summons will not stand in a court of law, Fein remains hopefully.

"The law ordinarily does not reward somebody who is obviously trying to evade and run away from service."

"We attempted to serve him when he visited a Buddhist Temple in Queens, New York. He had bodyguards that prevented the delivery of a copy of the summons and the complaint, and judges ordinarily are not happy when they see clear efforts to evade a service of process."

In response to the obstacle of immunity for a Foreign Sovereign, Fein argued,

"We are not suing the government of Sri Lanka. We are not suing the President in his official capacity. Those create far more formidable legal obstacles.

We are suing President Rajapaksa as an individual under a clear theory that no government is authorised to permit - any official at any time, any place – to commit torture or extra judicial killings.

It can never be an official act of government. The law does not recognize that as other than uncivilized, lawless, immoral and otherwise.

There are no circumstances, I repeat none under the law, that ever justifies torture, that ever justifies an extrajudicial killing and that is why we do not confront a sovereign’s foreign immunity or an official head of state exemption because it is not an official act.

When you do something like this you are acting outside the pale of civilization itself."

See motion in full here.

See here for the views of US based group TAG (Tamils Against Genocide).