Sri Lanka: Women’s Insecurity in the North and East

Image by DFID - UK Department for International Development via Flickr

Asia Report N°217 20 Dec 2011

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Women in Sri Lanka’s predominantly Tamil-speaking north and east are facing a desperate lack of security in the aftermath of the long civil war. Today many still live in fear of violence from various sources. Those who fall victim to it have little means of redress. Women’s economic security is precarious, and their physical mobility is limited. The heavily militarised and centralised control of the north and east – with almost exclusively male, Sinhalese security forces – raises particular problems for women there in terms of their safety, sense of security and ability to access assistance. They have little control over their lives and no reliable institutions to turn to. The government has mostly dismissed women’s security issues and exacerbated fears, especially in the north and east. The international community has failed to appreciate and respond effectively to the challenges faced by women and girls in the former war zone. A concerted and immediate effort to empower and protect them is needed.

Thirty years of civil war between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has resulted in tens of thousands of female-headed households in the north and east. Families throughout those areas experienced many waves of conflict, displacement and militarisation. In the war’s final stages in 2008 and 2009, hundreds of thousands of civilians in the northern Vanni region endured serial displacements and months of being shelled by the government and held hostage by the LTTE, after which they were herded into closed government camps. Most lost nearly all possessions and multiple family members, many of whom are still missing or detained as suspected LTTE cadres. When families eventually returned to villages, homes and land had been destroyed or taken over by the military. There was less physical destruction in the east, which was retaken by the government in 2007, but those communities have also suffered and now live under the tight grip of the military and central government.

Pakistan-Nato Links Strained After Air Strike

Pakistan is reportedly set to review all diplomatic, military and intelligence links with the US and Nato following a deadly cross-border attack on a border checkpoint…

Pakistan-Nato Links Strained After Air Strike , posted with vodpod

Silva Carvalho também ‘espiado’ na Wikileaks

A WikiLeaks publica um documento com a análise de Jorge Silva Carvalho sobre as interferências e manobras da Austrália em Timor e a transmissão das preocupações portuguesas face à interferência australiana que fez à embaixada americana em Lisboa. Pelo vista, até há uma tradição de intercepção das comunicações da secreta portuguesa… Mal sabia o discreto Silva Carvalho que a tanta exposição e visibilidade estava destinado! O documento é muito interessante, sobretudo, porque mostra bem como o SIED estava bem informado sobre a situação no terreno em Timor e sobre as manobras australianas e seus objectivos (controlo do gás e petróleo de Timor).

Portugal’s intelligence chief accused Australia

of “fomenting unrest” in East Timor

By Patrick O’Connor  25 April 2011

Leaked diplomatic cables sent from the US embassy in Lisbon, Portugal in June 2006 have revealed that a leading Portuguese intelligence official told American diplomatic officials that the Australian government had repeatedly “fomented unrest” in East Timor, in order to advance its “geopolitical and commercial interests.” The extraordinary exchange occurred two weeks after Canberra had dispatched a military intervention force to the oil and gas rich state, as part of its “regime change” campaign against Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

The Australian government, then led by John Howard, targeted Alkatiri because of his perceived alignment with rival powers, especially Portugal, Timor’s former colonial ruler, and China. The Fretilin party leader was also despised by Canberra for his extraction of unwelcome concessions during negotiations over the division of the Timor Sea’s energy resources.

British Foreign Office warns UK citizens about threat of terrorism in Azerbaijan

February 8, 2011 – 15:15 AMT 11:15 GMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – British Foreign and Commonwealth Office continues to remind UK citizens on the undesirability of visits to certain regions of the world; however, the travel advice is updated rarely, with the last upgrade dating back several years.

As the press office of the British embassy in Yerevan told PanARMENIAN.Net new announcement posted on Baku’s British embassy’s website warns about threats of terrorism in Azerbaijan. “Attacks on civilians are possible at cites visited by foreigners,” the message stresses.

Scottish aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan

Search for hostages after firefight

Published: 27/09/2010

AN URGENT search is under way to find a female British aid worker abducted in Afghanistan.

The woman, who is reported to be Scottish and in her 30s, was kidnapped in Kunar province, alongside three Afghans with whom she is thought to have been working.

Obama decides against relisting N.Korea as terrorism sponsor

Image via Wikipedia

Washington. President Barack Obama ruled out that the U.S. would again include North Korea on its list of states that sponsor terrorism, RIA Novosti disclosed.The U.S. president said in a letter to Congress that a classified report on the communist state’s activities from June 26, 2008 through November 16, 2009 indicates that “the DPRK does not meet the statutory criteria to again be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.”

Germany’s Merkel: 500 More Troops For Afghanistan

26/01/2010 @ 13:12

BERLIN -(Dow Jones)- Germany will increase its deployment in Afghanistan by 500 troops and nearly double aid for reconstruction in the northern regions where it operates, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday.

The larger deployment and more than EUR400 million in reconstruction aid are designed to help the Afghan government move toward greater ownership of the country‘s security by 2014, Merkel told reporters in Berlin

“We emphatically support President [Hamid] Karzai in his declaration that by 2014 we want to have a situation in which Afghanistan can guarantee its own security,” Merkel said.

The additional German soldiers will help train Afghan security forces that Merkel wants to see playing a much broader role in securing the country by the end of 2011.

Read more:

http://www.advfn.com/news_UPDATE-Germanys-Merkel-500-More-Troops-For-Afghanistan_41257073.html

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Sri Lanka assures continued support to counter Global terrorism

Jul 24, 2009

Phuket, Thailand, 24 July, (Asiantribune.com): Sri Lanka will continue to support global measures to counter the scourge of terrorism, including the early conclusion of the Global Convention on Terrorism, assured Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister.

Speaking at the  16th ASEAN Regional Forum, Phuket,  Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama further said subscribing to the UN Convention dealing with Terrorism, Sri Lanka is party to the NPT treaty and its related Safeguard Agreements as well as other related Agreements under the framework of the IAEA, such as the Convention on Nuclear Safety and the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident among others.

OSCE head calls for full cease-fire

Published: May 11, 2009 at 7:07 PM

ATHENS, Greece, May 11 (UPI) — The head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called on leaders in Azerbaijan and Armenia to fully implement a cease-fire agreement.

Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, OSCE chairperson-in-office, released a statement Monday ahead of the 15th anniversary of the cease-fire agreement for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is Tuesday.Despite the cease-fire, people are still killed near the borders of the disputed region every year from snipers and other threats. Bakoyannis called on Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to reach a deal fully implementing the provisions of the cease-fire and move toward peace in the former Soviet region.