When you are in local government, you are on the ground, and you are looking into the eyes and hearts of the people you are there to serve. It teaches you to listen; it teaches you to be expansive in the people with whom you talk to, and I think that that engagement gives you political judgment – Valerie Jarrett, chief executive officer of the Obama Foundation Local governance is about managing public affairs at the community level, involving local governments, citizens, and organizations in making and implementing decisions for services like roads, sanitation, schools, and parks, aiming to be responsive, efficient, and representative of local needs through participatory processes like budgeting, planning, and service delivery. It decentralizes power, making government closer to people, fostering democracy, and tackling local development issues.
The question is whether local communities participate or have a say in any of the above activities in Sri Lanka. Overall, it appears that elections to local government authorities have become a referendum on the national government and a hot bed for national political battles thereafter. While there may be some local bodies that are engaged in local governance involving local communities, broadly speaking, it appears that there is hardly any engagement with local communities to discuss, identify, agree on local priorities and monitor progress of such agreed priorities. There are no avenues or arrangements for local communities to meet councillors who they have elected and who supposedly represent them.
From all accounts, electing local councils at a huge cost to the taxpayers in the country appears to have been an absolute waste of money. If the elections were about fostering and furthering democracy, and about discussions on local issues, it has been a farce as far as the local communities are concerned as the focus has been about national partisan politics, and nothing to do with local issues.
As the Museum of Australian democracy says, democracy is fundamentally about discussion, often referred to as “government by discussion,” because it relies on consultation, debate, and the free exchange of ideas among citizens to make informed decisions, manage differences, and ensure collective good through peaceful, inclusive dialogue rather than force. This ongoing conversation, requiring active listening and flexible thinking, sustains democratic life by allowing diverse viewpoints to be considered and integrated”.
The overall governance model in Sri Lanka, whether it is at national level, provincial or local government level, does not subscribe to the above ideal, and practice of democracy is more or less limited to a periodic vote to elect a national parliament, provincial councils and local councils. Generally, this exercise too has hardly any direct engagement between those seeking election and those who are voting.
The recent local government elections that were conducted and the way some Councils were formed amply demonstrated the antithesis of what local governance should be, and the ideals of democracy. This has continued judging by subsequent developments in some Councils where budgets were defeated although Councils had been formed with majority support, either by one party or by way of coalitions. The elections themselves were about national politics and not about local issues and subsequent Council formations were based essentially to demonstrate either the popularity of the national policies of the government, or the opposite of it by the Opposition, all in the quest of power rather than service to the local communities.
Looking towards the future, a genuine system change has to occur when it comes to the practice of a truer sense of democracy at all levels of governance.
Hopefully, the new Constitution that is expected to be drafted after a consultative process, and presented for a referendum, will address a key element of democracy that is missing, that is, mechanisms for and the practice of discussion and debate between those seeking election and those who are voting, during elections and thereafter.
In respect of local governance, the following key aspects are highlighted for consideration by the elected local government Councils.
Shifting the emphasis from national issues to local community issues whilst providing avenues for the local communities to engage in discussing national issues.
Providing essential local services such as waste management, coordinating water supply and electricity supply, road maintenance, local government health services such as preventive health services and basic primary health services, developing parks and other recreational facilities, housing, including zonal planning, promoting and providing sports facilities and an efficient library service
Managing resources, enforcement of environmental regulations, and promotion of green initiatives like waste management and renewable energy.
Creating business-friendly environments, support local entrepreneurs, and develop green jobs to boost the local economy and create employment.
Citizen engagement involving residents and community groups in discussions and decisions that affect their lives through regular constituency meetings. Using online/offline methods (meetings, surveys, digital platforms) to involve residents, ensuring accessibility and representation for all groups (e.g., translated materials, accessible venues).
Acting as a link between citizens and the broader provincial and national government, reflecting local interests, points of view and concerns.
The need to develop five-year strategic plans for the local government entity that reflects the community priorities identified through discussions and a consultative process. Such plans should reflect the goals and objectives in respect of the priorities identified, action plans to achieve the objectives, funding estimated and allocated, and a monitoring mechanism to ensure compliance with the plan. The entities budget has to comprise of an estimated forward budget for 5 years based on the five-year strategic plan, and an annual budget that reflects actual allocations for the financial year. Such forward planning and annual reviews of plans adjusted, financial allocations made, will give a more certain outlook of the entity’s longer-term program of action to the local communities who have been engaged in developing such plans.
Engaging in data driven policy formulations that directly meet community needs, such as tailored housing or transport solutions.
These key aspects could be implemented now, including a mechanism to engage national Parliamentarians in local government entity discussions. The government and the Opposition could nominate and allocate a given number of local government entities to a member of Parliament, for that person/s to attend periodic meetings of the entities so allocated so that national priorities and how they apply to the local government entities and also an exchange of points of view on them may be facilitated through such an engagement. It needs to be mentioned, however, that the purpose of local governance should essentially be to serve the community of each local government entity and that it should not be to further the agenda of national politics and national political parties.
Ideally, there should not be partisan politics and political parties vying for power in local government entities. Members should be elected in their individual capacities and their ability to convince the constituents that they are best suited to serve them. Partisan politics in Sri Lanka has been and still is so divisive and it has not served the citizens of the country as it should have. The divisiveness and the lack of unity amongst the national political parties in the face of the recent worst cyclone disaster experienced in Sri Lanka in living memory amply demonstrates the damage such partisanship has done and still is doing to the country.
A well-functioning local governance model, where community interests and priorities, their participation in contributing to decision making and formulation of policies, will form the bedrock of a grassroots upwards political process. Few people in the National Parliament, Provincial Councils or local government entities should not wear the mantle of being the sole thinkers and decision makers they have conferred on themselves. There is plenty of untapped knowledge and talent in the country and without doubt their engagement in policy settings will greatly benefit the country.
Sri Lanka suffered from and overcame multiple disasters since 1971. However, those helpful conditions are no longer valid after 2009. Post-2009 disasters are difficult or impossible to overcome as a result. The country is yet to overcome the effects of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, economic impacts of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and economic bankruptcy of 2022. For this reason, I hold grave fears over Sri Lanka’s ability to overcome the latest disaster.
The Example of the Industrialist and Factory Fire
If a fire gutters the factory of an industrialist, he would not restore his factory to how it was before. Instead, he will only restore profitable sections of the factory. Machinery that used to produce less profitable or unprofitable stuff will not be replaced. This is because he knows that economic hard times are about to hit him after the fire disaster. If he restores the profitable sections, he is prepared for hard times. Otherwise, he will be staring down bankruptcy.
With a history of budget and trade deficits, Sri Lanka does not have the money for post-disaster recovery. Funds must be rationed and must be used for priority sectors. Otherwise, the whole economy tanks, national security collapses and territorial integrity comes under threat.
Not all communities in Sri Lanka are equally valuable for Sri Lanka. One community is far more valuable than others due to their disproportionate contribution to national security, disaster response, community support operations, blood donation campaigns, tax contribution to the state, counter separatism and counter terrorism campaigns, etc. Protecting and restoring the interests of this single community is the deciding factor in Sri Lanka’s recovery.
In the current context, the tea industry is not helping but is the main cause of the crisis and environmental destruction. Care must be taken not to invite repeat landslides, and worse, by helping the tea industry recover. It’s not worth it.
How Sri Lanka Overcame Disasters Before 2009
For good or bad, before 2009, Sri Lanka prioritized the recovery of its most important community following a disaster. At times others were even disregarded. From around 1975 when violence broke out, it was not possible to help the north and east. It was physically not possible. This actually helped Sri Lanka. All funds were used for the rest of the nation which are far more productive in terms of national security, government taxes and exports. As a result, Sri Lanka quickly recovered.
Over 30 years of war damage of the north and east was not restored until 2010. This meant these funds went to provinces outside the north and east. It sped up the recovery from disasters.
These include the 1971 JVP insurrection, 1973 famine, 1977 riots, late 1970s floods and cyclone, 1978 bombing of AirCeylon passenger plane and resultant impact on tourism, the war from 1975 to 2009, July 1983 incidents, Indian invasion from 1987 to 1990, JVP second insurrection from 1987 to 1990, Gulf War and its impact from 1990 to 1991, collapse of the communist bloc and its impact from 1989 to 1995, a number of natural disasters till 2009, the tsunami of 2004, 1998 to 2000 Asian financial crisis, Tamil terrorist attacks on the airport in 1986, 2001 and 2007, Global financial crisis of 2008 to 2009 and Central Bank and oil refinery bombings of 1995 and 1996. Sri Lanka overcame all these massive disasters with ease. They could have bankrupted Sri Lanka but they didn’t.
It was because all recovery efforts and funds went to the most important community of the country, not by choice but due to facts on the ground. Although PTOMS agreement tried to share post-tsunami reconstruction aid with the north and east, a successful disruption by way of a court ruling avoided that which channeled all funds to the rest of the country. As a result, Sri Lanka, as a nation overcame the disaster with ease.
Following massive JVP and IPKF destruction from 1987 to 1990, many an economist predicted the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy. They seemed correct when the Gulf War erupted in mid-1990 with the invasion of Kuwait which was the biggest source of forex for Sri Lanka then. But the contrary happened – Sri Lankan economy did way better than before. Why? In 1990 Sri Lanka imposed a total economic embargo on the north and parts of the east. As a result, those provinces were denied imported goods. Since those provinces had no exports to lose, the economic embargo and war saved billions of dollars of imports from those areas annually. Not pretty but nationally beneficial.
In fact, the average economic growth rate of Sri Lanka during the 30 plus years of war was way better than the pre-war average economic growth and post-war average economic growth. It’s no accident. A good byproduct of the war was that it forced the government to disproportionately invest in the most valuable community of Sri Lanka, and not equally distribute recovery funds.
Post-2009 Lingering Disasters
However, this changed since 2009. The government spends recovery funds throughout the nation. No discrimination is seen between the most nationally valuable community and other communities. However, available funds are very limited. If they are equally distributed, the productive sections suffer low investment.
This is the main reason why post-2009 disasters linger on. Sri Lanka never really recovered from the 2019 Islamic terror attacks on Easter Sunday. Its impact was put on to the COVID-19 disaster. But 2019 had a poor tourism season after 4/21 attacks for 11 months before COVID lock-downs affected the economy. It also affected post-COVID recovery. A number of airlines stopped servicing Sri Lanka altogether and a US travel warning is still in place. Even the 2016 flood is still haunting Sri Lanka as most of the affected people were not relocated from repeat floods, didn’t receive assistance more than a banana with a printed name and damaged infrastructure was not restored. COVID crisis was the same. While other countries recovered from the crisis by 2021, Sri Lanka continued with repeated economic shrinkage till 2024. The Sri Lankan economy has still not come back to its 2018 value. The 2022 economic crisis is the same. The temporary period of relief is not due to overcoming the crisis but solely because loan repayments were postponed until 2028. Therefore, the crisis is not over yet. Going by this trend, I hold grave fears for Sri Lanka’s recovery from the 2025 cyclone and floods.
Economic realities don’t follow morality, religion or karma. Unless economic realities are addressed or if Sri Lanka is lucky to have them automatically addressed (as happened from 1971 to 2009), economic repercussions will punish the nation.
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Comments Off on ART TV STATION SRI LANKA[12/19/25, 7:27:37 PM] Mano Ramanathan: Sunday art Tv English 7.30 pm to 7.45 pm Sinhala 7.45pm to 8 pm [12/19/25, 7:28:49 PM]
The Instagram post titled “Birth of DRS – Revolution in Cricket” is
a short video reel that discusses the Decision Review System (DRS), highlighting its history, how it has transformed the game, and the technology it uses. The post describes the system as a major innovation that has made cricket fairer and eased pressure on umpires.
Key Details from the Post
DRS Originator: The post mentions that Sri Lanka’s Senaka Weeraratna, a lawyer, is known as the “father of DRS” (originally UDRS) and first suggested the player referral system in a letter to an Australian newspaper in 1997.
Official Introduction: The formal DRS with player reviews was first trialed in a Test match between India and Sri Lanka in 2008 in Colombo.
Technological Impact: The post discusses the reliance on various technologies, such as Hawk-Eye (ball-tracking), UltraEdge/Snickometer (sound analysis), and Hot Spot (infra-red imaging), to ensure accuracy in decisions like LBW and caught-behind appeals.
Cultural Impact: It notes how the system overturned the long-standing principle that the “umpire’s decision was final” and has since been adopted by other sports like international soccer (VAR) and tennis.
MS Dhoni Reference: The post features a common cricket fan sentiment, mentioning that due to his skill in using the reviews, the DRS is often jokingly called the “Dhoni Review System“.
The post suggests that the DRS has fundamentally changed playing styles and tactics, making the game more transparent and reducing obvious errors. For more information, you can watch the original Instagram reel.
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The environment is not collateral damage. It is a new frontline of hybrid warfare, and defending it is quite literally defending life itself,” — Ruslan Spirin, a Ukrainian diplomat based in Kyiv.[i]
One military official was quoted in Seymour Hersh’s article as saying What’s worse, dropping bombs or rain?” Operation Popeye in Vietnam. [ii]
In 2004 the Christmas/Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami that killed over 230,000 people hit the same countries that were recently affected by un-natural disasters. At the end of November, 2025 destructive twister storms, floods, and landslides reminiscent of ‘Operation Popeye’, Cloud Seeding weather warfare during the Vietnam War, were manifest in South and Southeast Asia.
The coastal areas of Aceh Province, Sumatra in Indonesia were the worst affected during the 2004 earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami, and the November 2025 floods and landslides. Sri Lanka was the second worst affected in both disasters, with Thailand, Malaysia and South India also affected during both the 2004 Asian Tsunami and the 2025 Monsoon extending Storms.
Co-incidentally, two days before Cyclone Ditwah arrived in Sri Lanka, a mysterious Ash cloud blew over New Delhi from a Volcanic Explosion in Ethiopia Nov 25, 2025 choking the air seemingly in anticipation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s State visit to India. The Hayli Gubbi volcano apparently blew in the Afar region of Ethiopia after 12,000 years apparently sending an Ash Cloud targeting New Delhi, India or so the story went!
All’s fair in love and climate change?
The Ash Cloud did not discourage the cementing of the Reciprocal Logistics Support Agreement (RELOS) to enhance military cooperation between the two BRICS nations and other trade agreements. RELOS streamlined military logistics support between India and Russia, making joint operations and long-distance missions more efficient and cost-effective for both.
RELOS marked India’s quiet pivot back to its old Cold War friend and ally, away from Washington. The agreement would facilitate the replenishment of essential supplies (fuel, rations, spare parts), enabling continuous, uninterrupted Russian military presence in crucial regions of the Indian Ocean routes that the US had sought to dominate with its European allies, UK, US, Holland former Imperial powers. RELOS would provide berthing facilities for troops, warships, and aircraft during both wartime and peacetime missions
Meanwhile, the Cyclonic storm Diwah that hit Sri Lanka on November 28 aborted the 75th anniversary celebrations of the SL Navy in which Russian, Iranian, Indian, Malaysian, Maldivian, Pakistan, and Bangladeshi naval ships were participating, scheduled for November 30.[iii] Instead search and rescue humanitarian operation got under. Sri Lanka had also recently concluded exerceise with Russian military earlier in the month – Wolverine Path at Maduruoya camp which was subsequently flooded.
The dramatic spate of climate disasters” across the Indian Ocean world from –Ethiopia on the western shores to Indonesia in the East targeting Sri Lanka at the center of the IO, unfolded amid escalating geopolitical tension and quiet tectonic shifts — as India prepared to host Russian President Putin in a state visit on December 4. This was despite US attempts to isolate him and threaten India for buying Russian Oil and Gas.
Were the Operation Popeye –like Cyclonic Twisters that hit South and Southeast Asia on November 28, 2025 (Thanks Giving Day in the United States when folks were on holiday as with the Christmas day tsunami), ‘plausibly deniable’ hybrid economic weather warfare a covert warning to stymie Russia’s entry into the Indian Ocean and upend the rise of Asia and RICs (Russia, India, China)? Another tactic to stave off the crash of an empire with 800 military bases around the world as global power and wealth shift from West to East, North to South in what has been termed the Asian 21st century with the rise of the BRICS?
Co-incidentally, US Special Forces also had intercepted a Chinese ship carrying dual use supplies to Iran off the coast of Sri Lanka in November, much like the apprehending of Oil tankers near Venezuela. It is not clear if Sri Lanka was used for that operation.[iv]
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) South and South East Asia are growth hubs of the world and the twister Ditwah that hit Sri Lanka certainly seemed designed to Make the Economy Scream”.
Like the 2004 Tsunami that crossed the Indian Ocean from East to west with massive destruction, just when the CIA was talking up the threat of China’s String of Pearl habours in the Indian Ocean, the recent pre-monsoon Storm in South and Southeast Asia appeared to present a seamless blend of geoengineering and Geopolitics in an era when the US led NATO war machine aims to ‘Own the Weather’ through Hybrid War masked by empty rhetoric about Human Rights and the ‘rules based order’?
In the wake of the unprecedentedly devastating twister cyclone ‘Ditwah’ that seemed designed to wreck National food security, essential energy and transport infrastructure, and deepen the International Monetary Fund, Eurobond US Dollar debt trap sprung around Sri Lanka that has lost Economic Sovereignty to the Washington Consensus, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker arrived in Sri Lanka December 11, 2025.
During Hooker’s visit US C-301 Hercules Planes that may be used in cloud seeding operations were already in the Sri Lanka’s Air force bases along with 60 US military personnel, purportedly to provide ‘humanitarian aid’.
The presence of US armed forces boots on the ground in Sri Lanka along with experts from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NMOC), 5 days before the floods and landslides with US war toys and other equipment were unprecedented and concerning developments to discerning citizens in the historically Non-Aligned nation.
After all, the country had been through a globally networked local ‘ethnic conflict’ that unfold as part of a regional Cold War Proxy that ran for 30 years (1983-2009) between India then allied with Soviet Russia and the Allied powers seeking then as now to control the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean World and military bases in Sri Lanka.
India Pivots to Russia? Weather Warfare as Indian Ocean Countries Unite
Cyclone Ditwah that hit Sri Lanka on November 28 causing massive damage in the country aborted the International Fleet Review (IFR) ceremony to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Sri Lanka Navy. The IFR was scheduled for November 30 at South Asia’s busiest port of Colombo.
Naval ships from Iran, India, Russia, Malaysia, Maldives, Bangladesh and Pakistan were participating in a show of strength of Indian Ocean countries in the Seas of Sri Lanka–reclaiming the Indian Ocean sea lanes from Euro-American Imperial and neocolonial dominance. India had sent two aircraft carriers including its newest on its maiden voyage to Colombo.
The United States which seeks to dominate the Indian Ocean world though the so-called ‘Indo-Pacific’ was not however on the guest list for Colombo’s international fleet review which may explain the devastating tornado-like twister storms that unfolded to Make the Economy Scream”. Russian Troops had recently concluded the Wolverine Path joint training with the Sri Lanka military in Maduru Oya.
Plausible Deniability and Hybrid warfare: Unnatural Natural Disasters:
The same countries that were affected by Operation Popeye-like storms last month, were hit in December 2004 by the Christmas/ boxing day earthquake and tsunami disaster. The tsunami struck Indonesia and Malaysia, key countries that control the Malacca Straits Choke points of the Indian Ocean trade route and Sri Lanka and India at the center of the Ocean. That was when the Central Intelligence Agency was talking up the ‘threat’ posed by the China’s String of Pearls” harbors and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the Indian Ocean region.
Weather modification or geoengineering technologies to stage Natural Disasters include the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program on the Ionosphere (HAARP), Directed Energy Weapons (DEW), High Energy Lasers (HEL) Rainmaker drones for cloud seeding operations etc. and are part of the global military business industrial research complex.
As Peter Kaplan[v] noted in at the American Geophysics Union in 1973, there is a new class of environmental weapons having great power, but at the same time, sublety; these are to be the tools of what McDonald refers to as geophysical warfare”. These weapons, which include earthquakes, climate change, altered ocean currents, and tidal waves (or Tsunamis), can be triggered at a great distance from the victim and may be indistinguishable from natural disasters. one line of research that is being intensely pursued is climate modification. The most important work here is done under project Nile Blue” (now called Climate Dynamics” ) which, the Pentagon asserts is necessary because other major world powers have the ability to create modification of climate that might be seriously detrimental to the security of this country” 3.
As Kaplan notes ‘geophysical warfare may be indistinguishable from Natural Disasters’. This is because they are part of Hybrid War, which is plausibly deniable, often invisible, hard to detect because of the use of heat, lasers, sonar etc. and appear to be non-kinetic.
However, the strange path and pattern of destruction by Cyclone Diwah in Sri Lanka point to geoengineering reminiscent of Operation Popeye, weather warfare waged by the United States on Vietnam, and dovetail with geopolitical motives.
Weather Warfare the ENMOD Treaty
The Environmental Modification treaty (ENMOD), formally the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques is an international treaty prohibiting use of technologies to induce environmental damage or destruction.
The ENMOD treaty emerged from concerns in the International Community over weather warfare during the Vietnam war. Specifically, it referenced ‘Operation Popeye’ and the use of Cloud Seeding technology to extend the monsoons and generate storms to flood the Ho Chi Minh trail. Award winning journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story ”Rainmaking is used as a Weapon by the US” in the New York Times In 1972 .[vi]
The ENMOD treaty opened for signature on 18 May 1977 in Geneva and entered into force in October 1978. Subsequently, the Convention on Biological Diversity of 2010 would also limit Geoengineering and dual use technologies given significant gaps in understanding of impacts on biodiversity. In simple language the ENMOD treaty prohibits weaponizing the weather, also known as geoengineering, or intentionally manipulating or altering the climateto stage (un)natural disasters.
During the Vietnam war the United States used cloud seeding technics to extend monsoons, flood and ‘drown in mud’ the Viet Cong fighting the American military in South Vietnam to impede their supply chains. This was at the height of the West’s Cold War on Communists and Socialist national independence and de-colonization movements sweeping Indo-China and the Global South.
As the Cold War ran hot in Vietnam and the Indo-China theater, Southeast Asia’s thick tropical forests and inhabitants in were also subject to Chemical and Biological warfare. Agent Orange was used for defoliation and air visibility for US bombing sorties of the Ho Chi Minh trail and have scared generations of Vietnamese. There are high rates of disability cancer and illness in communities along the Ho Chi Minh trail that were subject to Chemical and Bioweapons. Other Cold War operations occurred in Burma.
Before Agent Orange, Napalm or sticky fire”, deoxygenating compound that adheres to and burns on surfaces, creating a conflagration was used during an attack on Berlin in March 1944. It was also widely deployed by the French in the First Indochina War (1946-54), and American forces in the Korean War (1950-53).
Weather as a Force Multiplier: Compounding and Cascading Disasters
Despite the ENMOD treaty banning weather modification for hostile use, research and development in weather modification technologies for Cloud seeding have continued and become increasingly sophisticated. Thus, recently, Rainmaker Technology’s bid to deploy cloud-seeding flares on small drones was met by resistance from the airline pilots union, which has urged the Federal Aviation Administration to consider denying the startup’s request unless it meets stricter safety guidelines. [vii]
Sophisticated Rain Maker drones are also developed and available in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Middle East. Meanwhile, Gaza has been flooded after the Fake Peace accords as the de-population agenda continues.
An important Report Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025” produced in the US Department of Defense that was recently renamed the Department of War, provides extensive and detailed analysis of new weather modification and warfare technologies–with 2025 scenario planning[viii] The report was designed to comply with a directive from the chief of staff of the Air Force to examine the concepts, capabilities, and technologies the United States will require to remain the dominant air and space force in the future” produced in the Department of Defense”. It provides extensive and detailed analysis of weather modification technologies for Over the Horizon (OTH) Full Spectrum Dominance” developed back in 1996 with 2025 scenario planning.
Key Concepts from the Paper include Strategic Advantage: “Owning the weather” means controlling localized weather to create advantages, like fog for cover, rain for disrupting electronics, or clear skies for air ops. Enabling Technologies: The paper highlighted Advanced nonlinear modeling, Computational power, Global sensor networks which no doubt include Elon Musk’s Starlink that recently became operational in Sri Lanka.
It included Weather intervention methods (e.g., carbon dust for precipitation and Stealth Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs, Drones) for dispersal and envisioned manipulating weather for a full spectrum of military needs, from tactical support to strategic communication control while acknowledging the Controversial Nature of weather modification as a high-risk/high-reward endeavor, comparing its potential impact to nuclear power.
The report also refers to the High Altitude Auroral Research Program (HAARP), in Alaska Directed Energy Weapons (DEW), High Altitude Lazar Weapons (HEL), drone use. An operational capabilities matrix lists Precipitation Enhancement, Storm Enhancement, flooding lines of operation, as well as, Precipitation denial, fog and cloud removal to deny concealment, deny fresh water, induce drought etc. By 2025, aerospace forces could use emerging technologies (like advanced modeling, sensors, and weather modification techniques) to shape battlefields by disrupting enemies, offering strategic military dominance through localized weather control. The report outlines a strategy for integrating weather control into military objectives, anticipating potential societal concerns but stressing the strategic necessity of pursuing such capabilities for future warfare, even touching on futuristic ideas like “artificial weather” via nanotechnology. In other words, the use of weather warfare for Global Over the Horizon,-Full Spectrum Dominance.
Geopolitics and Geoengineering: Un-Natural Disasters across the Indian Ocean
While technologies such as cloud seeding date to the 1960s, generating earthquakes and tsunamis with nuclear and hydrogen bomb explosions and experiments were conducted by the US Department of Defense in the Bikini Atoll of the Marshall Islands in the late 1940s to the mid-1950s. Bikini Atoll remains contaminated and uninhabitable to date.[ix]
It is possible to discern a pattern of Unnatural climate disasters that dovetail with the use of new technologies for weather warfare at this time across the Indian Ocean sea lanes of communication. An unnatural pattern of Rainmaking disasters across strategic choke points of Indian Ocean trade, energy and submarine data cable routes was apparent when Rainmaking Technologies reminiscent of Operation Popeye seemed to be coordinated.
The November 2025 monsoon Rainmaker storms echoed the December 2004 Christmas/ Boxing day earthquake off the coast of Aceh in North Sumatra, Indonesia that trigged a giant Indian Ocean Tsunami. The same geostrategic countries at choke points of the Indian Ocean maritime trade, energy and submarine data cable routes were hit with unprecedented unnatural disasters: Parts of Sri Lanka, Aceh Province in Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, Malaysia and Thailand were devastated by Twister storms reminiscent of Operation Popeye. There was unprecedented damage to food security, energy and transport infrastructure.
Remarkably, less than a week before the Cyclone Ditwah disaster experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) had arrived in the geostrategic island. And, less than two weeks before Ditwah, on November 14, the US embassy in Colombo had announced that, the United States and Sri Lanka had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formalizing and deepening a defense partnership between the Montana National Guard and the Sri Lanka Armed Forces under the Department of War’s State Partnership Program (SPP).
U.S. Ambassador Julie Chung highlighted the significance of the new chapter in U.S.–Sri Lanka defense cooperation with great prescience: From wildfire response and flood relief in Montana to peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts overseas, the Montana National Guard has a proud record of service and professionalism. This partnership with Sri Lanka, reaffirmed through today’s MOU, strengthens our shared resolve for a secure Indo-Pacific—building trust, readiness, and lasting peace through partnership.”
A week after the cyclone Ditwah, C-103 Hercules planes tested in Cloud Seeding landed with US boots on the ground in the Sri Lanka Air force base in a show of force to purportedly provide humanitarian relief”.
Increasingly, we live in a world of Unnatural Natural Disasters, staged Climate crises and Climate Disaster Capitalism, which enable profiting from stricken populations and countries. It is increasingly clear that despite the ENMOD treaty, geoengineering and weather modification also as a Force Multiplier” continues to this date, cascading and compounding economic crises.
Despite mounting evidence of geoengineering and the use of weather warfare technologies the unprecedented damage caused by cyclonic storms named ‘Ditwah’ on November 28 in Sri Lanka was blamed on climate change”, rather than military business industrial complex which is the most environment polluting industry on the planet.
Increasingly, the United Nation’s CoP climate summits have become a front for many distortions and plausibly deniable climate crimes. Indeed, the Anthropocene climate crisis narrative although rejected by the Experts’ Panel of Geologists, seems to provide a perfect alibi for geo-engineered climate crimes, which are part of a new generation of hybrid cyber and weather warfare systems that violate the ENMOD Treaty.
It is puzzling that the various climate activists and NGOs who incessantly target fossil fuel lobbies never call for closure of environment polluting US military bases of which there are 800 around the world and draw down of the single most polluting industry – the military business industrial and research complex.
Like the Caribbean Seas, were the US Monroe Doctrine is at play, the vast Indian Ocean which is the main artery of global energy, trade and submarine data cable flows appears increasingly to be an epicenter of maritime hybrid warfare and geoengineering.
The Caribbean Seas and the islands of Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico have been incessantly subject to deadly storms, earthquakes, and weather warfare in recent decades, and are currently an epicenter of US maritime piracy, including the illegal sinking of so-called drug boats’ as war drums beat for regime change against Venezuela’s President Maduro.
Ever since the Indian Ocean was renamed the American Indo-Pacific” amid Obama’s pivot to Asia to target China, there have been unnatural natural disasters, dramatic geo-engineered environmental crises in geostrategic countries along the Indian Ocean trade, energy and submarine date cable routes.
With the wisdom of hindsight, a pattern of unnatural disasters with geopolitical overtones across the Indian Ocean world are apparent: There is also considerable anecdotal evidence of a high number of apparently geo-engineered disasters occurring in countries and regions with US/NATO military bases/ installations or troops on the ground (e.g. Philippines, Japan). Remarkably and tragically, Palestine’s Gaza strip which is subject to forced migration and ethnic cleansing at this time was also flooded with storms reminiscent of Operation Popeye.
It is to be hoped that peoples of the Indian Ocean trade routes who have been subject to climate crimes may find redress and reparations under the ENMOD treaty for the loss and damage they have suffered.
TO BE CONTINUED: There is no Anthropocene; we are still in the Holocene.
Just as Vesak is slaughter-free, you can make your holiday feast truly noble by choosing a meat-free menu.
Abhaya-dana (Saving Lives): Instead of buying meat, use those funds to save animals from slaughter, such as purchasing a cow or goat and donating it to a sanctuary.
Plant-Based Feasting: Replace traditional roasts with vegan alternatives like stuffed tofu rolls or potato roulades.
Emulate the spirit of Buddhist “Dansal” (giving) by providing for street animals and birds.
Balu-Kaputu Dana: Revive the traditional practice of feeding stray dogs and crows in your neighborhood.
Safe Havens for Birds: Place bird baths and feeders in your garden to provide a sanctuary for local birds during the winter.
Shelter Support: Instead of exchanging physical gifts, make donations to animal rescues like Animal SOS Sri Lanka in your loved ones’ names.
Ethical & Safe Celebrations
Gifts with Purpose: Choose sustainable, vegan products or sponsor an animal through organizations like the Kilung Foundation.
Bird-Safe Decor: Avoid using tinsel or plastic decorations that can be fatal if ingested by birds or pets. Use upcycled paper or wooden ornaments instead.
Conscious Lighting: Be mindful of bright, flashing lights that can disorient nocturnal birds and animals.
By focusing on kindness and protection for all sentient beings, you align the message of the “Prince of Peace” with the Buddhist value of universal compassion.
To celebrate a compassionate Christmas like
Vesak, focus on plant-based feasts, acts of ahimsa (non-harming) like animal release/support, charitable giving, and mindfulness, replacing animal products and loud noise with vegan meals, donating to shelters, creating animal-friendly decor, and embracing quiet reflection to honor universal love, mirroring the compassion central to Buddha’s teachings.
Vegan & Plant-Based Feasting
Veganize Traditions: Create plant-based versions of holiday classics, using tofu/lentils for roasts and dairy-free milk for desserts to avoid animal suffering, notes LankaWeb.
Cruelty-Free Treats: Make cookies and sweets using egg/dairy substitutes, honoring compassion over consumption.
Acts of Compassion (Ahimsa)
Support Animal Shelters: Donate time or resources to local animal rescue organizations instead of buying animals as gifts
Release Animals: Participate in or support initiatives for releasing captive birds or fish, a common practice during festivals like Vesak in places like Vietnam, says en.thaythichtructhaiminh.com.
Advocate for Welfare: Support stronger animal welfare laws, echoing the call for compassionate governance seen during Vesak. The Animal Welfare Bill (Law Commission) needs public support for enactment.
Mindful & Eco-Friendly Celebrations
Nature-Inspired Decor: Decorate with natural elements like branches, leaves, and homemade lanterns (like Vesak lanterns) instead of plastic or animal-derived items, says Mahamegha Magazine.
Quiet Reflection: Emulate the peaceful observance of Vesak by focusing on meditation, chanting, and reflecting on the teachings of kindness and peace rather than noisy festivities.
Share Warmth, Not Meat: Extend the Christmas spirit of love and sharing to all beings, recognizing animals’ desires to live and be with their families, not just to be food, says WeAllSaveTheAnimals (Facebook),.
Connect to Buddhist Principles
Embrace Universal Love: See Christmas as a time to celebrate shared wishes for peace and safety for all creatures, applying the universal compassion found in Buddhist teachings to your festivities.
Make Christmas Merry for all (living beings)
Senaka Weeraratna
Justice for Animals & Nature
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This is about Lihiniya Boat Builders, a boatyard in Paraliya near Ambalangoda, engaged in building multi-day fiberglass fishing boats.
The owner, Mr. Chanaka, is a young entrepreneur trained at Ocean University. He first worked in the steel sector at my shipyard and later ventured into the FRP (fiberglass) boat-building industry on his own initiative.
I personally visited his yard and clearly observed that:
The yard has technical capability
There is strong potential for growth
What is lacking is state support, not commitment or skill
Key Issues:
The yard urgently needs state assistance, especially financial support without collateral, through the Ministry of Fisheries and the Ministry of Industries
He was officially promised replacement IMUL numbers for dilapidated boats removed from Galle Fishery Harbour
Acting on this assurance, he transported the old boats to his yard
However, approval to build the replacement boats is being delayed by the Department of Fisheries
The Director of Fisheries – Galle is reportedly diverting these orders to large, established builders, citing various excuses
Alarmingly, two IMUL numbers originally allocated to this yard were quietly reassigned to another big timer”
This points to apparent corrupt practices within the system
Mr. Chanaka states that he can provide evidence of collusion and unfair treatment.
Appeal:
Under the new government, such small and capable entrepreneurs must be protected and encouraged, not sidelined.
If the fisheries sector is to be truly reformed, the Department must be shaken free of favoritism and corruption.
Dear Hon. Minister,
We, as supporters of fair development and local industry, should stand by and help this young boat builder.
Regards
Dr Sarath Obeysekera
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Colombo, Dec 24 (Daily Mirror) – A tourist family visiting Sri Lanka has spoken out about difficulties they faced while trying to extend their visa, calling the process the most painful experience ever.”
The family, known as ‘The Hutchinsons’ on TikTok, had arrived in Sri Lanka under the visa-free scheme and attempted to extend their stay at the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla.
The family reported that their online visa extension submission did not generate the expected payment email, forcing them to visit the immigration office in person.
According to the tourist, the office was crowded with long queues and lacked clear guidance or help desks. There’s literally two large queues… everyone is avoiding eye contact, heads down, we can’t tell who works and who doesn’t,” one family member said. They described a confusing process where passports were taken by staff without clear communication, adding to their stress.
After spending three hours at the office, the Hutchinsons finally received their visa extension. That was the most painful experience ever,” they said.
“Wow, what a tough day at the immigration office in Colombo, Sri Lanka! This definitely wasn’t worth the hassle for an extra week here. anyway, all sorted and time to enjoy Christmas,” he shared on TikTok
A group of 120 internationally renowned economists and development experts has issued a joint letter calling for the immediate suspension of Sri Lanka’s debt repayments, citing the devastating impact of recent floods and Cyclone Ditwah.
The group argues that the scale of destruction constitutes a force majeure” event, making it impossible for Sri Lanka to meet IMF-mandated debt repayment obligations without worsening humanitarian suffering.
Speaking exclusively on the initiative, Professor Jayati Ghosh of the University of Massachusetts, one of the lead signatories, said international lenders must fundamentally rethink how sovereign debt contracts operate during large-scale disasters.
This should become standard practice for government borrowers as well. There is something called force majeure a legal term referring to a major event outside your control that prevents repayment,” Ghosh explained.
It can apply to earthquakes, tsunamis, and a whole range of situations where companies take on debt and simply cannot repay. There have been strong arguments that similar provisions should apply to sovereign governments when they face circumstances well beyond their control that severely affect their ability to repay.”
Ghosh said the most immediate solution is a temporary suspension of debt repayments, allowing the country space to respond to the crisis.
There should be a suspension of debt payments until this calamity is dealt with. That does not mean fully resolved, because reconstruction will take several years. But at least during an interim period when the economy is still reeling, people need rehabilitation, essential infrastructure must be rebuilt, and displaced communities must be rehoused debt payments should be suspended.”
Responding to the Sri Lankan government’s request for a US$200 million Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) from the IMF, Ghosh warned that additional borrowing would only deepen the crisis.
The solution to a debt problem is never more debt. Unfortunately, both countries and the IMF forget this. Their aim seems to be to make the country more ‘creditworthy’. But emergency financing or RFIs simply add to the debt burden,” she said.
This is clearly a force majeure event something far beyond the government’s control and it requires a rethinking of the original debt contracts, not more borrowing.”
Ghosh also criticised the IMF’s Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA), arguing that it failed to distinguish adequately between foreign-currency debt and domestic debt, creating unrealistic repayment expectations.
The IMF’s own numbers were already very optimistic about Sri Lanka’s ability to repay in foreign exchange because they did not properly separate foreign debt from domestic debt. They lumped everything together,” she said.
Economic growth may occur domestically in Sri Lankan rupees, but that does not automatically generate sufficient US dollars to repay foreign debt. The IMF’s assessment has already proven to be extremely demanding and onerous when it comes to foreign-currency repayments and the disaster has now completely invalidated those assumptions.”
The economists’ letter urges international creditors and the IMF to recognise the extraordinary circumstances facing Sri Lanka and to prioritise humanitarian recovery over rigid debt enforcement.
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Hiru TV has issued a scathing response to the Police Media Division—an entity funded by the public purse—asserting that the division’s recent letter regarding the assault on a police officer involved in a cannabis raid in Embilipitiya constitutes a severe blow to the public’s right to information and democratic principles.
The reply further highlights that the police failed to disclose a crucial piece of evidence, which they had recorded themselves, until Hiru TV broke the story to the nation.
Signed by Tharanga Jayakody, the Deputy Director of News at Hiru TV, the letter emphasises that it is incomprehensible why the police intentionally withheld such vital evidence from both the courts and the media.
Furthermore, the response maintains that, according to the formal complaints and statements made by Police Constable Susantha Hettiarachchi of the Sooriyakanda Police, there is a clear link between the assault he suffered and the cannabis raid he conducted.
Although the Police Media Division claimed in their correspondence that investigations found no such connection, Hiru TV’s letter firmly rejects this stance, stating they possess more than enough evidence and sources to confirm the link exists.
The reply concludes by reiterating that Hiru TV reported on the police’s own evidence in the interest of upholding the public’s fundamental right to information.
This submission seeks judicial guidance on distinguishing between legally binding treaty obligations and non-binding international policy frameworks operationalized in Sri Lanka’s gender-based violence programmes.
The purpose of this submission is not to oppose international engagement, but to seek constitutional and legal clarity on the limits of non-binding international instruments within Sri Lanka’s domestic legal framework.
This appeal is made in public interest, and with full deference to judicial independence, to respectfully request careful judicial distinction between binding legal obligations arising from Sri Lanka’s Constitution and ratified international treaties, and non-binding international policy frameworks, donor-driven guidelines, and UN agency interpretations, workshops and programs that are increasingly invoked in legal and administrative discourse.
Concepts relating to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender-diverse classifications are being introduced through development assistance frameworks, international programme documents, and soft-law instruments, often under the broader headings of gender equality or gender-based violence. While such frameworks may reflect evolving policy positions of certain international actors, they do not arise from any treaty ratified by Sri Lanka, nor have they been enacted by Sri Lanka’s Parliament.
Sri Lanka is party to several core international human rights treaties, including the ICCPR, ICESCR, CEDAW, CRC and CAT. None of these treaties contain provisions recognising sexual orientation or gender identity as protected legal categories, nor do they redefine the term woman” from its sex-based meaning as understood at the time of ratification.
Under principles of international law, including the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, obligations cannot be expanded beyond the text and intent consented to by the State.
In short, under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Sri Lanka cannot be legally bound by provisions or concepts that it has not expressly consented to through treaty ratification or parliamentary enactment.
As per the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, treaties are binding only to the extent of State consent, as reflected in the treaty text and the original intent of the parties (Articles 26 and 31).
Soft law instruments—such as UN resolutions, UN committee guidelines, and recommendations—do not meet these criteria and therefore are not legally binding obligations.
The incorporation of non-binding interpretative materials — such as UN Human Rights Council resolutions, Special Rapporteur reports, or donor policy documents — into constitutional or statutory interpretation risks bypassing democratic consent and parliamentary authority. Such materials, while informative, do not carry the force of law and cannot impose obligations that are without domestic legislative adoption.
I respectfully submit that the judiciary’s role as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution requires particular caution where external policy frameworks seek to influence the interpretation of fundamental rights, sex-based protections, or statutory schemes such as quotas, safeguards, or affirmative measures enacted specifically under sex-based classification enshrined in Sri Lanka’s constitution & recognized in domestic law.
Policies, guidelines and recommendations issued by international agencies or donors are not laws. They do not have the force of law unless they are adopted into domestic legislation by Parliament. Thus, Sexual Orientation Gender Identity (SOGI) concepts through non-legislative entities cannot legally alter or expand the rights protected under Sri Lankan law to satisfy international concepts.
The distinction between law and policy, treaty obligation and advocacy, and binding norms and soft law is essential to maintaining constitutional coherence and public confidence in the legal system.
International frameworks and policies cannot override constitutional provisions, statutory protections, or the socio-legal context embedded within Sri Lanka’s constitutional order, including sex-based protections enacted by Parliament. Fundamental rights cannot be re-interpreted through non-binding international policy frameworks.
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has affirmed that non-binding international instruments do not possess the force of law unless explicitly passed as domestic legislation.
The judiciary must exercise particular caution in interpreting fundamental rights or statutory schemes when non-binding frameworks—such as UN recommendations or donor guidelines—seek to introduce concepts not adopted into law.
S. S. Cooray v. The Attorney General (1987), the Court emphasized that international treaties or resolutions that have not been domesticated through legislation do not alter the constitutional rights of citizens.
Accordingly, I humbly appeal to the Honourable Courts to clearly distinguish, in relevant proceedings, between:
· Ratified treaty obligations and domestic law which Sri Lanka is bound by on the one hand; and
· Non-binding international guidelines, UN Committee Level recommendations, donor conditionalities, and evolving policy interpretations on the other.
This appeal is made in good faith, in support of judicial clarity, constitutional supremacy, and the principle that legal obligations arise only through consent, law, and due process.
I respectfully, urge the Judicial pillar to re-affirm that only international treaties ratified and incorporated into domestic law can create binding obligations & that soft-law instruments remain non-binding of States.
I thank Your Ladyships and Lordships for your time and for your continued service in upholding the Constitution and the rule of law.
I am also attaching evidence of the manner non-binding recommendations are being presented as binding law via internationally funded programs and promoted via internationally funded programs in partnership with State & Private Sector across Sri Lanka, undermining Sri Lanka’s constitution, ratified treaty law and People’s consent given to its Government.
With highest respect,
Shenali Waduge
Documentary Evidence of Non-Binding SOGI / LGBTQIA Programmes
The programmes and policy instruments listed below are presented solely as evidence of operational practice. Their inclusion does not imply legal validity or binding force. None of the instruments listed have been ratified by Sri Lanka, enacted by Parliament, or judicially recognised as sources of enforceable law.
This annex provides documentary evidence showing that UN agencies, donor governments, and INGOs have operational programmes embedding sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender-diverse classifications (SOGI/LGBTQI+) into gender equality and gender-based violence. These programmes are non-binding, exceed Sri Lanka’s ratified treaty obligations, and operate independently of domestic law, statutory enactment, or cultural and religious frameworks.
UN & International Agencies
1. UNDP WeBelongAfrica” Programme
UNDP Africa
Description / Evidence:
Programme objectives explicitly support inclusion of LGBTI+ persons in governance and decision-making, addressing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Excerpts:
The project supports inclusive governance by ensuring participation of LGBTI+ persons in decision-making spaces and reducing exclusion based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
UN-supported SGBV and gender frameworks in Sri Lanka operate through inter-ministerial coordination, gender focal points, and cabinet-approved action plans, extending policy language on gender minorities” across multiple ministries without legislative enactment.
Evidence of UN participation in domestic policy planning, introducing non-binding gender identity categories.
Corporate DEI policies promoted through UN and donor frameworks frequently embed sexual orientation and gender identity within workplace harassment, violence prevention, and safe workplace” obligations, despite the absence of such legal categories in Sri Lankan labour law.
7. Plan International SOGIESC Inclusion Programmes
Plan International
Description / Evidence:
Programmes addressing school bullying and community education explicitly include SOGIESC (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, Sex Characteristics) language.
Excerpts:
Activities include training and educational programmes promoting inclusion of SOGIESC individuals in schools and communities.”
Internationally promoted Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) frameworks explicitly integrate gender-based violence (GBV) prevention with instruction on gender norms, sexual diversity, non-discrimination, and concepts relating to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIESC).
These frameworks are promoted as technical guidanceand best practice, not as treaty obligations, and have not been enacted into Sri Lankan law or curriculum through Parliament.
The International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education (ITGSE) positions GBV prevention, gender equality, and respect for sexual diversity as interconnected learning objectives within a single comprehensive framework.
Key Elements Relevant to SOGIESC and GBV:
· Prevention of gender-based violence and harmful practices
· Inclusion of sexual orientation and gender diversity under gender” and human rights” education
· In six districts, 554 teachers were trained on comprehensive sexuality education and life skills under UNFPA programmes, as documented in the UNFPA Sri Lanka Annual Report 2022, demonstrating operational implementation of internationally guided CSE content prior to any parliamentary enactment of a local curriculum
Sri Lanka’s current national curriculum does not implement the UN-defined CSE framework in full, nor does any ratified international treaty obligate the State to introduce instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The promotion of CSE incorporating SOGIESC concepts therefore representspolicy advocacy and programme guidance, not binding international law.
This demonstrates how non-binding UN guidance frameworks operate as de facto normative instruments, embedding SOGIESC concepts—particularly under gender-based violence—without parliamentary enactment or constitutional mandate.
9. Operationalisation of SOGIESC through Multi-Ministry Gender and SGBV Frameworks
UN-supported gender equality and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) frameworks in Sri Lanka operate on a multi-sectoral and inter-ministerial basis, involving more than a dozen line ministries.
These frameworks frequently incorporate references to gender minorities,” gender-diverse persons,” or inclusive gender identities” within policy planning, service delivery, and capacity-building initiatives.
Inclusion occurs through:
· National action plans
· Inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms
· Ministry-level gender focal points
· Technical assistance and donor-funded programming
While framed as policy coordination and development assistance, these mechanisms introduce non-legislated gender identity categories across multiple State institutions, without parliamentary enactment or judicial determination.
This demonstrates how non-binding international guidance becomes operationally embedded across the State apparatus, extending beyond ratified treaty obligations and domestic statutory law.
Non-binding soft law cannot be misinterpreted as legally binding as it would undermine the rule of law & lead to confusion & arbitrary administrative actions sans constitutional basis.
The legal protections given to women & other vulnerable groups becomes at risk.
Legal scholars like Professor James Crawford have emphasized that international soft law cannot modify domestic legal rights unless explicitly incorporated into national law, thereby reaffirming the importance of legislative sovereignty.
Corporate / Private Sector DEI Implementation
10. Corporate DEI Frameworks Linking SOGIESC to Gender-Based Violence and Harassment Prevention
Issuers: UNDP, ILO, UN Global Compact, donor governments
Implementers: Private sector entities and multinational corporations
Description / Evidence:
Corporate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) frameworks promoted by UN agencies and donor partners commonly insert sexual orientation and gender identity within policies addressing workplace harassment, gender-based violence, and safe working environments.
Under these frameworks:
· Gender” is expanded beyond sex-based categories to include identity”
· Harassment or exclusion related to gender identity is treated as a form of gender-based violence that had been explicitly for biological females/males.
· Corporate compliance is linked to ESG standards, SDG alignment, and donor expectations
· These policies operate outside Sri Lanka’s labour law framework, which does not recognise sexual orientation or gender identity as protected legal categories, nor redefine sex-based protections enacted for biological women.
· This illustrates the indirect influence of non-binding international policy frameworks on domestic workplaces.
Your Lordships and Ladyships are respectfully requested to consider the following:
· Courts to reaffirm that only ratified treaties domesticated by Parliament are legally binding.
· Non-binding guidelines, donor policies, UN recommendations, resolutions cannot alter constitutional rights or statutory protections, including sex-based protections for women.
· Courts to issue clarity on interpreting SOGI-related policiesin light of domestic law under ‘gender-based violence”.
All UN/diplomatic programmes and frameworks listed above are non-binding, operate beyond ratified treaty obligations, and have not been incorporated into domestic law.
In the absence of clear judicial guidance, non-binding international programmes are being operationalised within State institutions in a manner that risks inconsistency with existing constitutional and statutory frameworks.
Their operationalisation in Sri Lanka under gender-based violence (GBV) and gender frameworks cannot create new legal obligations, and any interpretation to the contrary risks undermining the Constitution, parliamentary authority and the will of the People.
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COLOMBO, December 22, 2025—Cyclone Ditwah, which struck Sri Lanka in late November, has caused an estimated US$4.1 billion in direct physical damage to buildings and contents, agriculture and critical infrastructure, according to a World Bank Group Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) report released today. This damage is equivalent to about 4 percent of Sri Lanka’s GDP.
The cyclone, among the most intense and destructive in Sri Lanka’s recent history, severely affected close to 2 million people and 500,000 families across all 25 districts, disrupting livelihoods, essential services, and the broader economy.
The Sri Lanka GRADEreport provides timely and critical insights to guide the emergency response, recovery planning, and longer-term disaster risk reduction efforts. The assessment uses the World Bank’s rapid, remote, model-based GRADE methodology, which estimates direct economic damage to physical assets. The report does not include losses related to income or production, nor the full costs of recovery and reconstruction.
The estimated US$4.1 billion in direct damage represents a significant shock to affected regions. The Central province was the hardest hit, with damages in Kandy district estimated at $689 million, primarily caused by flooding and to a lesser extent by landslides.
Infrastructure, including roads, bridges, railways and water supply networks, accounts for the largest share of damage, at an estimated $1.735 billion (42 percent of total damages), disrupting connectivity and access to markets and services.
Residential buildings and contents have been heavily affected, with damages totaling an estimated $985 million. The widespread impacts on homes highlight the need to consider building locations, flood control structures and designs that are resilient to high winds and flooding.
Agriculture suffered an estimated $814 million in damage, including to paddy and vegetable crops, subsistence farming, maize, livestock and agriculture infrastructure, as well as damage to inland fishing, posing serious risks to food security and rural livelihoods in already vulnerable communities.
Non-residential buildings (including contents), such as schools, health facilities, businesses, and large industrial facilities and factories located along major rivers and creeks, were also heavily impacted, accounting for $562 million in estimated damages, interrupting education, healthcare delivery, and local economic activity in cyclone-affected areas.
The assessment underscores how pre-existing socio-economic vulnerabilities—including poverty, limited access to services, and exposure to climate risks—are likely to amplify the cyclone’s impacts and slow recovery, particularly for women, children, older persons and female-headed households. Targeted recovery efforts will be essential to ensure support reaches the most at-risk communities.
As we look closely at the hardest-hit districts, we see that deep-rooted vulnerabilities have left communities especially vulnerable,” said Gevorg Sargsyan, World Bank Group Country Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives. In Badulla, Kegalle and Puttalam many households were already poor and now face some of the highest losses to homes. In Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, about two in four households are headed by women or older persons. Thousands of women and girls have been displaced or remain in unsafe homes. These realities underscore the need for tailored community-centered recovery efforts that protect those most at risk.”
In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, the World Bank Group has mobilized up to $120 million from ongoing projects to support recovery and help restore essential services and infrastructure—including healthcare, water, education, agriculture, and connectivity—in the areas hit hardest.
While the GRADE report provides a rapid estimate of direct physical damage, recovery and reconstruction needs are expected to significantly exceed these figures. The report highlights the importance of comprehensive recovery strategies that address humanitarian needs, restore livelihoods, strengthen resilient housing and infrastructure, and integrate climate and disaster risk considerations into future development.
The World Bank acknowledges the Government of Sri Lanka’s leadership in completing this assessment. The assessment benefited from close collaboration with the External Resources Department, the Treasury, the National Planning Department, and the Disaster Management Centre.
The World Bank and GRADE
Disasters disproportionately affect the poor and most vulnerable. For over a decade, the World Bank’s Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) approach has supported more than 54 countries by providing timely, evidence-based assessments to inform decision-making after disasters. Over ten years, GRADE has completed 71 post-disaster assessments worldwide, with subsequent validations confirming approximately 90 percent accuracy when compared to detailed, ground-based assessments.
The GRADE report for Sri Lanka was conducted and financially supported by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the Ministry of Finance of Japan, through the World Bank program for Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management in Developing Countries in collaboration with the World Bank.
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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday announced India’s decision to offer a reconstruction package of USD 450 million to Sri Lanka post ‘Cyclone Ditwah’.
xternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday announced India’s decision to offer a reconstruction package of USD 450 million to Sri Lanka post ‘Cyclone Ditwah’.
At a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart Vijitha Herath in Colombo, Jaishankar, who is visiting the island nation as Special Envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said he had this morning met Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Disanayaka to personally deliver a letter from the Indian leader.
‘’We had a detailed discussion on the damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah. The letter from Prime Minister Modi that I handed over builds on our First Responder role and commits a reconstruction package of $450 million to Sri Lanka. Our talks centred on how expeditiously this commitment can be delivered,’’ he added.
Jaishankar said the assistance package that India has proposed will include USD 350 million in concessional Lines of Credit and USD 100 million in grants.
This package is being finalised in close consultations with the Government of Sri Lanka. ‘’Our assistance will cover sectors worst affected by the cyclone, including: rehabilitation and restoration of road, railway and bridge connectivity; support for construction of houses fully destroyed and partially damaged; support for health and education systems, in particular, those that have been damaged by the cyclone; agriculture, including to address possible shortages in the short and medium term and working towards better disaster response and preparedness,’’ he added.
India, he said, is conscious that work towards mitigating the impact of ”Cyclone Ditwah” on the people of Sri Lanka must be done in the quickest time possible. ‘’We are discussing an effective coordination mechanism for the earliest possible delivery,’’ he added.
Noting that Sri Lanka is a significant tourism economy, the Indian minister assured the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister that India will continue to encourage tourism traffic from the country in that regard. Similarly, an increase in Foreign Direct Investment from India can also boost Sri Lanka’s economy at a critical time.
Jaishankar recalled that India’s relief and assistance mission – Operation Sagar Bandhu – commenced on the very day that Cyclone Ditwah made landfall.
As Sri Lanka’s closest neighbour and in line with India’s ‘’Neighbourhood First’’ and ‘’MAHASAGAR’ policies, it was only natural that India step forward at a time when Sri Lanka faced a crisis, he added.
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he Police Constable who was arrested and subsequently released on bail in connection with the assault incident involving Ratnapura District National People’s Power (NPP) Member of Parliament Shantha Pathma Kumara Subasingha, has been suspended from service pending further investigations, police stated.
He was arrested yesterday (22) by officers attached to the Embilipitiya Divisional Investigation Bureau on several charges, including criminal intimidation.
The Police Constable was subsequently granted bail after being produced before court.
Police earlier stated that a blood sample obtained from the police officer allegedly assaulted by a group including MP Shantha Pathma Kumara Subasingha will be sent to the Government Analyst’s Department.
According to the statement issued by the Police Media Division, at around 8:40 p.m. on December 20, a police constable attached to the Sooriyakanda Police Station, who was returning home after completing his shift, lodged a complaint through the 119 emergency hotline to the Kolonna Police Station.
According to the complaint, the police officer was assaulted by the NPP Member of Parliament and a group accompanying him near the Kalugala Temple and then had forcibly taken away his motorcycle.
The statement further noted that at around 10:10 p.m. the same day, NPP Ratnapura District MP Shantha Pathma Kumara Subasingha also filed a complaint with the Kolonna Police Station. The MP had alleged that while traveling in a cab from Kalugala toward Halwinna, a police constable attached to the Sooriyakanda Police Station blocked the road by placing his motorcycle across the path, stopped the cab and attempted to assault him.
Additionally, the police stated that the motorcycle of the constable was found on the road near the Kalugala Temple and was taken into custody by the Kolonna Police. The police officer was first admitted to the Kolonna Hospital and later transferred to the Embilipitiya Hospital.
The statement from police mentioned that hospital clinical records note the presence of an alcohol breath odor, according to the medical report of the officer. Meanwhile, since no narcotic substances were detected in the officer’s urine samples, arrangements are currently being made to obtain blood samples and forward them to the Government Analyst’s Department to determine whether alcohol had been consumed.
Furthermore, police stated that investigations into the alleged incident are being conducted by the Embilipitiya Divisional Crimes Investigation Bureau under the direct supervision of the Senior Superintendent of Police in charge of the Embilipitiya Division.
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22 December 2025: The Protection of the State from Terrorism Act, No. of 2026(PSTA) presents itself as a human rights improvement on the existing Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). This framing obscures the reality that its core architecture, including administrative detention, military powers, proscription regimes, and broad speech offences, replicates the essential features that made the PTA objectionable for over four decades.
The Bill replicates the fundamental architecture that made the PTA objectionable. Rather than using the ordinary criminal law regime for terrorism offences alongside emergency powers when genuinely required, the PSTA creates parallel criminal jurisdictions with reduced safeguards and expanded executive authority. Its scheme maintains extraordinary arrest and detention powers, grants the Attorney General potentially coercive mechanisms to compel admissions without trial, and empowers the President, senior police officers, and the Defence Secretary to issue proscription orders, restriction orders, curfews, and prohibited place declarations with limited judicial oversight. As the title suggests, the Bill’s fundamental purpose is to protect the state rather than to protect civilians from violence, a framing that offers little resistance to treating public dissent, political disruption, and threats to political power as terrorism in themselves. Though the Bill includes carve-outs for protest and industrial action, these sit in tension with other provisions and may prove ineffective in practice.
Section 78 defines confidential information” so broadly that it could capture online content, and social media posts documenting military checkpoints, photographs of army deployments during civilian protests, or tweets noting the presence of intelligence personnel at public events. Tamil civil society organisations, and activists documenting enduring militarisation in their communities face particular exposure. Section 15 criminalises failure to report information about terrorism offences with penalties of up to seven years imprisonment, placing journalists, lawyers, doctors, and religious figures in impossible positions where professional ethics conflict with criminal liability. This provision effectively conscripts recipients of information as state informants, creating a chilling effect on communication without requiring any technical interception.
Journalists, civil society activists, and ordinary social media users face particular exposure under this Bill. The predictable consequence is self-censorship driven by fear rather than any genuine security benefit. The Bill’s extended detention provisions, which permit up to two years of combined remand and detention without charge, provide a repressive mechanism for silencing dissent. Meanwhile, the surveillance and decryption powers granted under sections 53 and 55 threaten to eliminate private digital communication entirely, depriving citizens of secure channels for democratic dialogue and exposing them to monitoring that bears no reasonable relationship to legitimate counter-terrorism objectives.
We want to particularly stress the Bill’s impact on privileged, and encrypted communications, that go far beyond the PTA. Section 55 grants magistrates authority to order the unlocking of encrypted communications, yet assumes technical capability that simply does not exist with genuine end-to-end encryption (E2EE) systems. The extension of police powers to military personnel under section 19 creates a 24-hour window before handover to civilian authorities during which device contents could be accessed without procedural safeguards. Given documented patterns of abuse during military detention, including custodial torture, particularly affecting Tamil communities, the risk of coerced access to encrypted communications is not theoretical.
National security cannot serve as a blank cheque to erode democratic values. We urge the government to withdraw this Bill, engage in meaningful consultation with civil society, and affected communities, and develop fit-for-purpose legislation that meets international human rights standards while addressing legitimate national, and human security concerns.
Yours sincerely,
Sampath Samarakoon (on behalf of, Collective for Social Media Declaration – CSMD) + 94 777 248304
ABOUT CSMD:The Social Media Declaration collective is a coalition established by civil society organizations, citizen activists, websites, and subject-matter experts, with the aim of promoting a ‘Human rights–Based, Socially Responsible use of Social Media’. This collective is dedicated to advancing human Rights, including digital rights, and to systematically analyzing online content through research, advocacy, training, awareness-raising, and critical inquiry. It continuously strives to foster and sustainably promote democratic discourse in online spaces grounded in internet freedom, transparency–openness, and democratic values. In this way, the collective remains committed to ensuring societal well-being through the influence of technology and to encouraging the development of responsible, ethical use of social media in the digital age.
The following organizations belong to this collective. Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association | Jaffna Press Club | Eastern Provinces Journalists forum | Centre for Policy Alternatives | Sri lanka Muslim Media Forum | Human Elevation Organization | Low & Society Trust | SARVODAYA Shramadana Movement | Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform | ActNow Youth Campaign | Wedabima Media collective | National Collaboration Development | Foundation Best Vision foundation | Internet Media Action | maatram.org | vikalpa.org|groundviews.org | minormatters.org
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Our monetary economists of today have decided that printing money is to be stopped till the end of the year. The new Central Bank Act of 2023 is said to forbid money printing. Some foremost economists and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka are of the opinion that printing money causes inflation and should not be done.
I lived in Sri Lanka till 1973 and worked in senior Administrative Service positions from 1955 to 1973- some 17 years handling arduous development tasks all done with locally printed Rupees. In 1970, as a Deputy Director of the Small Industries Department, I actually handled foreign currency disbursement to all small industrialists in the country. Thus I speak with firm authority, through sheer experience -not research knowledge picked up from the internet or research, following ideas of elite professors or guided by utterances from foreign monetary institutions
Beyond oil interests, Vijay Prashad argues that the US escalation against Venezuela is about reestablishing its hegemony in the hemisphere.
US Marines carrying out exercises on USS Iwo Jima as part of SOUTHCOM’s Operation Southern Spear in the Caribbean Sea. (SOUTHCOM)
Ever since Hugo Chávez came to power in 1998, the United States has attempted to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution. They have tried everything short of a full-scale military invasion: a military coup, selecting a substitute president, cutting off access to the global financial system, imposing layers of sanctions, sabotaging the electricity grid, sending in mercenaries, and attempting to assassinate its leaders. If you can think of a method to overthrow a government, the United States has likely tried it against Venezuela.
However, in 2025, the escalation became unmistakable. The US sent its warships to patrol Venezuela’s coast, began sinking small boats and killing those on board as they left the South American mainland, and seized an oil tanker bound for Cuba. The quantity of attacks on Venezuela has increased, suggesting the quality of the threats has now reached a different magnitude. It feels as if the United States is preparing for a full-blown invasion of the country.
Donald Trump came to office saying that he was opposed to military interventions that did not further US interests, which is why he called the illegal US war on Iraq a waste of blood and treasure”. This does not mean Trump is against the use of the US military – he deployed it in Afghanistan (remember the Mother of all Bombs”) and Yemen, and has fully backed the US/Israeli genocide against the Palestinians. His formula is not for or against war categorically, but about what the US would gain from it. With Iraq, he stated that the problem was not the war itself, but the failure to seize Iraqi oil. Had the US taken Iraq’s oil, Trump would likely have been in Baghdad, ready to build – with Iraqi treasure – a Trump hotel on one of the former presidential properties.
Naturally, the US military buildup in the Caribbean is about Venezuelan oil – the largest known reserves in the world. The US-backed politician, Maria Corina Machado, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just this week after supporting the Israeli genocide and calling for a US invasion of her own country, is on record promising to open up her country’s resources to foreign capital. She would welcome the extraction of Venezuela’s wealth rather than allow its social wealth to better the lives of its own people, as is the goal of the Bolivarian Revolution started by Hugo Chávez. A hypothetical President Machado” would immediately surrender any claim to the Essequibo region and grant ExxonMobil full command of Venezuela’s oil reserves. This is certainly the prize.
But it is not the immediate spur. A close reading of the 2025 National Security Strategy of the United States shows that there is a renewed emphasis on the Western Hemisphere. The Trump Corollary to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine is clear: the Western Hemisphere must be under US control, and the United States will do what it takes to ensure that only pro-US politicians hold power. It is worth reading that section of the National Security Strategy:
After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere. This ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests.”
When Argentina faced local elections, Trump warned that the US would cut off external financing if candidates opposing pro-US President Javier Milei lost. In Honduras, Trump intervened directly to oppose the Libre Party, even offering to release a convicted drug trafficker (and former President). The United States is moving aggressively because it has accurately assessed the weakness of the Pink Tide and the strength of a new, far-right Angry Tide”. The emergence of right-wing governments across South America, Central America, and the Caribbean has emboldened the US to squeeze Venezuela and thereby weaken Cuba – the two major poles of the Latin American left. Overturning these revolutionary processes would allow a full-scale Monroe Doctrine domination of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Since the 1990s, the United States began to speak of Latin America as a partner for shared prosperity, emphasizing globalization over direct control. Now, the language has changed. As the Trump Corollary asserts: We want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets and that supports critical supply chains…We want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations.” Latin America is seen as a battlefield for geopolitical competition against China and a source of threats like immigration and drug trafficking. The attack on Venezuela and Cuba is not merely an assault on these two countries; it is the opening salvo of direct US intervention on behalf of the Angry Tide. This will not deliver better lives for the population, but greater wealth for US corporations and the oligarchies of Latin America.
Trump is ready to revive the belief that any problem can be solved by military force, even when other tools exist. The Trump Corollary promises to use its military system superior to any country in the world” to steal the hemisphere’s resources.
The aggression against Venezuela is not a war against Venezuela alone. It is a war against all of Latin America.
Human rights law, by contrast, is founded on the concept of universal rights which the international community is duty-bound to uphold
International human rights institutions become vulnerable to manipulation by powerful states seeking to bypass traditional sovereignty safeguards in order to impose their political will on weaker nations
An organisation is only as credible as the officials who operate it. If officials know they may be held accountable for violating the organisation’s principles, they are more likely to resist politicisation
At the heart of this problem lies a fundamental tension between the principles of international law and those of human rights law
Human rights law is among the most rapidly developing areas of contemporary law
The acceptance by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) of a complaint against the UNHRC’s external mechanism on Sri Lanka should be welcomed by anyone who values the rule of law in international affairs. The OIOS is the UN’s internal watchdog, mandated to investigate financial and administrative misconduct within the organisation and its subsidiary organs. The complaint — filed in mid-September 2025 by an international NGO and three Sri Lankan citizens (including the present author) — alleges that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which oversees the Sri Lanka Accountability Project” (SLAP), is guilty of such misconduct. In late October, the OIOS informed one of the complainants that it had reviewed the matter and taken appropriate action.” (The complaint, along with all relevant documents, is available as an e-book on www.ceehale.org.)
This response offers a ray of hope, particularly to people in the Global South, that there remains at least one avenue within the UN system through which the concerns of private citizens can be heard. At the same time, it underscores the urgent need for reform within the UNHRC itself, so that private citizens may challenge the Council’s actions when they consider them harmful to their countries.
The complainants turned to the OIOS because no such mechanism exists within the UNHRC. While one of the Council’s founding instruments — UNHRC Resolution 5/1 (Institution-building within the Human Rights Council) — provides for a Complaint Procedure,” this mechanism is limited to examining allegations of gross human rights violations by states, not complaints against the Council or its officials. This gap urgently calls for scholarly attention and institutional reform.
The problem that gave rise to the complaint goes far beyond Sri Lanka. It reveals a deeper lacuna in both international law and human rights scholarship. Human rights law is among the most rapidly developing areas of contemporary law. Much of this development focuses on expanding its scope to include groups and issues previously neglected — women, children, indigenous peoples, minorities, and enforced disappearances during conflicts. Yet little attention is paid to what happens when powerful states use the UN and its subsidiary organs as instruments to interfere in the internal affairs of weaker states under the banner of human rights. They often do so by securing UN resolutions that provide the moral and legal justification for such interventions. The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan illustrate this practice.
At the heart of this problem lies a fundamental tension between the principles of international law and those of human rights law. International law is ultimately based on the consent of sovereign states, making respect for sovereignty a cornerstone of the system. Article 2(7) of the UN Charter, which prohibits undue interference in the internal affairs of states, reflects this principle.
Human rights law, by contrast, is founded on the concept of universal rights which the international community is duty-bound to uphold. This implies that where gross violations occur, the international community has a moral obligation to intervene. In such a framework, international human rights institutions become vulnerable to manipulation by powerful states seeking to bypass traditional sovereignty safeguards in order to impose their political will on weaker nations.
It is unlikely that the power dynamics underpinning international relations will fundamentally change. As Thucydides observed, The strong do what they will, and the weak suffer what they must.” Since the root cause cannot be eliminated, the rational response is to mitigate its effects. One way of doing this is to establish procedures for holding UN officials accountable when they assist in formulating policies, preparing reports, or conducting fact-finding missions that facilitate politically motivated country-specific measures. An organisation is only as credible as the officials who operate it. If officials know they may be held accountable for violating the organisation’s principles, they are more likely to resist politicisation.
The difficulty, of course, lies in the doctrine of immunity, which is essential for the functioning of international organisations. If every decision of the UNHRC could be challenged by affected individuals, the Council’s ability to act would be paralysed. It would become impossible for it to fulfil its mandate.
There is, however, a conceptual solution. Since enforcement of human rights often constitutes an exception to sovereignty, it should be possible to limit immunity where such enforcement is demonstrably unfair, discriminatory, or unjust. The key issue, therefore, is not whether immunity should be limited, but under what conditions. Guidance can be found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself — a source rarely invoked for this purpose. Article 30 of the UDHR states:
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.”
This provision clearly implies that no individual or institution may use human rights as a pretext to destroy other fundamental rights. This is sufficient to form the basis of a legal doctrine for limiting immunity where human rights mechanisms are abused.
Politicisation of the UNHRC manifests itself most clearly in the unequal application of its resources. The SLAP, for instance, has operated since 2021 despite being rejected by successive Sri Lankan Governments, including the present one. Each time its mandate comes up for renewal, a group of states led by the UK and Canada — the so-called Core Group” on Sri Lanka — applies sustained pressure to push the relevant resolution through. The most recent such resolution was adopted at the UNHRC’s 60th session. It was reported at the outset that forty-three states opposed a new resolution on Sri Lanka, with some explicitly objecting to the extension of the SLAP’s mandate. Yet both the resolution and the extension were approved.
Supporters of the SLAP argue that it is necessary to hold accountable those responsible for war crimes and other violations allegedly committed during the conflict with the LTTE. The material in its repository, however, remains secret. Neither the Sri Lankan government nor the public can scrutinise it or challenge its contents before it is transmitted to third parties for action against the country.
The defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 brought peace and security to Sri Lanka. Without peace and security, the meaningful enjoyment of human rights is impossible. The High Commissioner has stated that the SLAP contains evidence of crimes against humanity. If such evidence is used to justify international endorsement of a right to self-determination for Tamils in Sri Lanka — led, for example, by the UK or Canada — any attempt to pursue secession would almost inevitably result in renewed violence.
In that scenario, the persistent promotion of the SLAP by these states would effectively amount to an attempt to deprive the majority of Sri Lankans of their right to live in peace and security. Such conduct would, on its face, fall within the type of behaviour that Article 30 of the UDHR seeks to prohibit. The SLAP thus provides an ideal platform for scholarly examination of the relevance of Article 30 to the functioning of the UNHRC.
The acceptance by the OIOS of the complaint against the SLAP demonstrates that there are legitimate grounds for concern regarding this mechanism. Yet if this process triggers a serious discussion on accountability and reform within the UNHRC, it may ultimately serve a constructive purpose. In that sense, one might even say that some good has come from it.
Sri Lankan renewable energy company Vidullanka PLC has announced that it has emerged as the lowest-cost bidder for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to expand and upgrade a 100-kilowatt mini hydropower facility at Buca Village in Fiji.
In a disclosure to the Colombo Stock Exchange, the company said the determination was made on 19 December 2025, marking a significant step toward securing the overseas renewable energy contract, although the formal award is still pending.
Vidullanka said the development is price-sensitive, given its potential impact on future business activity and the company’s longer-term market positioning.
The determination represents a material development for the company, subject to the formal award of the contract,” Vidullanka said in its disclosure.
The company noted that further announcements will be made once the contract is formally awarded, material agreements are executed, or there are additional developments related to the tender process.
Vidullanka also cautioned that the potential award remains subject to technical evaluations, decisions by the evaluation committee, regulatory approvals, and the successful negotiation of final terms.
If confirmed, the project would add to Fiji’s renewable energy infrastructure while expanding Vidullanka’s footprint in the Pacific region, aligning with broader regional efforts to strengthen clean and sustainable energy generation.
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Sustained adherence to the reform agenda has underpinned a robust economic recovery, price stability, substantial revenue-based fiscal consolidation, and progress in rebuilding foreign exchange reserves, but the economy remains vulnerable, and GDP has not recovered to its pre-crisis level, according to an IMF official.
Kenji Okamura, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, said it in a statement issued last Friday.
Sri Lanka was hit by a catastrophic cyclone, claiming more than 600 lives and affecting millions more. Flooding and landslides have displaced more than 100,000 people, destroyed critical infrastructure, and devastated livelihoods across the country, he said.
The disaster has created urgent humanitarian and reconstruction needs, generating significant fiscal pressures and balance-of-payments needs. The emergency financial support provided by the IMF under the RFI will help address these pressures.
The government responded swiftly with a package of relief measures, supported by strong fiscal overperformance in 2025. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka stands ready to provide liquidity support to the financial system if needed.
While recovery and reconstruction needs will be substantial, the authorities remain committed to maintaining fiscal prudence to safeguard fiscal and debt sustainability. All emergency spending will be executed in full compliance with the Public Financial Management Act and supported by enhanced monitoring and regular public reporting in line with transparency and accountability standards. The Central Bank will continue to refrain from monetary financing of the budget.
The cyclone struck as Sri Lanka is emerging from a deep economic crisis and the IMF-supported reform programme under the EFF is bearing fruit.
The authorities and IMF team maintain close engagement and will resume discussions at the earliest possible juncture. The IMF stands with the people of Sri Lanka during this difficult time and will continue to support Sri Lanka’s recovery and reconstruction efforts,” he said.
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