A crab roams a Sri Lanka beach polluted with nurdle pellets that washed ashore from burning ship MV X-Press Pearl. (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)June 1, 2021 at 4:37 p.m. GMT+1
Tons of potentially toxic debris is threatening miles of coastlines and seas around western Sri Lanka after a fire on a ship led to the leak of nitric acid and nurdles — the small, lentil-sized pellets that are melted into all kinds of plastic products.
Sri Lankan authorities are racing to clear tons of nurdles blanketing the South Asian country’s usually pristine beaches and threatening fishing industries and wildlife tens of miles away. There are additional fears that the nurdles themselves could be contaminated with chemicals from the ship.
Here’s what to know about nurdles, the granules at the heart of one of Sri Lanka’s worst environmental crises.
Nurdles are the raw materials melted down to produce plastics. Each kind of plastic is composed of nurdles of different compositions and colors. When plastics are recycled, they can be turned back into nurdles and the cycle is repeated. Nurdles are often shipped all over the world in large sacks to factories, where they are turned into various plastic products.
How do they impact the environment?
Nurdles are the backbone of so much packaging we use — and of some serious health and environmental challenges.
Due to improper storage or transfer, nurdles frequently leach into bodies of water, where fish and other marine animals can mistake the pellets for food. Ingesting the nurdles, which can also absorb other chemicals, could be deadly for animals and pose a serious danger for the wider ecosystem if they become caught in food chains.
It’s an environmental disaster,” Sri Lankan marine biologist Asha de Vos told The Washington Post. She said the plastic pellets will be in our beaches for a long time to come.”
Fish in Sri Lanka are a key source of protein, and there are now major fears over the long-term health of the fishing industry. The pellets could also increase the temperature of the sand, which could in turn impact the gender makeup of turtles who lay their eggs there, de Vos said.
Authorities have warned people not to touch the nurdles as it is unclear how toxic they are.
How can they be cleaned up?
Massive efforts are underway to clear Sri Lanka’s beaches coated in nurdles that have washed up to shore. There were an estimated 78 metric tons of nurdles aboard the MV X-Press Pearl, Mongabay News reported.
It was nuts,” de Vos said. It was basically [plastic] snow on our beaches, these tiny white pellets, and piles of them.”
Authorities have already banned fishing in the area and deployed the Sri Lankan military, wearing protective gear, to remove debris from the sand and sea. Efforts by Sri Lankans to help, however, have been hampered by covid-19 restrictions on movement.
It took 7,000 volunteers to clean up a nurdles spill of a similar magnitude in Hong Kong in 2012, according to Mongabay, though in that incident there were no fears of chemical contamination.
Environmentalists have called for changes to how nurdles are stored, as they are frequently kept in sacks that can easily tear.
Our oceans are covered in microplastics, but nobody really thinks about it,” de Vos said. I hope this drives home that we are all part of this problem.”
The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 856 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 2,845.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 189,241.
As many as 153,371 recoveries and 1,484 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 34,386 active cases are currently under medical care.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has advised to tow the fire-ravaged container ship ‘X-Press Pearl’ into deeper seas in order to prevent further marine pollution.
The President has issued these instructions to the Chairman of Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) today (June 01) at a special meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat, President’s Media Division stated.
During the meeting, the Minister of Ports and Shipping Rohitha Abeygunawardena revealed all the details on the vessel including its route from the United Arab Emirates on May 09 to the arrival near the Port of Colombo on May 19.
The suggestion of representatives from a number of fields, including shipping and environment, was to take the vessel to the deep seas to minimize possible damage to the marine environment as the vessel was at risk of sinking.
Accordingly, the President had given instructions to issue an immediate order to the Chairman of MEPA to tow the vessel into the deep seas based on technical facts as well as the advice of the Attorney General.
The President had stated that the decision taken should be based solely on technical facts and not on politics.
Ministers Douglas Devananda, Mahinda Amaraweera, State Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, Nalaka Godahewa, Attorney General Sanjaya Rajaratnam, Secretary to the President P. B. Jayasundera, Defence Secretary-General (Retired) Kamal Gunaratne, Commanders of the Navy and Air Force and the officials of Ports Authority, Marine Environment Protection Authority, NARA and other line institutions had been present at the meeting.
With the ban on the import of chemical fertilizer, the Ministry of Agriculture has identified the need to take immediate action to supply the required organic fertilizer for the 2021/2022 Maha Season.
Currently, there are 27 local organic fertilizer manufacturers licensed by the National Fertilizer Secretariat Office.
Considering the production capacity of 10 of them, it is possible to supply carbonic fertilizer locally for 224,000 hectares for the 2021/2022 Maha Season and to manufacture the required carbonic fertilizer for another 100,000 hectares after making available the required facilities for the identified farmers.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal tabled by the Minister of Agriculture to take the following measures:
– Appointing a special procurement committee on organic fertilizer, natural minerals, and kilated herbal trace and a technical committee specialized for the relevant subject to assist the procurement committee.
– Import required carbonic fertilizer and natural mineral through the state-owned fertilizer company for 500,000 hectares of paddy cultivation on 2021/2022 Maha Season with accordance to the international competitive bidding method and distributing them through the Department of Agrarian Services.
– Import the carbonic fertilizer through the licensed companies that have permission to import fertilizer for 600,000 hectares of the other crops adhering to the recommendations of the research institutions of the relevant crops.
– Import identified specific fertilizers for non-food ornamental plants, cut flower cultivations, and non-soil cultivation through the Import License Method adhering to the recommendations of the research institutes of the relevant crops.
Another six individuals who attended the birthday party hosted by Chandimal Jayasinghe and Piumi Hansimali have been arrested, Police Media Spokesperson DIG Ajith Rohana said.
Event organizer Chandimal Jayasinghe and model Piumi Hansimali were arrested yesterday (May 31) for violation of quarantine regulations.
The duo had had reportedly organized a birthday party at a 5-star hotel in Colombo on May 30 with around 25-30 people in attendance.
They produced before the Aluthkade Magistrate’s Court in Colombo with charges under Section 264 of the Penal Code for violating health criteria and were subsequently were released on personal bails worth Rs 1 million each.
Police had identified 12 of the attendees yesterday and the remaining attendees were to be identified through CCTV footage.
With the arrest of another 05 male and 01 female suspects, a total of 08 arrests have been made over the incident.
The 06 persons arrested today (June 01) are to be produced before the court, DIG Ajith Rohana said.
Investigations are underway to apprehend the remaining attendees of the party, he said.
(CNN)A huge cleanup operation was underway for a sixth day in Sri Lanka Tuesday after a container ship laden with chemicals caught fire 12 days ago, inundating the country’s western coastline with microplastic pollution and potentially hazardous waste.Sri Lankan environmentalists said it is one of the worst ecological disasters in the country’s history and have warned of a potential threat to marine life and the fishing industry.Members of the Sri Lanka Navy donned protective suits and rubber boots to remove the plastic pellets, chemical waste and debris that have blanketed beaches near the capital Colombo, including the popular tourist spot of Negombo.The Singaporean-registered ship, called the MS X-Press Pearl, was sailing from India’s Gujarat to Colombo when a fire broke out onboard on May 20, as it was nine nautical miles off the Sri Lankan coast. Since then, the Sri Lanka Navy and Indian Coast Guard have been trying to put out the flames and stop the ship from breaking apart or sinking.If that happens, 350 metric tons of oil could leak into the ocean with the potential to cause widespread ecological damage to marine life and affect 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) of coastline between the capital and Negombo, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Fisheries Kanchana Wijesekera said last week.The ship was carrying 1,486 containers when the fire started, 81 of which held “dangerous goods,” including 25 metric tons of nitric acid, according to X-Press Feeders, the operators of the X-Press Pearl. The other chemicals onboard the ship are yet to be confirmed.
Sri Lanka Navy personnel remove waste washed ashore from the burning cargo vessel MV X-Press Pearl on the beaches of Wattala to Negombo in the suburbs of Colombo, on May 28.On Monday, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority said the vessel’s hull remained structurally intact and “no oil or chemical spill (had been) observed till now.””Salvors are also exploring the possibility of boarding the ship and making a tow connection so it can be moved,” the port authority said in a statement.X-Press Feeders said on Monday there were “no visible flames aboard the vessel, though smoke is still issuing from areas in the ship’s aft,” according to the company’s Incident Information Center, referring to the area toward the rear of the vessel.”Firefighting tugs will continue spraying and misting operations to ensure the cooling of all hotspots and the vessel’s hull and hatches, with temperature readings being taken with specialized equipment that has arrived from the Netherlands,” it continued.The 25-member crew have been evacuated and most are in quarantine at local hotels. Two crew members sustained leg injuries following an explosion onboard on May 25 and were taken to hospital. One of the pair later tested positive for Covid-19 and was transferred to a special facility in a military hospital, according to X-Press Feeders.
An earthmover removes debris from the X-Press Pearl ship, on a beach at Pamunugama in Negombo, Sri Lanka, on May 28.The company said it was “helping local police with their enquiries into the fire and are cooperating with investigators.””X-Press Feeders remain fully focused on the ongoing firefighting and salvage operation and will continue cooperating with the relevant investigations into this incident,” it said.Sri Lankan authorities have launched criminal and civil probes into how the fire started.X-Press Feeders said it was “too early to tell” but had previously reported one of the containers onboard was leaking nitric acid at its previous stops in Hamad Port in Qatar and Hazira Port in India. The company said “the advice given was there were no specialist facilities or expertise immediately available to deal with the leaking unit.”
Concerns for fishermen and marine life
The Sri Lankan Marine Environment and Protection Authority (MEPA) said in local media the plastic waste had caused “the worst environmental disaster we have seen in our life time.” MEPA added the damage from the ship was still being calculated.Muditha Katuwawala, coordinator of Sri Lankan environmental group Pearl Protectors, said the ocean surrounding the ship would be “quite toxic” and raised fears for the potential impact on marine life, including several local species of turtles and fish.
Members of the Sri Lanka Navy remove debris washed ashore from the Singapore-registered container ship MV X-Press Pearl.One of the biggest concerns was the millions of plastic pellets that are polluting the waters and washed up on beaches along the coast after an estimated three containers fell into the sea, he said, raising concerns for fish and other wildlife likely to swallow the microparticles.The plastic pellets, or nurdles, are used to make other plastic products and are a big source of ocean plastic pollution. Due to their small size, the pellets can be mistaken for food to birds, fish and other marine wildlife.Katuwawala said another concern is the monsoon rains and wind washing the pellets further along the coast.”Yesterday, and even today, we see how the movement of pellets are polluting all the western coast of Sri Lanka and along the southern coast. This is going to have a severe impact, socially and environmentally,” he said.Researchers were still trying to determine the impact on the environment and marine life, he added. But the fishing industry — of which many Sri Lankans living along the coast rely on for their livelihoods — has already been impacted due to coronavirus restrictions.Wijesekera, the fisheries minister, suspended fishing in the area around the stricken ship and said compensation would be provided to those whose jobs were affected by the disaster.Speaking to CNN last week, Wijesekera said: “We are trying our best to protect the coastline” but if the ship does sink, “we don’t have adequate resources to manage the entire spill.”Even if the ship does not sink, he said it could “take weeks to finish the cleanup.”
CNN’s Angus Watson in Sydney contributed reporting.
In light of the Sri Lankan Parliament passing a new legislation for China’s near-complete control in an ongoing Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project, neighbouring India has additional causes for concern on the security and economic fronts on this score too, apart from the existing ones from the southern Hambantota Port. While Indian concerns on the security front are obvious, the economic ills befalling the northern neighbour may be hidden until it becomes too late, unless New Delhi applied correctives in non-fashionable areas like job creation and ski training.
The Parliament passed the Port City Bill 148-59 in the 225-member House, after the ruling Rajapaksa dispensation presented an amended bill, to address the concerns numbered in the mandatory pre-passage ‘determination’ by the Supreme Court. The Sri Lankan process can be recommended for nations like India, where passage of bills without obtaining judicial opinion often leads to prolonged litigation later on, thus, defeating the very purpose of such legislation.
In the current instance, the Colombo Port City (CPC) Economic Commission Bill empowers the nation’s President to create a single-window management committee for the SEZ, which is on 269 hectares of reclaimed land along with massive tax and duty concessions for both domestic and foreign investors. After the government went ahead with the amendments without complying to the process of two-thirds vote in the Parliament or a national referendum, some concerns remain over the presidential powers to induct ‘foreigners’ into the management commission.
With the CPC originally planned under the earlier Rajapaksa government of President Mahinda (2005-2015), the current Prime Minister, critics of the incumbent administration of President Gotabaya, the former’s brother, say that the idea was to co-opt China (alone) on the board. From an Indian perspective, the form, content, and spirit of the law goes against the Rajapaksa arguments made for the unilateral cancellation of the predecessor regime’s tri-nation memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with India and Japan for joint development of the Eastern Container Terminal (ECT) in the Colombo Port and also decided against signing the US $480 million investment plans under the ‘Millennium Cooperation Corporation’ (MCC) of the US.
For the Rajapaksas, both the ECT and MCC were legacy issues, inherited from the previous right-liberal government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who green-flagged the projects without concluding the final agreements. The Rajapaksas had the option of taking either or both of them forward or go back on a sovereign commitment—only because they were ‘non-Chinese’. The on-and off Sri Lankan invitation for Indian pharma companies to set up SEZ units in Sri Lanka over the past one decade has also not come to fruition.
The Rajapaksas had the option of taking either or both of them forward or go back on a sovereign commitment—only because they were ‘non-Chinese’. The on-and off Sri Lankan invitation for Indian pharma companies to set up SEZ units in Sri Lanka over the past one decade has also not come to fruition
Hound-and-hare analogy
Flowing from the ECT-MCC cancellation, Colombo should have celebrated the CPC as a ‘national asset’ too and stood firmly against ‘foreigners’ on the Port City administration—but that has not been the case. Opposition MPs voted against the bill but still reiterated that it will catalyse the next phase of growth … we want to make sure that it is done right”.
The Opposition’s doublespeak had become clear even on the Hambantota issue, when then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP), blamed the predecessor Rajapaksa regime for pushing the nation into a ‘Chinese debt-trap’, to justify the debt-equity swap-deal and the handing over of the Sri Lankan territory to China—at the same time borrowing on a large scale, from Beijing to construct highways. The present-day Opposition ‘Samagi Jana Balawegaya’ (SJB) is a breakaway chip of the old block, with not many policy changes despite the ideological orientation of the new leader, Sajith Premadasa. With the result, barring the divided Tamil polity with its own reason, and the inconsequential left-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP), the mainline Opposition has been hunting with the hounds and running with the hare whereever China is involved.
Critics of the Port City idea/law also point out how Sri Lanka was fooled by China’s commitments on annual business and revenues at Hambantota, and the final figures did not measure up. Given similar experiences of other Third World Chinese investment destinations like Mauritius, they are not sure if the Port City will end up as another ‘debt-trap’ of the Hambantota kind, one way or the other.
Given similar experiences of other Third World Chinese investment destinations like Mauritius, they are not sure if the Port City will end up as another ‘debt-trap’ of the Hambantota kind, one way or the other.
Jobs and investments
Leading the parliamentary debate on the amended CPC bill, Prime Minister Mahinda reiterated the promise of US $ 15-billion investments in five years. Separately, the government representatives told a parliamentary panel that a local investor has brought in US $100-million, though there is no information if he has an overseas finance-partner, and if so, who it might be.
Also, if the government cited stiff opposition from powerful trade unions as the cause for cancelling the ECT deal with India, they are said to have pulled back only after the Port City proposal promised new jobs in a big way. In his parliamentary intervention, PM Mahinda also reiterated big time job creation—200,000 during CPC construction and 85,000 permanent ones—skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled, later on. The figure is impressive, as Sri Lankans working elsewhere are expected to return home, if they have not already done so post-pandemic, with their remittances heading the list of forex-earners.
The job figures are the same as in Budget-2021, presented in November last year. It shows how possibly the government has tied its economic hopes and youth aspirations to the CPC, more than any other. But there is a catch. Speaking on the bill in Parliament, Youth Affairs Minister, Namal Rajapaksa, told the youth that they had to acquire the ‘required skills’ to obtain those Port City jobs. If this was an indication that high-paying, top-rung jobs could still go to the Chinese (or, other foreigners?) on this one criterion, he did not mention it.
Through the past decade and more, China accounts for most of the investments in the country, including those by domestic entrepreneurs. As is their wont, the Chinese brought in all equipment and men from their homeland, thus depriving local enterprises and job seekers any share in their own nation-building and also in the incomes generated. This is saying a lot in terms of Sri Lanka’s continued economic ills, worsened by COVID-19, and at least a part of which the Port City accord seems wanting set right.
As if to address Minister Namal’s concerns even earlier, the opening paragraphs of Budget-2021, presented by PM Mahinda as Finance Minister, focused extensively on skills training for the youth, but without mentioning the Port City as the sole job provider. FDI providers to the region, barring China, would thus be watching the Sri Lankan skills programme keenly as the Indian promise of the past decade of two different regimes has not lived up to the commitments even in a small way. This will come on the top of the effective single-window clearances in Sri Lanka even without the Port City, where again the Indian performance is dismal.
Should the CPC really take off, especially with promised jobs, family incomes, and government revenues, the Rajapaksas’ politico-electoral positions could become unassailable within the country, as much for the next polls as in the recent past. This is different from the ‘friendly competition’ offered by Bangladesh to India, with the former now the fastest-growing economy in these parts.
Should the CPC really take off, especially with promised jobs, family incomes, and government revenues, the Rajapaksas’ politico-electoral positions could become unassailable within the country, as much for the next polls as in the recent past
‘India First’, still?
Coinciding with the Port City Bill’s passage and without naming China, President Gotabaya reiterated that no one will be allowed to jeopardise the security of India”. Addressing the 26th international conference on ‘The Future of Asia’, organised by the Nikkei Forum from Tokyo, he said, We understand their (India’s) security concerns and sensitivities … We will work closely with India and all regional partners to ensure that the Indian Ocean remains secure for the benefit of all countries.”
Gotabaya also reiterated that Sri Lanka will continue to forge economic ties with China and defended the Hambantota project, whose swap-deal he had unilaterally proposed to cancel at one time, but explained it away as a ‘commercial deal’ after coming to power. It remains unexplained as to why but the SJB/UNP Opposition, the only other political grouping with hopes of returning to power sometime in the future, too shares this view, overall. However, their commitments on the ‘security front’ sounds less hollow than that of the Rajapaksas, at least on paper—as no real issue had cropped up for New Delhi to test either, when it was in power.
President Gotabaya’s reiteration of security commitments to India has to be seen in the context of the tri-lateral meeting of the National Security Advisors (NSA), including Maldives, in December last year, when they broad-based and upgraded the moribund ‘Maritime Security Agreement’ to ‘Maritime and Security Agreement’, with Colombo as the seat of its secretariat. In turn, it was also a take-off from Gotabaya’s Foreign Secretary, retired navy admiral, Jayanth Colombage’s stand who propounded an ‘India First’, foreign and security policy, in August 2019. Yet, there is no denying the continued Indian apprehensions over the constant ‘shifting of goal-posts’ by Sri Lanka, be it on the economic or the security front.The views expressed above belong to the author(s).
The recent death of 33 year old extremely sick Sri Lankan girl student Wishma Sandamali in a Japanese Immigration Detention Center, allegedly due to callous neglect on the part of the authorities, has highlighted several issues pertaining to human rights in Japan. It has exposed Japan’s underside and opened up the larger issue of human rights in that country.
Specifically, the areas of concern are: the plight of foreigners in Japanese immigration detention camps; the Japanese attitude to foreign immigration; and the overall human rights situation in that country. All three areas need urgent attention and reform if Japan, known to be a modern democracy, is not to be bracketed with human rights violating countries.
Sandamali, who had over-stayed her student visa wanting to work in Japan, was detained in a camp for illegal immigrants in Nagoya in August 2020. While she was fighting her case for release, she complained of sickness, which became progressively worse. She was vomiting whatever she ate and was rapidly losing weight and even the ability to move in her bed. But the authorities declared her a psychiatric case or as one feigning illness to secure release.
When Japanese human rights bodies took up her case, they were blithely told that nothing was wrong with her. She died on March 6, alone in her tiny cell.
Inhuman Detention Conditions
According to her two sisters, who travelled to Japan for her funeral, the authorities refused to release video footage of Sandamali in the detention center prior to her death, prompting many to challenge the country’s opaque detention practices, reports said. Many prisoners in Japan are put in solitary confinement in a small dark room, with one electric light, the switch of that is located outside the cell. Punishments for even minor infringements are harsh. One of the punishments is to look at a given point motionless for a time period set by the warder. During detention, the prisoner has no choice in any matter.
As the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report for 2020 pointed out, Japan has no law prohibiting racial, ethnic or religious discrimination, or discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Japan has no national human rights institutions.
Anti-death penalty advocates have long raised concerns about death row inmates having inadequate access to legal counsel, being notified of their execution only on the day it takes place, and some being executed after their lawyers filed a request for retrial, HRW pointed out.
Japanese criminal procedure law continues to allow suspects to be detained for up to 23 days prior to prosecution without the possibility of release on bail. It prohibits lawyers from being present during interrogations. Japan’s rape law requires that prosecutors prove that violence or intimidation was involved, or that the victim was incapable of resistance.”
Denial of Asylum
A major problem in Japan is that immigration rule violators do not want to be deported. They demand asylum, which Japan is totally against giving. Detention follows. Harsh prison conditions are perhaps meant to persuade the inmates to agree to deportation. But about 40 per cent of them are persons who had committed crimes and fear going back.
However, this cannot be an excuse to keep them in detention under inhuman conditions as Prof.Hiroko Akizuki at Asia University said. The length of detention and conditions at detention facilities in Japan have been criticized internationally and there needs to be improvement in regard to human rights, he said. Hunger strikes have taken place and there have been deaths, including suicides.
Fear of Foreigners
Japanese are believed to have an atavistic fear of being overwhelmed or swamped by foreigners. Hence the harsh treatment of illegal immigrants or over stayers. Historically, the Japanese have resisted foreign incursions of any kind. The fear is reflected in the very restrictive immigration laws existing now.
Between 1640 and 1853, Japan followed the Sakoku (closed country) or isolationist foreign policy because it wanted to protect itself from Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and British Christian missionaries who were using class differences in Japanese society to stir revolts against the native rulers. Relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited. Nearly all foreign nationals were barred from entering Japan.
But after Japan opened up in the 1860s, Korean workers were imported. During World War II people from the conquered countries, especially Koreans, were recruited for dangerous and dirty” jobs. These people were looked down upon and discriminated against. Local governments have carried out campaigns among Japanese employers to persuade them to treat their foreign employees, especially Koreans, respectfully.
Quest for a Perfect Population
Between 1948 and 1996, Japan had the obnoxious Eugenics Protection Law (EPL). After World War II, when Japan struggled to rebuild itself, it sought to prevent people with physical and cognitive disabilities from being able to have children. The sterilisation law also targeted lepers and those with mental illness.
Human rights organisations believe that at least 25,000 people were sterilised in the 48 years the law was in existence. It is thought that at least 16,500 of those did not give their consent to sterilisation. Sterilisation peaked in the 1960s and 1970s, and continued until the last operation was conducted in 1993. The law was finally revoked in 1996.
In 2015, the Shinzo Abe Government refused to admit refugees affected by conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. He favored short-term working visas for migrant workers to “work and raise incomes for a limited period of time, and then return home.”
In 2018, the Justice Ministry received 10,493 applications for refugee status, largely by people from Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia. But the ministry recognised only 42 people as refugees, while another 40 asylum seekers were classified as needing humanitarian assistance, allowing them to stay in Japan. In 2019, authorities granted asylum to less than one percent of applicants.
Need For Foreign Labor
But a recent survey showed that 70 per cent of Japanese want immigration to be made easier. Japanese women held demonstrations against the ill-treament of refugees. Ageing Japan needs foreign labor to run its economy, which faces a marked labor shortage. According to Financial Times, the Japanese workforce was expected to drop from 65.3 million in 2017 to 52.5 million in 2040, a fall of 22 per cent. The overall population is expected to fall from 126.7 million in 2017 to around 110 million by 2040.
Since, Japan is against recruiting foreigners in large numbers to fill the yawning gap, it is trying to reduce non-nationals in irregular employment categories, while accelerating immigration of skilled workers. However, a revised immigration law was made which allowed more than 300,000 foreigners to receive work visas in sectors including farming, fishery, and nursing. In 2020, there were 1.72 million foreign workers in Japan, with the bulk (450,000) being in the manufacturing sector.
Indifference to World Human Rights Issues
In contrast to its Western allies, Japan has not been in the international human rights movement. Human Rights organisations like Amnesty and HRW have noted that Japan has abstained from almost all Myanmar-related resolutions at UN forums, including those related to atrocities against the Rohingya Muslims.
Japan also did not address the collapse of democratic institutions and the sharply deteriorating human rights environment in Cambodia, where Prime Minister Hun Sen cracked down on opposition politicians, independent media and political activists. Japan took the lead in drafting a weak resolution on Cambodia at the UN Human Rights Council in September, the human rights bodies point out.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday appointed members to the Colombo Port City Economic Commission, consequent to the passage of the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill in Parliament by a two-thirds majority recently.
The Commission will be Chaired by Gamini Marapana PC and the other members of the Commission are: Secretary to the Treasury, S. R. Attygalle; Water Supply Ministry Secretary Dr. Priyath Bandu Wickrama; Former Board of Investment Chairman Saliya Wickramasuriya; Orel Corporation Chairman and Managing Director Kushan Kodituwakku; Mercantile Investment and Finance Managing Director Gerard Ondaatjie and McLarens Group Chairman and Managing Director Rohan De Silva.
The Government earlier said that many or all of the Commission Members would be Sri Lankan, assuaging fears that foreigners would be appointed to this body. The Commission will be responsible for all aspects of running the Port City, a world-class investment destination coming up right beside the Colombo Port. The Members would begin work shortly.
In what appeared to be another radical step in global vaccine development, Russia informed Sri Lanka that its Sputnik V could even be used as a single shot vaccine following new clinical data about the development of 70-80 percent efficacy level after the first jab, an official said.
Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology held a Zoom discussion with the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) of Sri Lanka last week regarding this matter.
However, the vaccine has been developed initially to be administered in two shots 28 days apart, though the latest studies show that the first dose provides enough protection.
NMRA Chairman Dr. Rasitha Wijewantha told Daily Mirror his office had granted regulatory clearance for Sputnik V to be given in two jabs only.
Therefore, he said any reversal of the policy decision would require the analysis of clinical data that emerged after the latest studies.
We have to study such data before any conclusion,” he said. Sri Lanka has already struck a commercial deal with Russia for the purchase of Sputnik V vaccine doses. Already, 65,000 doses have been delivered to Sri Lanka.
According to what the Russian authorities said, the first dose of Sputnik V will generate 70-80 percent immunogenicity. We have registered it here as a vaccine to be administered in two shots. So, we have to give the second dose to our first recipients. The second dose will boost immunity to the next level.
Earlier, they said it could happen after 28 days of the first dose. Now, they say the second dose can be delayed up to 90 days,” he said.
Besides, Russia has also developed a single dose vaccine named ‘Sputnik Light’. It has been authorized for use in Russia at the moment. The Sputnik Light vaccine showed an efficacy of 79.4 percent
The Fort Police will take legal action against the management of the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo for allowing to host a birthday party on Sunday night when islandwide restrictions are presently in place, the Dailymirror learns.
Earlier this morning, the police arrested event organiser Chandimal Jayasinghe and model Piumi Hansamali for organising a birthday party at the hotel, violating quarantine regulations. They were later granted bail by the Hulfsfrops Magistrate.
It was reported that at least 25 persons had attended the party.
Police has identified several persons while investigations are underway to identify others through the CCTV footages.
All gatherings, parties, weddings etc have been prohibited by the government until further notice due to the spread of COVID-19.(DSB)
The Civil Aviation Authority says that passengers with a travel history to Vietnam, including transit, in the past 14 days will not be permitted to disembark in Sri Lanka with immediate effect until further notice.
The Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka Themiya Abeywickrama says that all airlines have been informed of this decision.
It was reported yesterday that Vietnam has discovered a new coronavirus variant that’s a hybrid of strains first found in India and the U.K.
Vietnamese health minister Nguyen Thanh Long said lab tests suggested it might spread more easily than other versions of the virus.
Long says the new variant could be responsible for a recent surge in Vietnam, which has spread to 30 of the country’s 63 municipalities and provinces.
On May 06, Sri Lanka had also decided to bar airline passengers with a travel history to India within the last 14 days due to the record rise in COVID-19 cases in the neighbouring country.
Three airports, including the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), will be open to the public from tomorrow (June 01), State Minister of Aviation D. V. Chanaka said.
However, the number of passengers allowed to arrive in the country will be restricted, he said.
The number of passengers that are allowed on a single flight arriving in Sri Lanka is restricted to 75 or less, the State Minister said.
He pointed out that this decision was taken for the safety of the passengers and the flight crew.
Meanwhile, all visitors arriving on the island should undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine period and PCR examinations.
In an attempt to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), on May 21, suspended all passenger flights to Sri Lanka for 14 days.
However, the ban was applicable to outbound passenger flights.
The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 1,351 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 2,882.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 186,364.
As many as 151,740 recoveries and 1,298 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 33,183 active cases are currently under medical care.
Mrs Ranji Mahindapala, wife of former Sunday Observer Chief Editor H.L.D Mahindapala passed away yesterday (May 29) at a private hospital in Colombo after a brief illness.
The two of them relocated to Sri Lanka two years back having spent over 50 years in Melbourne Australia, where they migrated in the early 70s. They were a popular couple among the Sri Lankan community in Australia, especially in SPUR (Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka) circles.
The Chinese Embassy in Colombo in a twitter message said that it is the common practice of having different price ranges for all the pharma companies. If you go through the web, you’ll find that it’s a common practice of having a different price range for all the phama companies and Sri Lanka gets a best corporate price with a faster delivery”, the Embassy tweeted.
