{"id":93330,"date":"2019-09-25T14:46:40","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T21:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93330"},"modified":"2019-09-25T14:46:40","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T21:46:40","slug":"yahapalana-and-the-united-states-of-america-part-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/09\/25\/yahapalana-and-the-united-states-of-america-part-12\/","title":{"rendered":"YAHAPALANA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Part 12"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

AMERICAN BAR\nASSOCIATION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Bar Association (ABA) has made\nrepeated attempts to register a Branch Association of the ABA in Sri Lanka.The first request was in January 2018,\nwhere    ABA said that it would be in the\ninterests of the ABA to set up a Branch office in Sri Lanka. The activities of\nthe Branch would be monitored by Sri Lanka\u2018s Ministry of Justice and the\nAttorney General\u2019s Department. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2018, the Hon. Attorney General had\naddressed a communication to the Ministry of Justice stating that the ABA has\nundertaken to hold a capacity building programme for judges and prosecutors and\nasked the Ministry to issue a certificate for the purpose. However, the letter\nwas headed Official Letter of Authorization for the Establishment of a Branch\noffice of the ABA in Sri Lanka”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BASL wrote in October 2018 to the Ministry of\nJustice saying that the BASL strongly objects to the initial application to set\nup a Branch office. BASL does not see\nany need to register a Branch Association of the ABA in Sri Lanka. Nowhere in\nthe world will a legal system allow or permit a foreign Bar Association to set\nup a branch office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is an unprecedented request and if allowed\nwill have serious consequences on the independence of the legal profession and\nthe sovereignty of the nation. If this application is allowed the ABA will have\ntheir own office and will start making comments and statements on internal\nmatters which will have an impact on a sovereign Nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) said that\nneither the Ministry nor the Attorney General\u2019s Department represent the legal\ncommunity.  BASL is the sole\nrepresentative body recognized under our legal system as the body representing\nthe legal profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the other ground upon which we would strongly\nobject to the setting up of this branch office, added BASL, involves the\nquestion as to what the Ministry would do if other foreign Bar Associations\nmake applications on similar lines. There are several countries with which Sri\nLanka maintains close ties and what would be the position of the Ministry and\nthe State if these countries make similar requests? The BASL strongly objects to the registering\nof a Branch Association of the ABA on the above basis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 ABA\nthen tried to come in as an NGO. ABA made a request to the Ministry of Justice,\nthrough a local legal firm, asking it to issue a letter to register the ABA\nhere as an NGO. This request was also referred to the BASL which submitted its\nobservations in April 2018. BASL said\nthat this was an indirect means of establishing ABA presence in Sri Lanka\n“knowing very well that the application for registration as a branch\nassociation would fail”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We strongly object to the application made on\nbehalf of the ABA to register as a NGO. Unlike in the case of an ordinary NGO,\nthe application in this instance has a serious impact on the legal profession\nand the very concept of sovereignty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABA and their legal representatives in Sri\nLanka seek to justify the application to register as a NGO on the argument that\nthe International Bar Association (IBA) wishes to provide assistance for\ntraining of Judges and prosecutors, continued BASL. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not the first time that such training\nhas been provided by International Organizations. For more than 25 years\nentities such as the EU, USAID, UNDP and UNICEF had provided similar training\nand technical support to the legal profession in Sri Lanka. In all these\ninstances, the issue of registration of such entity as a NGO did not arise. The\nsupport was provided through their local institutions. The respective\ninstitution would enter upon a MOU and provide assistance and training as\nagreed. If the ABA is genuinely\ninterested in providing assistance and services what the ABA should do is to\nadopt the same mechanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BASL also observed that it is relevant to note\nthat none of the above correspondence was directly addressed to the BASL. All\ncorrespondence in this regard was submitted by the Ministry of Justice. BASL also wrote to the National Secretariat\nfor Non-Governmental Organizations, stating its objections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice\nMinister Thalatha Atukorale   said that\nshe had not agreed to establish of a branch of the American Bar Association in\nSri Lanka. As the subject minister I have not granted permission for any such\ninstitution to be established in Sri Lanka,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US\nAmbassador said in July 2019 that the  \nAmerican Bar Association has no intention to establish a branch in Sri\nLanka. US has not and will not\ninterfere or become directly involved in Sri Lanka\u2019s judiciary. However, US has\nsponsored training for Sri Lankan judges and lawyers at the request of the Sri\nLankan government, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice\nMinister Atukorale confirmed that in May 2019, two batches of senior judges had\nbeen to the US in August 2018 and April 2019 at the US taxpayers\u2019 expense. A\nworkshop for High Court judges was held at Taj Samudra, Colombo in Dec 2018. In July 2019 a group of Attorney General\u2019s\nDepartment officials, attended a workshop in the US.  Members of Parliament said that this could be\nan attempt to influence the judiciary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SDGAP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US has initiated a Strengthening\nDemocratic Governance and Accountability Project\u201d (SDGAP) worth Rs 1.92 billion\n(USD 13 mn). The programme was launched in November 2016. This is first of its\nkind implemented in Sri Lanka, observed Shamindra Ferdinando. The project will be developed in close\ncollaboration with the Sri Lanka Parliament, Independent Commissions and\nrelated Ministries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This programme was implemented by the Maryland\nUSA, based Development Alternatives Inc (DAI), in accordance with an agreement\nbetween Sri Lanka and the House Democracy Partnership of the US House of\nRepresentatives. The Sri Lanka Parliament and the House Democracy Partnership\nof the U.S. House of Representatives had in Washington D.C on September\n14th,  launched a Collaboration Agreement\nto strengthen partnership between the two legislatures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose \nof the project is to  reform Sri\nLanka\u2019s public sector. The project will help the Government of Sri Lanka to\nincrease transparency and accountability, advance good governance reforms, and\nstrengthen systems and processes for public accountability, financial\nmanagement, policy development and implementation. The project also supports\nthe government to strengthen communication with citizens, include the public in\npolicy-making, and increase the participation of women in political processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US embassy said that the SDGAP was subject\nto the laws and regulations of the United States, with oversight from Office of\nInspector General, United\nStates Agency for International Development (USAID).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PRASAD\nKARIYAWASAM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2019\nit transpired that  Prasad Kariyawasam\nhas been appointed to Parliament as an International Affairs adviser to the\nSpeaker. This is the first time in the\nhistory of Parliament that a Speaker has had the services of an international\naffairs advisor. MPs observed  that  there is no such position  as International Affairs adviser among the\nlist of officials  in Parliament  and\nno other Speaker in Parliament has employed an International Affairs Advisor,\nthat too using funds from a foreign country to pay for them.  Previously, international issues were handled\nby the Foreign Ministry and even the Minister in charge, the MPs said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaker Karu\nJayasuriya admitted that Kariyawasam was being paid by Development Alternatives\nInstitute, (DAI) a foreign agency which is the implementing agency for USAID.\nThe DAI currently obtains the services of two advisers to assist Parliament.\nThey are former Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration\nG. Hettiarachchi and former Foreign Ministry Secretary Prasad Kariyawasam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Speaker\nexplained that  USAID is funding\ndifferent projects in  Parliament  through its contractor DAI. DAI had given\nRs. 2,000 million for a programme called Parliamentary Diplomacy\u201d, intended to\nfoster close relations with other Parliaments worldwide, while also facilitating\nexchange programmes for MPs and Parliament staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The  Parliament \nof Sri Lanka currently has connections with 50-60 other Parliaments\nthroughout the world under Parliamentary Diplomacy. It is these programmes that\nfacilitate MPs to travel to foreign countries to understand how Parliaments\nfunction there, to obtain scholarships and strengthen Parliamentary Democracy.\nAround 60-70 MPs here have already gone on foreign tours to learn about\nstrengthening democracy using these same funds. These funds have also been used\nfor Parliamentary Committees. The media\nwanted to know how this project benefited the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kariyawasam\n,  a former Foreign Ministry Secretary, is assisting in this programme, said the\nSpeaker. Currently he is coordinating the Parliamentary Diplomacy group\ninvolving around 50-60 countries. He assists me in obtaining scholarships for\nparliamentarians, coordinating tours to learn about other parliaments etc. He is not paid by the Parliament.” . This\nmean that  he is being paid by the US\nGovernment, responded critics. And  there are suspicions that  this was privately done, they said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAI had\ninitially selected Karunathilaka Amunugama, another former Foreign Ministry\nsecretary for the role of adviser, but he had passed away a day before\ncommencing duties.  Kariyawasam was\nappointed as his replacement, said  MP\nKiriella in June 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 2019\nSpeaker Karu Jayasuriya announced that the salary of Prasad Kariyawasam, would\nbe met from Parliament funds henceforth. The move is an acknowledgement that\nKariyawasam\u2019s pay, paid with funds from a US federal agency is wrong, said the\nmedia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition\nto organizing  programmes in Parliament,\nit appears that Prasad Kariyawasam had \nalso arranged for the  ambassadors\nof countries belonging to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Countries\n(OIC) to come to Parliament to meet the Speaker. The diplomats included those\nfrom Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait,\nMalaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Director\nof the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and the Director of Military\nIntelligence were also present. MPs\nquestioned the  meeting.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The task of\nsummoning Colombo-based diplomats  is the\nsole responsibility of the Foreign Minister or his Ministry Secretary. It is\nalso the responsibility of the President or the Prime Minister, particularly\nduring exigencies. The intelligence\nchief of the country, who knows all the intelligence and secret information,\nincluding investigations that are ongoing, was summoned for the meeting, along\nwith the IGP. Summoning the intelligence chief in front of foreign envoys has\nnot been done by any other Speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaker\nreplied<\/strong> I convened a meeting of envoys of these Muslim countries in\nParliament to brief them on the latest situation. The IGP came for this\nmeeting, along with other senior officers. Meeting was to brief the envoys of\nthe Muslim countries and ease their fears. The meeting was held with good\nintentions to explain the current situation and give a guarantee on security.\nThere was no leaking of state secrets.\u201d Would\nit not have been better to ask the Foreign Ministry to invite  these envoys should there be a need, countered\nMPs. This clearly shows that Kariyawasam was running a parallel operation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VISIT OF MIKE POMPEO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Secretary of\nState, Mike Pompeo was to travel to Sri Lanka on a short visit, in June 2019,\nscheduled between his Delhi trip and travel to Osaka. Pompeo was accompanying\nPresident Trump for the G-20 summit in Osaka. The purpose of  Pompeo\u2019s visit (book-ended between visits to\nNew Delhi and Osaka, Japan) will be to pressure Sri Lanka into signing up on\nthe utterly one-sided Status of Forces Agreement, said analysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he did not\ncome, He cancelled his visit. The reason given by the embassy was that his\ntravel schedule did not permit a stopover in Sri Lanka. Pompeo  hopes to travel to Sri Lanka at a later\ndate.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real reason,\nanalysts agree, was the rising local sentiments against an American military\nbase in Sri Lanka, the  growing protests here against the US seeking\nto finalize Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The government had come under\nfire from the  opposition over the Status\nof Forces (SOFA) Agreement, which would give the US forces unrestricted access\nto Sri Lankan facilities as well as diplomatic immunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Sirisena it appears was going to\navoid meeting Pompeo. He was planning to be away from Sri Lanka  for the three and half hours  Pompeo would be in Sri Lanka . Sirisena was\nto travel to Cambodia and Laos. This move coupled together with planned\nprotests during his visit compelled the US Embassy to advise Pompeo it was not\nthe best time. With Pompeo calling off his visit, so did President Sirisena. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cancellation of the Pompeo visit can be\nconsidered a victory for Sri Lanka. However, though Sri Lanka may have won\nthis  small  battle, they have certainly not  won the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ELECTIONS COMMISSION OF SRI LANKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Election Commission of Sri Lanka had\nreceived assistance from the \nInternational Foundation for Electoral Reforms, a USA funded  organization, to provide much required\nassistance to upgrade its technology. The project was done through USAID. The role played in this by Vasu Mohan,\nregional director for Asia Pacific, was questioned. Media reported that\nChairman, Elections Commission had strongly defended the US project  and said that Vasu Mohan was a Sri Lankan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH ASIA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

US State\nDepartment announced its South Asia subcommittee will hold a hearing on\n“Human Rights in South Asia”  in October 2019.  The Subcommittee will review the treatment of\nthe Rohingya by the government of Burma (Myanmar) and credible accusations that\nthis minority is subject to ethnic cleansing and genocide. The Subcommittee had\nthe opportunity to review this situation in July as the plight of the Rohingya\naffects both the South and Southeast Asia regions,” Congressman Brad\nSherman said in a statement posted on his personal blog. Officials in the\nmeeting will also focus on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and\nPakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PPD\nIN KANDY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ministry\nof Development Strategies and International Trade together with the USAID-SAIL\nproject hosted a Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) on Global Trade for businessman\nin the Kandy District on Friday 23rd August 2019 at Hotel Suisse, Kandy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USAID\nlaunched the four-year SAIL project in October 2016to support economic reforms and promote Foreign Direct Investment\nin Sri Lanka. SAIL provides policy and institutional support to improve the\nbusiness enabling environment and promote investment in Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event\ntitled, Kandy in the Global Economy ,how can the district maximize benefits\nand minimize risks?\u201d was the second in a series of district-level PPDs being\nheld to increase general awareness and understanding of trade, and obtain the\nviews of wider and more representative groups of stakeholders across the\ncountry. The event was the first to be held outside Colombo and there were over\n120 participants from ministries, government agencies, the business community,\ntrade chambers, the private sector and other key stakeholders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GALAGODAATTE\nGNANASARA THERA <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before 2012,\nGalagodaatte Gnanasara  thera was\ncompletely unknown to the public.  Journalist\nChandraprema said even he never knew such a monk existed. When Gnanasara\u2019s name\ncame up in the public domain for the first time with the anti-Halal campaign of\n2013,  journalists  had confused him with Gangaramaya\u2019s Ven.\nGalaboda Gnanissara. That was how unknown Gnanasara was at that time, said\nChandraprema. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the\nmonk was known to the USA. Galagodaatte Gnanasara thera was given  a five- year\nmultiple entry visa  to USA, in 2011<\/strong> sometime\nafter  he had begun a  campaign of hatred and incitement of\nviolence,<\/strong> on religious\nissues <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We assumed\nthat he had entered the USA on the kind of single entry visitor\u2019s visa that\nordinary mortals like us get after answering a whole string of questions and\nproducing copious documentation. Now it turns out that he had a five- year\nmultiple entry visa which had been granted to him in 2011, elaborated Chandraprema.\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On what basis\ndid Gnanasara qualify for a five year multiple entry visa to the USA as far\nback as 2011?<\/strong> Asked\nChandraprema. How is it that the US embassy issued a five-year multiple entry visa\nto an unknown monk whose only claim to fame at that time was having pleaded\nguilty to a change of drunk driving and having disrupted meetings of the\nAnti-War Front? For a Buddhist monk to plead guilty to a charge of drunk\ndriving was very unusual and was probably the first time that such a thing\noccurred in Sri Lanka\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in 2014\nthe visa was cancelled. The US\nauthorities appear to have panicked that if this monk made another visit to the\nUSA on this visa in the middle of all this controversy, their role in all this\nmayhem would be badly exposed, said Chandraprema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANURADHAPURA\nARCHAEOLOGY MUSEUM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Archaeological Museum of Anuradhapura, was\nreopened after renovation In September 2019.The preservation of artifacts at\nthe Anuradhapura Archaeological Museum was funded by a $150,000 grant from the\nU.S. Embassy in Colombo through the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation\n(AFCP). In addition, the Central Cultural Fund and the Treasury’s Consolidated\nFund had also contributed to the funding of the renovation activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nAmbassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP<\/em>)\nfunding system has helped to preserve and protect sites and\nbuilding structures in the country such as the Dutch Forts of Batticaloa and\nGalle and also the Archaeological museum laboratories, said the  embassy. There is a AFCP site at monasteries\nat Payagala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response\nto a request made by the Archeology Department the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka,\nas part of its continuing efforts to preserve Sri Lanka’s cultural and\nreligious heritage provided the $150,000 grant in 2015 to improve the storage\nand preservation of artifacts at the Anuradhapura Archaeological Museum. The\nU.S. Embassy previously supported the Museum, one of Sri Lanka’s most visited,\nwith grants in 2009 and 2012. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AFCP\ngrants to Anuradhapura Archaeology museum project included $30,000 to help\ncatalogue the museum collection, $40,000 to conserve the museum collection and\ntrain the archaeology staff and, $150,000 to create a safe environment for\nconserved artifacts. Experts from the Metropolitan University for Arts in New\nYork City have trained the Department of Archaeology Conservation staff to\napply preventive conservation treatment to important objects since 2016. US\nEmbassy was delighted to be able to help preserve Sri Lanka\u2019s dynamic heritage.\n(Continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION American Bar Association (ABA) has made repeated attempts to register a Branch Association of the ABA in Sri Lanka.The first request was in January 2018, where    ABA said that it would be in the interests of the ABA to set up a Branch office in Sri Lanka. The activities of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}