Child malnutrition high in Mahinda mama’s IDP camps – BBC

The high rate of malnutrition reported among children in camps for displaced people in Sri Lanka is a cause for concern, a senior UN official says. 

The UN’s representative on children and armed conflict told the BBC’s Sinhala service that the government should set up special feeding programmes. 

Her comments come after a Sri Lankan charity said 5,000 children in the camps are malnourished.

Almost 300,000 people are being held in camps after they fled the civil war.

It was in the final weeks of the war that hundreds of thousands of civilians streamed out of territory held by the rebel Tamil Tigers.

Since then they have been kept in government-run camps in the northern district of Vavuniya.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN’s special representative on children and armed conflict, told the BBC Sinhala Service’s Saroj Pathirana that the UN hopes to send a delegation to advise the government on a range of issues relating to child welfare.

“The malnutrition rates are very high, especially among young children, and [there is a] need for special feeding programmes and all those kind of things in the camps for the children.

“So, our sense is that the sooner they can get back to normalcy, to education, to schools, it is the best thing,” she said.

Her comments follow concern expressed by Sri Lankan charity Sarvodaya about rates of chronic malnutrition in the camps.

Dr Vinya Ariyaratne, chief executive of Sarvodaya, told the BBC Sinhala service on Tuesday that the malnutrition was a result of fleeing from place to place in the final stages of war, without having a proper meal.

He added that the Sri Lankan health ministry was working with the charity and other aid agencies to tackle the problem.

Ms Coomaraswamy said that a UN delegation would also hope to provide advice on how to treat former child soldiers.

“The issue for us are child soldiers. Are they being separated from the adults and given the special treatment and rehabilitation they deserve, she said.

She added that the UN is also concerned about the plight of children separated from their families.

“The delegation is to look into whether there is enough effort being taken to reunite them with parents,” she said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8121198.stm

IDP camps are not prisons; They are the HELL – S. B. Dissanayake

UNP MP S.B Dissanayake said today that the situation within the Internally Displaced Camps in the North are so dire that these person if given the freedom to move out of these camps would prefer to live under trees than inside the camps. “The situation in those camps is so bad that if the people were given to go free they will go live under trees.

There are so many diseases spreading within these camps, there are no sanitation facilities, and water is scarce. At this time when we must make the Tamil people feel equal we are just angering them by keeping them within these camps that aren’t just prisons but are almost like hell” Dissanayake said.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=52830

Kumarasiri Hettige – Presidential Secretary – Parliamentary Affairs, shows the true colours of him and his master

Shame Kurakkan uncle, shame!

This is how the officers of the President talk to the media, taking the powers of their masters. (Of course,  it is not too different from the master using the same language to Lasantha Waickramatunga!)

We do not mind Kumarasiri Hettige using language of this nature to address his wife, children or parents.  Still as a public officer whose salary is paid by the general public he is expected to respect them. The public of this country is not as cheap as his wife or mother.

May be it is time for the public of this country to use the same language to Hettige’s wife, returning the compliment!

(I am sorry to reproduce the filth here, but the damage so done is far smaller to the damage caused by retaining such rotten individuals in public service.)

University of Colombo gives “MAHA RAJAANO” a fake doctorate; but can they give him a BRAIN?

Till yesterday I thought only Mervin Silvas and Dhanawardena Guruges need fake doctorates to boost their otherwise shallow profiles. I also thought only dubious ‘universities’ like Medicina Alternativa offered such fake degrees. It was a surprise to see a prestigious institution like University of Colombo, apparently the only Sri Lankan one to be selected under the best 100 Asian universities by Asiaweek in 2002, joining the same game by bamboozling the gullible offering them something they rightly never deserve.

This is what the state owned ‘Sunday Observer’ reported:

The Senate of the University of Colombo unanimously resolved that the Degree of Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) be conferred on President Mahinda Rajapakse. The Senate has also resolved that the Degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) be conferred on Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse.

The degrees will be conferred on President Rajapaksa and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in recognition of their yeoman service to the nation in safeguarding sovereignty, territorial integrity; restoring peace and harmony among all Sri Lankan communities and uplifting the image of Sri Lanka within the international community, a statement of the Senate of the Colombo University states.

Political achievements needs appreciation, no doubt, but why mix them with academic honours? The academic honour system should be dedicated to recognize the appreciable work done by experts in their respective fields, and should not be exploited by corrupted and stupid politicians to boost their images. Can’t we just have some respectable universities offering these honorary degrees to those who truly deserve them, instead of making the whole system a big joke?

Let so called maha sanga honour the politicians they blindly worship. ‘Sri Rohana Janaranjana’ and ‘Vishva Keerthy Sri Thrisinhaladhishvara’ are quite mouthfuls. That is more than enough. Let the joke end there. There is absolutely no need for University of Colombo to join the game making fun of a stupid man. If he wants to be the emperor, let him enjoy that illusion, for this limited period, till he loses the next election. Why subject the poor man to a never ceasing stream of jokes by offering him fake doctorates?

Shame! Is this the “New Society” our self proclaimed “Maha Rajaano” is creating?

A Sri Lankan journalist is in hospital after being abducted and beaten by unidentified attackers.

Poddala Jayantha received head and leg injuries in the attack near his home in the Colombo suburb of Nugegoda.

Mr Jayantha campaigns for media freedom and is seen by government supporters as an opponent of the authorities.
Critics in Sri Lanka’s local media have come under extreme pressure in the past few years. Several independent journalists have been killed.

Mr Jayantha, the general secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, was kidnapped on Monday while he was walking near his home on the outskirts of the capital.

His colleagues say a group of men bundled him into a white van and severely beat him up.

They also cut his beard and hair before leaving the injured journalist in a suburban area, the BBC’s Anbarasan Ethirajan reports.

Doctors at Colombo National Hospital said his injuries were not life threatening.

Police say no arrests have been made so far.

BBC correspondents say Poddala Jayantha was named by government politicians as an anti-government campaigner who had been instrumental in tarnishing the name of the government.

As a result of earlier threats and intimidation – which included an armed group trying to kidnap him from his residence – Mr Jayantha spent a brief period abroad, returning to Sri Lanka only a few weeks ago.

The government is facing mounting criticism from press freedom groups for what they say is a failure to protect journalists from attacks and for the lack of prosecutions against those who do so, our correspondent says.

Earlier this year, the government told parliament that nine journalists had been killed and more than 25 assaulted since the beginning of 2006.

Amnesty International says at least 20 journalists have fled the country because of death threats.

Media rights groups say Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.

(Report from BBC and the photo from Daily Mirror.)

Back to the times of horror: Journalist Poddala Jayantha abducted and assaulted

Journalist and Sri Lanka Working Journalist Association (SLWJA) secretary Poddala Jayantha was admitted to hospital with leg injuries after being abducted and assaulted by an unknown group before being dumped on the road.

Source: http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=50601