by Daniel Alphonsus on his Substack, October 6, 2024 Jail the corrupt and bring our money back! This is the cry of our times. It rings from the four corners of the island and echoes across the usual divisions of race, religion, language and class. For our woes were caused by corruption, and redemption will… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Economy
What Bangladesh Can Do to Get Back Laundered Wealth
by Tasneem Raihan, The Daily Star, Bangladesh, October 1, 2024 Over the past 15 years, people from various sectors—including politicians, businesspeople, bureaucrats, and police officials—have reportedly laundered over $100 billion abroad. This figure is likely underestimated, but even if it’s close to the actual amount, the implications are staggering. To put this into context, $100 billion is… Read more »
Dissanayake’s Push for Sri Lanka Economic Change
Leaves IMF deal, debt rework in limbo by Uditha Jayasinghe, Sudipto Ganguly and Libby George, Reuters, London, September 24, 2024 Summary Balancing pro-poor policies with IMF deal is new president’s biggest challenge IMF says to work with him, discuss timing of third review Leader has expressed willingness to renegotiate IMF terms COLOMBO/LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters)… Read more »
Escalating Land Grabs Threaten Tamils & Muslims in Sri Lanka
by Oakland Institute, California, September 12, 2024 —FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE— September 12, 2024; 6:00 AM PDT Media Contact: amittal /A_T/ oaklandinstitute /D_O_T/ org, +1 510-469-5228 As the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) addresses the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, a new report details how 15 years after the brutal end of the… Read more »
Impact of the Lack of Justice and Accountability
What impact has the lack of justice and accountability for the end of the Civil War meant for Tamil people in the present Excerpt from “The Lingering Economic Consequences of Sri Lanka’s Civil War” by Devana Senanayake, People’s Alliance to the Right to Land, Colombo, September 6, 2024 This year marks 15 years since the… Read more »
WikiLeaks: EPDP Sold Jaffna Children
Girls To Prostitution Rings And Boys To Slavery by Colombo Telegraph, September 13, 2013 “The children are sold into slavery, usually boys to work camps and girls to prostitution rings, through EPDP’s networks in India and Malaysia. Sunthararaj maintains that children are often smuggled out of the country with the help of a corrupt Customs and Immigration… Read more »
Is the IMF Setting Sri Lanka Up for a 2nd Car Crash?
by Theo Maret and Brad Setser, FinancialTimes, London, September 5, 20024 Theo Maret is a research analyst at Global Sovereign Advisory and writes a sovereign debt newsletter. Brad Setser is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Treasury Department official. Sri Lanka is bankrupt and restructuring its debts. But there’s a high… Read more »
The China Hangover Is Here
by Michael Beckley, The New York Times, August 19, 2024 Opinion | Once the Global Economy’s Savior, China Is Now Its Biggest Threat – The New York Times (nytimes.com) In the 2000s, former President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela bet his country’s economic future on a rising China, securing tens of billions of dollars in investments and loans-for-oil… Read more »
CPA: The Intersectional Trends of Land Conflicts in Sri Lanka
by Centre for Policy Analysis, Colombo, August 20, 2024 The-Intersectional-Trends-of-Land-Conflicts-in-Sri-Lanka.pdf (cpalanka.org) 15 years after the end of the Civil War, Sri Lanka continues to experience deep ethnic divisions and has failed to address the root causes of the conflict that halt moving to a post-conflict society. Unfortunately, the decades-long problem of land has continued in… Read more »
Thousands Still Living without Land Deeds in Mannar
by Tamil Guardian, London, August 7, 2024 The issues faced by the people in Mannar due to the occupation of land has left thousands feeling helpless, said Fr. S. Marcus, President of the Mannar Citizens Committee. “For the last five years, there has been much effort by various private companies to lay claim for a… Read more »
Building Entrepreneurship: Nation Building
by Nillanthan Maha, June 22, 2024 [Translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate with some corrections by the Editor.] On the 16th in Jaffna, an award ceremony was held at a tourist hotel located at Pungakulam Junction. It was the event for the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards of the Tamil Nadu’s Virudhu Nagar Rotary… Read more »
Assessing Shortcomings in the State Dept.’s Foreign Assistance Grants Process
Money is Policy by U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight & Accountability, Washington, DC, June 4, 2024 Money is Policy: Assessing Shortcomings in the State Department’s Foreign Assistance Grants Process Statement of Robert A. Destro, Former Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) and Special… Read more »
Australian Company’s Multibillion Sandmining Project Mired in Mannar Protests
by Mimi Alphonsus and S. Rubatheesan, The Sunday Times, Colombo, June 16, 2024 Protests hinder progress towards mining licence Residents allege large-scale land robberies involving brokers working for company Environmentalists fear existential threats such as soil losing fertility and contamination of water sources Company representative downplays impacts of the project on people’s livelihood For over… Read more »
$29 Trillion Debt
That’s how much debt emerging nations are facing A decades-long crisis is getting worse, and now dozens of nations are spending more on interest payments than on health care or education. by Patricia Cohen, The New York Times, June 14, 2024 The Vatican’s meeting on the global debt crisis last week was not quite as celebrity-studded as… Read more »
Tribunal: ‘Horrified’ by Plight of SL’s Plantation Workers
Their wages remain far below the living wage required in the context of Sri Lanka’s current costs of living, following hyperinflation during the crisis, a recent study found by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, June 12, 2024 An international tribunal of former judges from the region said it was “horrified by the stark realities” of… Read more »
India’s Modi, Humbled by Voters, Faces Potent Economic Struggles
With his grip on political power weakened, the Indian prime minister is confronting the same formidable challenge — how to generate hundreds of millions of jobs. byPeter S. Goodman, The New York Times, June 7, 2024 Before the Indian election results emerged this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was widely viewed as a charismatic and popular strongman… Read more »
The Burden of War Widows
Gendered consequences of war and peace-building in Sri Lanka by Karen Brounéus, Erika Forsberg, Kristine Höglund, Kate Lonergan, Third World Quarterly, Pages 458-474, Received 26 Aug 2022, Accepted 16 Aug 2023, Published online: 09 Sep 2023 Burden of War Widows Third World Quarterly Sept 2023 Abstract Research shows that war affects various groups of survivors… Read more »
Uduvil Remembers Its Founder Principal
In its bicentennial year by Shiranee Mills, Sunday Times, Colombo, April 7, 2024 In the bicentennial year of Uduvil Girls’ College, especially during the month of April, our thoughts dwell closely on the founder principal of the school, Harriet Wadsworth Winslow (née Lathrop), whose birthday falls on April 9. Born in 1796, in Norwich, Connecticut, in… Read more »
CPA: Understanding Interconnections between Human Rights and Economic Crimes
in Sri Lanka: Exploring Issues and Potential Ways Forward by Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, March 2024 Economic-Crimes-Advocacy-Report.pdf (cpalanka.org) Summary In Sri Lanka, economic crimes perpetrated by Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) have received critical attention at present, where there have been discussions on plausible interventions to address the culture of impunity and the human rights… Read more »
CPA: 32 Viharas for Kuchchaveli
by Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, March 29, 2024 Over 2,500 acres of private land in Kuchchaveli allegedly seized for building 32 Buddhist temples in the region. #LandRights pic.twitter.com/h3BQ7oU5qf — Centre for Policy Alternatives Sri Lanka (@CPASL) March 29, 2024