Need access to markets, not handouts from expatriates by LankaReporter, Colombo, June 9, 2017 Rajendra Theagarajah, Vice Chairman of Cargills Bank who was the guest of honour at the Canadian Tamils’ Chamber of Commerce gala and awards ceremony with CTCC President Ajith Sabaratnam. (Picture by Gnane Gananedran) Partner with us in Sri Lanka, not to… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Economy
Netherlands-Funded CEPA Project Wages Political ‘Counter-Insurgency’
On Diaspora, elected NPC Colombo Establishment and its global backers are trying to isolate the Northern and Eastern provincial councils by intervening through Colombo-based authorities, ministries and departments coming under the Central Government. Certain NGOs operating in Colombo also operate in the same manner. There is also a hidden agenda of diverting ‘post-war development assistance’,… Read more »
Submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
by Minority Rights Group International (MRG), the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and Women Development Innovators (WDI), May 11, 2017 *** Sri Lanka: Issues of land and sea grabbing on minorities brought to UN In order to reflect the current situation of minorities in Sri Lanka, IMADR, Minority Rights Group International (MRG)… Read more »
Biting the Bullet
Demilitarizing Economic Relations in Post-War Sri Lanka by Law and Society Trust, Colombo, May 2017 Biting the Bullet 20170508 The Law & Society Trust (LST) is a not-for-profit organisation engaged in human rights documentation, legal research and advocacy in Sri Lanka. Our aim is to use rights-based strategies in research, documentation and advocacy in order… Read more »
European Union, GSP+ and Sri Lanka
Promoting or Demoting Human Rights? by Kumarathasan Rasingam, May 7, 2017 The European Parliament in its session on 26th April, 2017 has voted in favour of Sri Lanka rejecting a motion tabled by 52 European Union members to deny the additional tariff concessions approximately 66% on several products including textiles and fisheries imported by European… Read more »
Government, Private Sector and Diaspora are Failing to Revive Northern Economy
by Jekhan Aruliah, ‘Lanka Business Online,’ April 18, 2017 More than seven years since the end in 2009 of the decades long Sri Lanka civil war, job creation initiatives in the North remain mainly focused around agriculture and traditional industries. For some this may be the easiest “Do something!” option, for others perhaps it is… Read more »
Competitiveness in Sri Lanka
by World Bank, Washington, DC, June 2016 World Bank Sri-Lanka-Competitiveness-20-FINAL INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION PROGRAM DOCUMENT FOR A PROPOSED CREDIT IN THE AMOUNT OF US$ 100 MILLION TO DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA FOR THE COMPETITIVENESS, TRANSPARENCY AND FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY DEVELOPMENT POLICY FINANCING Introduction 1. This program document describes the Development Policy Financing (DPF) operation to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka as a stand‐alone single tranche operation … Read more »
Workers in Post-Civil War Jaffna
A Snapshot of Working Conditions, Opportunities and Inequalities in Northern Sri Lanka by Solidarity Center, Washington, DC, June 2016 AFL CIO SRI-LANKA.Workers-in-Postwar-Jaffna.8.16 …The bulk of the workers in Jaffna are in low-paid jobs with minimal labor standards, social protection and security of tenure, which are not conducive to decent work, per the ILO1 or to… Read more »
Trade in South Asia: A Disconnected Region
CSIS interactive map of transportation projects, “Reconnecting Asia” – https://reconnectingasia.csis.org/map/ including rehabilitation of the Talaimannar Railroad spur, etc. 2012 UNCTAD paper on the “Political Economy of Regional Integration in South Asia” – http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ecidc2013misc1_bp5.pdf Graphic by World Bank, accessed April 24, 2017 at http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/infographic/2016/05/24/the-potential-of-intra-regional-trade-for-south-asia
New Silk Road or New Great Game?
India Developing New Sri Lanka Port to Combat China by Forbes, April 22, 2017 As regional powers like China, Russia, Japan, and India vie for political and economic position throughout the eastern realms of Eurasia, many of the less powerful countries caught in the middle are employing what could be called a ‘multi-vector strategy’ as… Read more »
The Economic Importance of the North-East of Sri Lanka
by Kamalika Pieris, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, May 3, 2016 Several valuable economic resources of Sri Lanka are found only in the Northern, Northwestern and Eastern Provinces. However, Article 25 of the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Right says ‘nothing in the present Covenant shall be interpreted as impairing the inherent right… Read more »
CPJ – Keppapulavu Report
by Commission for Justice & Peace of the Diocese of Jaffna, February 18, 2017 CJP Keppapulam & Puthukudiyruppu Report Includes detailed information on the population whose lands have been occupied.
Migration and Labour Shortages in Asian Countries
Where workers will be needed in the region, and where they could come from by The Data Team, ‘The Economist,’ London, February 10, 2017 Graphic detail THE Asian “model” of migration tends to be highly restrictive, and often appears more dedicated to stemming immigration than to managing it. The continent′s governments frequently curtail entry… Read more »
Even Fish Have an Ethnicity
by Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA), Colombo, January 31, 2017 Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) cordially invites you to a CEPA Cafe event presenting Even fish have an ethnicity… : a study on how ethnic identities mediate livelihoods in a fishing community in post-war Sri Lanka While discussions on ethnicity and tensions based on ethnic… Read more »
Desalination or a River for Jaffna
by Thiru Arumugam, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, January 28, 2017 Proposed Desalination Plant in Jaffna In 2010 the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a total loan facility of 130 million US dollars for the “Jaffna and Kilinochchi Water Supply and Sanitation Project”. The local costs of 26 million dollars were to be met by… Read more »
GSP+ forSri Lanka – Testing the EU’s Commitments
by Thambu Kanagasabai, Toronto, Canada, January 21, 2017 Under this scheme EU [European Union] grants additional tariff reductions to developing countries for imports eligible to qualify for these duty concessions. This scheme which was enjoyed by Sri Lanka until 2010 was suspended due to the ‘failure of Mahinda’s Government to address reported human rights violations… Read more »
Window for Economic Take-off Narrowing
by Economy Next, December 21, 2016 Sri Lanka is in a period of dangerous policy drift with mediocre governance which is inherently unstable with the danger of falling back to a ‘big man illiberal’ politics is getting nearer, a top economist and policy analyst has said. It is two years since the Rajapaksa regime was… Read more »
How To Enjoy Your Vacation To A Country
By Gowri Koneswaran, Split this Rock, Washington, DC, December 14, 2016 ★ While planning your journey, accept that ethics are not included in the price of your ticket; ★ Tell yourself your currency is helping the country; ★ Do not question government control of the tourism industry; ★ When researching… Read more »
When Travel Writing Becomes Propaganda
by Taylor Dibbert, ‘The Diplomat,’ Tokyo, December 14, 2016 A recent travel piece on the war-torn nation misses the mark badly. I was disappointed to read a recent Condé Nast article about Sri Lanka. Various parts of the piece read like the propaganda that comes straight from the Sri Lankan government. Let’s take a closer… Read more »
Only 5.2% of Sri Lankan Military Occupied Land has been Released to Tamils
by P.K. Balachandran, The New Indian Express, December 11, 2016 COLOMBO: The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, C.V.Wigneswaran, has said that out of the 67,000 acres of private lands of the Tamils seized by the Sri Lankan armed forces during the war, only 3,500 acres have been returned so far. Since the war… Read more »