உலகமய உல்லாச துறை ஏற்படுத்தும் உள்ளூர் பேரழிவு!

 Rise of Sri Lanka’s luxury tourist resorts ‘fuels round of human rights abuses’

British-based TRAVEL AGENCIES among those named in report as hotel complexes hit traditional way of life

Mark Townsend

British-based travel agencies are among the European holiday firms criticised in a report that alleges tourism development in Sri Lanka is prompting new human rights abuses.

Large-scale tourism developments since the end of the civil war six years ago have had disastrous effects on local communities, including cases of fishermen losing their access to the sea and allegations of land grabbing by the military, says the report.

Among the TRAVEL AGENCIES criticised is Swiss-based Kuoni, which for nearly 50 years has run tours from the UK through 35 branded shops, although it recently unveiled plans to sell its British operation.

The report, Dark Clouds over the Sunshine Paradise, by human rights organisation the Society for Threatened Peoples, urges travel agents to be vigilant about human rights issues.

Sri Lanka is one of the world’s leading holiday destinations – in 2013 it was Lonely Planet’s top pick of countries to visit. More than 1.5 million tourists went there last year, with Britons making up the largest contingent from western Europe, with 144,168 visitors.

The Sri Lankan government has cultivated the image of a country back to normal after a 26-year war that killed an estimated 80,000-100,000 people, with claims that 40,000 Tamil civilians

died in the final weeks of the conflict, but the report says the reality is more complicated.

Campaigners examined three new tourist developments – at Kuchchaveli, Passikudah and Kalpitiya, in the north and east of the island, where much of the civil war fighting took place –

identifying hotels that they allege undermined the livelihoods of nearby families. They said they had identified 1,200 families that had been adversely affected by the construction of tourist complexes.

The scale of the developments is huge. The project at Kalpitiya aims to establish 10,000 beds in 17 LUXURY HOTELS although, the report alleges, “fishermen were denied access to the sea and other lucrative fishing areas” and acres of mangrove were “destroyed where previously women and children had caught prawns and shrimp”.

Researchers also found that land had been taken from locals without prior consultation, with one resident describing how construction work for a luxury hotel began on her land without her being informed.

Despite the claims of human rights infringements, at least 49 German and 21 Swiss TRAVEL AGENCIES and a few British subsidiaries offer hotels in the three areas, according to the report.

The Sri Lankan government has considerable ambitions for the tourism trade, drawing up a five-point plan that seeks to attract 2.5 million visitors in 2016, although campaigners say the local population will hardly PROFIT from them.

A Kuoni spokesman said the company was committed to “human rights due diligence” and had conducted impact assessments in a range of destinations. A spokeswoman added: “We
welcome the findings from the report and will CONTINUE to engage with partners in Sri Lanka to discuss issues and solutions.”

Even though the conflict is over, concerns have been raised over the situation in Sri Lanka, with the then United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, claiming in August 2013 that the country was displaying “signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction”.

Other sources claim that Tamils detained by Sri Lankan authorities following the end of the conflict suffered sexual and physical abuse, including forced oral sex, anal rape and water torture. The Sri Lankan government revealed recently that it was planning an investigation into accusations of human rights abuses in the late stages of the war.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was ousted as president in January, had refused to cooperate with any UN investigation into army atrocities.

Statement from the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees

PFLP- Women's Day 2015 Poster

International Women’s Day: Statement from the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees
Mar 11 2015

On March 8, International Women’s Day, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees extend our solidarity and commitment to joint struggle to all activists and campaigners for freedom around the world who are confronting the forces of colonialism, exploitation, occupation, discrimination and racism and struggling for freedom, equality, justice and dignity; to those who defend self-determination of peoples, sovereignty over their resources and capabilities, and liberation from all forms of oppression; and to those who seek true peace with justice.

On this International Women’s Day, the rights of women around the world are violated in numerous ways: through wars and armed conflicts, through the power and oppression of racism; through reactionary forces in many regions, including in the Arab world, where such forces carry the support of imperalism to benefit its clear colonial objectives for control of peoples and their resources. Imperialism in our region has resulted in an increasing number of victims of its policies and ever more risk to the lives of people, especially women and children.

In Palestine, which is still under the yoke of Zionist settler colonialism, the Zionist movement seeks to proclaim its “democracy” and “progressiveness,” but in reality is committed to a mission of racism, murder, destruction and criminality. Palestinian women are struggling for the freedom of their people, and their message is one of insistence on freedom and refusal to compromise our rights, whether national or social, and thus continue their legitimate struggle for the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, the right of return of Palestinian refugees, the right of self-determination, of full sovereignty, and the right to Jerusalem as capital of an independent Palestinian state. At the same time, Palestinian women struggle for full equality in all economic and social fields, ending all forms of discrimination against them in the legal and social fields and the development of laws in line with international conventions upholding the rights of women.

March 8, 2015 comes not long after months of barbaric aggression launched by “Israel” in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 2260 martyrs including many women and children, destroying tens of thousands of homes and displacing hundreds of thousands. Nearly 100,000 are still living without proper shelter, while the siege on Gaza has tightened, leading to further aggravation of the health, social and economic conditions of our people. In the West Bank, the occupation practices its strategy for control over all of Palestine through the brutal repression of our people, through ongoing land confiscation, home demolitions, military invasions, the targeting of our people for arrest, killing and wounding. The number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has increased to 6500, including 22 women and about 200 children, suffering from harsh conditions of detention and many abuses committed against prisoners, especially as Israel refuses to recognize them as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. Simultaneously, the project to Judaize Jerusalem continues, as do the racist assaults on our people in the occupied lands of 1948 and the intensification of discrimination and oppression, and the apartheid wall continues to be built, intensifying racism and apartheid in Palestine.

In Diaspora, more than half of the Palestinian people are suffering as refugees, especially those displaced from the camps in Syria and especially the besieged Yarmouk camp. Palestinian
refugees in Lebanon are facing extremely difficult conditions that have only become more severe after tens of thousands of Palestinians and Syrians fleeing Syria have come to the overcrowded camps in Lebanon.

All of the above only confirms that the Palestinian people are confronting a criminal strategy of colonialism and demand that the world act to stop these crimes, applying international law and holding the Zionist state and its war criminals accountable for their crimes against the Palestinian people.

The Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees salutes March 8 this year and emphasizes the following:

* The continuation of the struggle of Palestinian women for freedom and self-determination until we achieve our national rights;

* The need to confront all crimes and violations by the occupation forces against Palestinian women;
The escalation of the boycott of Israel, divestment, and sanctions;

* The struggle for unity with a real national strategy to confront the occupation and support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people;

* The urgency of lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip and of reconstruction;

* The necessity to release Palestinian prisoners and force Israel to apply international conventions to their treatment, in particular the Geneva Conventions;

* The importance of developing the Palestinian social and economic structures to protect the rights of women and children and defend the equality of women, in line with international conventions signed by Palestinian officials, and to end all forms of discrimination against women;

* The need to confront the reactionary forces that practice terror against the people, especially women, through the use of religion, and the promotion of the progressive, democratic political trend.

PFLP stands in solidarity with Venezuela against US sanctions and threats.

PFLP stands in solidarity with Venezuela against US sanctions and threats.
Mar 11 2015

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - PFLP- expressed its full solidarity with Venezuela in confronting US sanctions aimed at overthrowing the democratic Bolivarian government of Venezuela and undermining the will of its people, who have continually resisted US capitalism and imperialism.

The US is making clear its ongoing and continuous policy seeking to return Venezuela under the boot of US imperialism and the dictates of US policy, as was the case in the past before the Bolivarian Revolution and the election of the late President Hugo Chavez. The Front expressed its solidarity with the people of Venezuela, the government and the President, Nicolas Maduro, in continuing to resist such attempts to undermine the future of Venezuela’s popular development.

Comrade Kayed al-Ghoul, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP, urged all progressive and democratic movements in the world to stand with Venezuela, noting the mass support of the people – and governments – of Latin America for Venezuela’s self-determination and sovereignty, rejecting and resisting the US attempt to isolate the Bolivarian Republic for its leading role in Latin America and the world in rejecting US imperialism.

Al-Ghoul added that the Front is confident that Venezuela will continue to be a thorn in the side of US capitalism and global hegemony, and a country and people who consistently stand by the side of the Palestinian people and all peoples who stand for liberation and resistance to US imperialism, which pursues global policies of plunder, exploitation, underdevelopment, occupation, war and subjugation against the peoples and oppressed nations of the world in order to further its interests.

U.S. declares Venezuela a national security threat, sanctions top officials

U.S. declares Venezuela a national security threat, sanctions top officials
BY JEFF MASON AND ROBERTA RAMPTON
WASHINGTON Mon Mar 9, 2015 5:43pm EDT


(Reuters) - The United States on Monday declared Venezuela a national security threat and ordered sanctions against seven officials from the oil-rich country in the worst bilateral

diplomatic dispute since socialist President Nicolas Maduro took office in 2013.

U.S. President Barack Obama issued and signed the executive order, which senior administration officials said did not target Venezuela's energy sector or broader economy. But the move

stokes tensions between Washington and Caracas just as U.S. relations with Cuba, a longtime U.S. foe in Latin America and key ally to Venezuela, are set to be normalized.

Declaring any country a threat to national security is the first step in starting a U.S. sanctions program. The same process has been followed with countries such as Iran and Syria, U.S.
officials said.

The White House said the order targeted people whose actions undermined democratic processes or institutions, had committed acts of violence or abuse of human rights, were involved
in prohibiting or penalizing freedom of expression, or were government officials involved in public corruption.

"Venezuelan officials past and present who violate the human rights of Venezuelan citizens and engage in acts of public corruption will not be welcome here, and we now have the tools to

block their assets and their use of U.S. financial systems," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.

"We are deeply concerned by the Venezuelan government's efforts to escalate intimidation of its political opponents. Venezuela's problems cannot be solved by criminalizing dissent," he
added.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez told reporters that Caracas would respond to the U.S. move soon and later tweeted that Venezuela was calling home its charge d'affaires in Washington for consultations.

The two countries have not had full diplomatic representation since 2008, when late socialist leader Hugo Chavez expelled then-U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy. Washington at the time responded by expelling Venezuelan envoy Bernardo Alvarez.

The list of sanctioned individuals includes: Gustavo Gonzalez, head of state intelligence service Sebin; Manuel Perez, director of the national police; and Justo Noguero, a former National Guard commander who now runs state mining firm CVG. It also includes three other military officers and a state prosecutor.

The individuals' would have their property and interests in the United States blocked or frozen and would be denied entry into the United States. U.S. citizens and permanent residents would be prohibited from doing business with them.

BLAME GAME

The White House also called on Venezuela to release all political prisoners, including "dozens of students," and warned against blaming Washington for its problems.

"We've seen many times that the Venezuelan government tries to distract from its own actions by blaming the United States or other members of the international community for events inside Venezuela," Earnest said in the statement. "These efforts reflect a lack of seriousness on the part of the Venezuelan government to deal with the grave situation it faces."

U.S. officials told reporters in a conference call that the executive order did not target the Venezuelan people or economy and stressed that upcoming legislative elections should be held without intimidation of the government's opponents.

The sanctions effectively confirm Venezuela as the United States' primary adversary in Latin America, a label that was for decades applied to Communist-run Cuba until Washington and

Havana announced a diplomatic breakthrough in December.

Washington said last week it would respond through diplomatic channels to Venezuela's demand for it cut the U.S. Embassy's staff in Caracas after the government called for a plan within

15 days to reduce staff to 17 from 100 at the American facility.

Commercial ties between Venezuela and the United States have largely been unaffected by diplomatic flare-ups, which were common during the 14-year-rule of Chavez.

The United States is Venezuela's top trading partner, and the OPEC member in 2014 remained the fourth-largest supplier of crude to the United States at an average of 733,000 barrels per day - despite a decade-long effort by Caracas to diversify its oil shipments to China and India.

Opposition leader and twice-presidential candidate Henrique Capriles told Reuters the sanctions were a problem for a corrupt elite in the Maduro government, but not ordinary Venezuelans.

"It's not a problem with Venezuela or with Venezuelans; it's a problem for the corrupt ones. It doesn't affect we Venezuelans."

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton, additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth and Andrew Cawthorne in Caracas; editing by G Crosse)
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