Sri Lanka president pledges land for 100,000 war victims

Yahoo  - AFP, Amal Jayasinghe, 3 January 2016

A Tamil woman holds a baby girl at a camp for internally displaced people

in the northern town of Vavuniya (AFP Photo/Lakruwan Wanniarachchi)

Colombo (AFP) - Up to 100,000 people still living in camps six years after the end of Sri Lanka's brutal ethnic war will be given land to build homes within six months, President Maithripala Sirisena told AFP Sunday.

The leader, elected last January, has won praise for starting to hand back land after the end of one of South Asia's longest and bloodiest ethnic wars, which pitted the government against Tamil separatists. But he is also under international pressure to do more to reconcile the ethnically divided nation.

"It is an ambitious target, but I will see that all the internally displaced people are given land to build homes," the president said in an interview with AFP.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena

 during an interview with AFP in Colombo

 on January 3, 2016 (AFP Photo/Lakruwan 

Wanniarachchi)

"I am setting up a mechanism to complete this process within six months."

Sirisena said he would give land to civilians displaced by war in the embattled northern and eastern provinces, and also the northwestern coastal region of Puttalam, by the middle of this year. The families set to receive the land are currently staying in camps in those areas.

During a visit to the northern city of Jaffna last month, where much of the civil war fighting took place, Sirisena said he visited a refugee camp that has been home to about 1,300 families for the past 25 years.

"This is an unacceptable situation. I want to end this problem once and for all," he said.

"For many people the main issue was lack of land and that is something we will resolve in the next six months."

As part of a parallel scheme, he is also planning to free up additional private land occupied by the military, mainly in the former war zones in the northern and eastern provinces, starting in the next two weeks.

He said he would return to Jaffna this month to formally hand over about 700 acres (283 hectares) of land as part of the plan, in line with his election promise.

Sirisena, 64, came to power with the backing of Sri Lanka's minority Tamils and Muslims, on top of the majority Sinhalese who supported him, on the back of pledges to ensure ethnic reconciliation and end corruption and nepotism that plagued his predecessor's rule.

Soon after his election, Sirisena ordered security forces to return thousand of acres of private land they occupied in the Jaffna peninsula, the de facto capital of Tamil Tiger rebels.

The area saw some of the bloodiest fighting during the war that claimed over 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009.

Sirisena said Sunday the new land pledges were in addition to that previously promised, although he has not specified the total area of land to that will be handed out.

War crimes probe

He said the government was also working on a mechanism to investigate allegations of war crimes in the final stages of the conflict, but said it could take time.

"We can't rush the accountability process," Sirisena said. "Some people want it to be like instant noodles. We can't do that. We have to be responsible and respect rule of law."

Sirisena's predecessor Mahinda Rajapakse's regime faced repeated UN censure over his failure to investigate allegations that at least 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by troops under his command while crushing Tiger guerrillas in 2009.

However, Sirisena said the international community has changed its attitude towards his government, which has already established nine independent commissions to run the police, the elections office, the judiciary and the public service among others.

"There is a big change in the way the leading democratic nations of the world view us today. We have tremendous international good will and support," he said.

"Their expectation is that we ensure democracy and good governance and that is what are committed to."

Sirisena said he will mark his first year in office on January 9 by calling for proposals on constitutional reforms to ensure that Sri Lanka remains peaceful.

"We can either have a brand new constitution or amend the one we already have," the president said.

"My preference is to abolish the executive presidency and go back to a (parliamentary-style) system we had till 1978" which would see a greater dispersion of power.

Chagos islanders ‘betrayed’ by UK failure to decide on their return

Supporters of Chagossians’ return to the Indian Ocean atolls condemn the government’s postponement and ‘lack of political courage’

The Guardian, Jamie Dowrad, 4 April 2015

Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago and site of
 a major US military base. Photograph: Reuters

Supporters of the inhabitants of a British overseas territory deported from their homeland are furious that the government has reneged on a promise that it would decide before the election on whether they could return.

Shortly before parliament disbanded, the government said it would delay confirming whether the Chagossian people could go back to the Chagos Islands, a series of atolls in the Indian Ocean. The main island, Diego Garcia, has been leased to the US military since 1966. That agreement expires next year. Novelist Philippa Gregory, secretary of the UK Chagos Support Association, branded the delay “another serious betrayal of the Chagossian community”. She added: “Chagossians have suffered in exile for years, and it is disgraceful the government has failed to deliver a small measure of justice by supporting return.” Television presenter and author Ben Fogle will hand a petition to Downing Street after the election urging the next government to let the Chagossians go back.

A recent government-commissioned report from the consultancy giant KPMG suggested that allowing the Chagossians to return was feasible. Many Chagossians support a pilot resettlement of between 50 and 150 people which could be expanded if successful. However, James Duddridge, the Foreign Office minister, said the KPMG study “found there was not a clear indication of likely demand for resettlement, and costs and liabilities to the UK taxpayer were uncertain and potentially significant”. Some estimates suggests the cost of resettlement could be as high as £60m, a figure the association describes as “disingenuous”. It said money could be found from US payments for the use of Diego Garcia, the European Development Fund and private sector investment.

Some conservationists have expressed concerns about a repatriation programme. “The Chagos marine biodiversity and condition are a valuable international asset,” said Professor Charles Sheppard, chair of the Chagos Conservation Trust. “If these are damaged, or reduced in quality, the ocean’s peoples will be the losers.” But David Snoxell, a former high commissioner to Mauritius and co-ordinator of the Chagos Islands all-party parliamentary group, called on politicians from all sides to show leadership on the resettlement issue.

“If the FCO hadn’t dragged its feet on commissioning the feasibility study a decision on resettlement would have been taken long ago, and it would very probably have been in favour,” Snoxell said.“Now we have to wait until a new government settles in and that can take up to two years. Uncertainty on cost and on the number wanting to return are not the real obstacles. Nor are the handful of conservationists who do not want to share the territory with its former inhabitants The blockage is lack of political courage and direction.”

Related Article:

'Poo protest' topples British imperialist in South Africa

Putin 'will help recover bodies, black boxes': Dutch PM

Yahoo – AFP, 20 July 2014

Dutch Prime minister Mark Rutte gives a press conference in The Hague, on
July 20, 2014, about the situation of the crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
in eastern Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday promised Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte he will help retrieve bodies and black boxes from the Ukrainian rebel-held crash site of flight MH17.

Putin, who is believed to exert influence on the pro-Russia rebels, made the promise in his third conversation with Rutte since Thursday's crash, the Dutch government press service RVD said, amid growing international anger over the stranded bodies.

"Besides allowing unrestricted access to the crash site, the conversation focused on practical matters, namely the departure of the train that has many bodies and the handing over of the black boxes," a spokeswoman for the government press service RVD told AFP, asking not to be named.

"On both points Putin promised his full cooperation," the spokesman said.

Most of the 298 people on the Malaysia Airways flight, likely brought down by a pro-Russian rebel missile, were Dutch.

Around 200 bodies taken from the site in eastern Ukraine are being held in refrigerated trains nearby, pending the arrival of international investigators.

Ukrainian rebels have said that they have the black boxes, crucial in the crash investigation.

OSCE inspectors, part of the monitoring mission to Ukraine, document bodybags

 from MH17 in a refrigerated wagon at Torez train station, near the crash site,

on Sunday. Photograph: Robert Ghement/EPA

Members of the security council vote on a resolution concerning access to the crash

site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 during a security council meeting at United

Nations headquarters, Monday, July 21, 2014. The resolution was adopted by a

unanimous vote. Photograph: Seth Wenig/AP

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UN Security Council demands safe access for MH17 investigators

Malaysian PM wins guarantees regarding bodies, black boxes
MH17: Dutch experts arrive at crash scene as heavy fighting breaks out

'We have one aim, to get our people back,' Dutch prime minister says

Putin 'must take responsibility' for crash site access: Dutch PM

Malaysian Airlines MH17 passenger manifest (Pdf)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy,Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) -(Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

Florida jury slaps RJ Reynolds with $23.6 bn in damages

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Putin 'must take responsibility' for crash site access: Dutch PM

Yahoo – AFP, 19 July 2014

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte speaks during a press conference at the Ministry
of Safety and Justice in The Hague, on July 18, 2014 (AFP Photo/John Thys)

The Hague (AFP) - Vladimir Putin must act to allow access to the Ukranian rebel-held crash site of flight MH17 so bodies can be removed, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Saturday after a "very intense" conversation with the Russian president.

"He (Putin) must now take responsibility vis-a-vis the rebels," Rutte told journalists in The Hague after pro-Russian separatists hindered access to the crash site where 298 died in Thursday's plane crash, 192 of them Dutch.

"The Netherlands and the world will see that he does what needs to be done," Rutte said.

"Given today's developments and the images from this morning, I sent a message to the president to once more exert his influence on the rebels," Rutte added.

"Everyone saw how the plane wreckage, the passengers and the personal belongings are still spread around the site.

"He (Putin) promised me his cooperation yesterday.

"I told him that he must show the world that he wants to help."

Rutte said he was "shocked" by news images of "shameless" rebels handling passenger possessions and walking around the crash site.

Rutte said that he had spoken to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and that they also said Putin must act.

"Unimpeded access and quick recuperation of the bodies is the number one priority," Rutte said.

The MH17 crash site is controlled by armed pro-Russia militia, who are

 carefully supervising access to journalists and investigators. Photograph: 

Robert Ghement/EPA

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Dutch banks act on MH17 credit card looting reports

Malaysian Airlines MH17 passenger manifest (Pdf)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy,Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) -(Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

Florida jury slaps RJ Reynolds with $23.6 bn in damages - New

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Indonesia ‘Disappointed’ With China Over South China Sea Oil Rigs: Marty

Jakarta Globe, Tito Summa Siahaan, May 10, 2014

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa delivers a statement in Jakarta
on November 18, 2013. (AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)

Naypyidaw, Myanmar. Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Saturday that Indonesia was “disappointment” with China’s decision to build oil rigs in the South China Sea, threatening regional stability.

“These kind of acts should not set a legal precedence for the South China Sea,” he said, speaking after a meeting with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Min at the Asean Summit in Myanmar’s capital. “The issue can only be resolved through negotiations between related parties.”

China claims sovereignty over much of the resource-rich sea, home to vital shipping lanes, but Asean members including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping claims. Tensions are high due to a collision between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels in the disputed area last week after Chinese vessels were found installing rigs in an area claimed by Vietnam.

“The risk of an incident is very real. I hope the current meetings in Myanmar will reinforce further recognition of that fact,” Marty said yesterday.

Marty urged the Chinese government to acknowledge the sensitivity of the issue and exercise self restraint.

“We are very concerned and disappointed by the acts of the Chinese government,” he said.

He reiterated Indonesia’s neutral stance on the territorial claims.

Protesters shout anti-China slogans outside the embassy.

Photograph: Luong Thai Linh/EPA

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More Than 900 Environmental Advocates Slain In A Decade As Concern For The Planet Grows

The Huffington Post – AP, Denis D. Gray, 15 April 2014

This January 1999 image shows Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari
 Maathai, environmentalist and human rights campaigner, carried to the courts
 after she was beaten by a mob after she confronted private developers that
had illegally taken land in the Karura forest. | EPA / Landov

BANGKOK (AP) — As head of his village, Prajob Naowa-opas battled to save his community in central Thailand from the illegal dumping of toxic waste by filing petitions and leading villagers to block trucks carrying the stuff — until a gunman in broad daylight fired four shots into him.

A year later, his three alleged killers, including a senior government official, are on trial for murder. The dumping has been halted and villagers are erecting a statue to their slain hero.

But the prosecution of Prajob's murder is a rare exception. A survey released Tuesday -- the first comprehensive one of its kind - says that only 10 killers of 908 environmental activists slain around the world over the past decade have been convicted.

The report by the London-based Global Witness, a group that seeks to shed light on the links between environmental exploitation and human rights abuses, says murders of those protecting land rights and the environment have soared dramatically. It noted that its toll of victims in 35 countries is probably far higher since field investigations in a number of African and Asian nations are difficult or impossible.

"Many of those facing threats are ordinary people opposing land grabs, mining operations and the industrial timber trade, often forced from their homes and severely threatened by environmental devastation," the report said. Others have been killed over hydro-electric dams, pollution and wildlife conservation.

The rising deaths, along with non-lethal violence, are attributed to intensifying competition for shrinking resources in a global economy and abetted by authorities and security forces in some countries connected to powerful individuals, companies and others behind the killings.

Three times as many people died in 2012 than the 10 years previously, with the death rate rising in the past four years to an average of two activists a week, according to the non-governmental group. Deaths in 2013 are likely to be higher than the 95 documented to date.

The victims have ranged from 70-year-old farmer Jesus Sebastian Ortiz, one of several people in the Mexican town of Cheran killed in 2012 while opposing illegal logging, to the machine-gunning by Philippine armed forces of indigenous anti-mining activist Juvy Capion and her two sons the same year.

Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan Jr., who heads the Philippine military's human rights office, told the Associated Press that a military investigation showed the three died in crossfire as troops clashed with suspected outlaws. "We don't tolerate or condone human rights violations and we hope Global Witness can work with us to pinpoint any soldier or officer involved in those killings," Tutaan said.

Brazil, the report says, is the world's most dangerous place for activists with 448 deaths between 2002 and 2013, followed by 109 in Honduras and Peru with 58. In Asia, the Philippines is the deadliest with 67, followed by Thailand at 16.

"We believe this is the most comprehensive global database on killings of environment and land defenders in existence," said Oliver Courtney, senior campaigner at Global Witness. "It paints a deeply alarming picture, but it's very likely this is just the tip of the iceberg, because information is very hard to find and verify. Far too little attention is being paid to this problem at the global level."

Reports of killings, some of them extensive, from countries like Central African Republic, Zimbabwe, and Myanmar, where civil society groups are weak and the regimes authoritarian, are not included in the Global Witness count.

By contrast, non-governmental organizations in Brazil carefully monitor incidents, many of them occurring in the Amazon as powerful businessmen and companies move deeper into indigenous homelands to turn forests into soya, sugar cane and agro-fuel plantations or cattle ranches. Clashes between agribusiness and the Guarani and Kuranji people in the Amazon's Mato Grosso do Sul province accounted for half of Brazil's killings during 2012, the report said. Human rights groups and news reports say killings are often carried out by gunmen hired by agricultural companies.

In Thailand, Sunai Phasuk of the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch echoed the report's assertion that an "endemic culture of impunity" was prevalent, and that governments and their aid donors must address this.

Prosecution of Prajob's suspected killers, Sunai said, was a "welcome rarity" in a country where investigations have been characterized by "half-hearted, inconsistent, and inefficient police work, and an unwillingness to tackle questions of collusion between political influences and interests and these killings of activists."

"The convicted tend to have lowest levels of responsibility, such as the getaway car driver. The level of impunity is glaring," he said.

After Prajob's murder, villagers lived in fear but in the end decided to sue the illegal dumpers and landfill owners, said the victim's brother, Jon Noawa-opas.

"Prajob's death has led us to fight for justice in this town," he said. "We can be disheartened and we were, but we also know that we have to do the right thing for our community."

AP reporters Thanyarat Doksone in Bangkok and Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.

ADB's failings in Cambodian resettlement plan

DeutscheWelle, 10 February 2014

The Asian Development Bank has released a damning internal review that concludes the bank’s staff significantly harmed some of Cambodia’s poorest citizens with an ill-conceived and mismanaged resettlement plan.

The resettlement plan was the consequence of a deal struck with the Cambodian government in 2006 to upgrade the hundreds of kilometres of the country's railway network. Years of civil war and neglect had left the network in a woeful state.

The bulk of the 142 million USD rail upgrade was funded by the ADB and the Australian government, and directly affected 4,000 families living alongside or nearby the tracks. Around 1,000 were to be resettled, while others would have their land holdings reduced. All were to be compensated, and those compelled to move to resettlement sites were to receive further assistance.

Under the bank's own rules, no one affected by the project was to end up worse off - yet for years, rights groups complained that this was precisely what was happening. On Friday, February 7, the ADB's Compliance Review Panel (CRP) agreed, saying an undefined number of people "have suffered direct, adverse and material harm."

Years of civil war and neglect had left
Cambodia's railway network in a woeful
state.

"In particular, the CRP finds that the requesters have established harm from (i) insufficient compensation for loss of property and incomes; (ii) lack of electricity and water services at resettlement sites as well as from poor access roads; (iii) weak or ineffective grievance redress mechanisms; (iv) lack of timely assistance for income restoration; (v) indebtedness; and (vi) insufficient information and consultation,” the panel wrote.

The report noted that one of the many failings of the ADB's resettlement project was that compensation payments were fixed at 2006 prices with no account taken of inflation. That meant families paid out in 2010 and 2011 were significantly under-compensated. Another problem was that the property of others was short-measured or undervalued.

Wholesale failure

In its comprehensive 180-page report, the CRP lambasted their fellow ADB staff for failures at every stage of the project, and said the shortcomings were entirely avoidable.

"A substantial part of the [affected households] were worse off and impoverished as a result of the resettlement,” the report concluded, adding that the problems stemming largely from the ADB's failure to follow its own policies had "led to significant yet avoidable adverse social impact on mostly poor and vulnerable people."

Although implementing the resettlement process was the responsibility of the Cambodian government, the ADB was required to ensure that the process was properly managed, and admits it failed to do that. At the end of its 17-month long investigation, the CRP team concluded that the very design of the resettlement plan was deeply flawed, and said the ADB's culture towards resettlement must change.

The CRP team noted that the failures in the resettlement program were "particularly grievous" given that the ADB ought to have learned from similar failings in an earlier infrastructure project.

'A vindication'

Among the rights groups that welcomed the report were Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive Development International. Friday's report is the direct consequence of a complaint that the two NGOs filed with the ADB in late 2011 on behalf of the affected families.

Equitable Cambodia's Eang Vuthy described the report as "a vindication of years of struggle." "While it is very frustrating that it took this long for [the] ADB to accept responsibility, we are optimistic that the bank is now required by its board of directors to solve the many problems faced by affected communities," he said.

David Pred, who heads Inclusive Development International, said the CRP review was “the most damning report" in the history of the ADB's accountability mechanism. "It's findings are really scathing, and what it calls for isn't just bringing this project back into compliance, but a mind shift … in the way [the ADB] treat people affected by their projects, and the way they approach social and environmental safeguards," he told DW.

Pred pointed out, however, that it was not clear whether ADB's management had seized the report's full import. "In the final report a significant change was made – that the ADB should require the Cambodian government to set up a compensation deficit payment scheme to provide the remediation," Pred said. "And we think that's really inappropriate because the ADB made the mess and should be the ones who are forced to clean it up."

Pred added that as the primary beneficiary of the rail upgrade, Toll Holdings – the Australian company that won the concession to manage the railway – also "has a responsibility to contribute to the remediation."

Limited Accountability?

In its response to the report, the ADB's board of directors said it accepted most of its recommendations, including setting up a compensation fund worth as much as 4 million USD. However, their response indicated that this would be in the form of a loan that Cambodia would have to repay rather than a grant, a suggestion that has raised eyebrows among rights activists.

The bank said the next step was to
 determine how many families were
affected and the level of compensation

The ADB said its next step was to determine how many families were affected and the level of compensation. In a reply to DW, ADB Cambodia country head Eric Sidgwick said the bank would consult with households and the government, among other involved parties, over the next two months "in order to determine a plan of action which can meet the CRP's stated need for a quick, transparent, and fair resolution of outstanding resettlement issues."

David Pred said it was "totally unacceptable" that to date nobody from the ADB appeared to have paid a price for designing and implementing a program that has caused verifiable harm to so many already poor people. The lack of services at two resettlement sites, he said, had led to the deaths of three children: two who had drowned, and a third who was killed by a car while walking several kilometres to school.

Despite laying the blame squarely on the ADB's staff, the report did not recommend whether anyone should be held accountable. When asked whether the bank planned to take action against any of its staff or consultants involved in the project, ADB country director Sidgwick refused to comment.

'An inspiring victory for tribal people around the world'

Deutsche Welle, 14 January 2014

The Dongria Kondh tribal people of India have successfully stopped a mine from opening up on their traditional lands. DW speaks to Sophie Grig from Survival International, who supported the protests for a decade.

DW: After ten years of protests, the Indian environment ministry has now rejected a huge bauxite mining project by the multinational company Vedanta. Survival International has called this a 'sensational victory'. How likely is it that a small group like the Dongria Kondh win a case for their rights, when they are pitched against a huge multinational like Vedanta?

Sophie Grig: It's fantastic news, it's a real David and Goliath story. There's only about 8000 Dongria people. One of the main reasons why they have had this great success is their incredible tenacity and courage and the fact that they are so united and so proud of their way of life. They are so determined to protect their sacred hills that they have done everything they can to campaign against the mine. That has also been supported by Survival International and a number of other organizations both on the ground and internationally.

In this battle that the Dongria fought for such a long time, the group were confronted with many obstacles. Can you give us an idea of what they experienced?

Sophie Grig, Asia Expert
at Survival International

Their leaders have been arrested, there have been a lot of threats against them, there has been a lot of pressure and harassment for the community. There's also been a lot of pressure from the company who have tried to buy them off by claiming that they will bring development. The Dongria have rightly said 'We don't want development', 'What sort of development is it, if you destroy our hills?'

The Dongria have a wonderful agricultural system where they have huge numbers of plants that they cultivate or collect from the forest that enable them to live well and very happily in their hills, as they have done for generations. They say 'Development for us is being able to live here and make our own choices'.

Defenders of this mining project have always said that the Dongria, like other tribal people, are among the most impoverished in the country and they need economic development. Isn't that also the case?

They certainly don't see themselves as poor and in fact they told us 'We live like kings'. They feel like they live a very wealthy and happy existence in the hills. They themselves look at people in the plains and in the cities and they feel sorry for them. They say, 'You have to pay for your water', 'You have to pay for everything, we get it for free in the hills, why would we want to leave'. What they want is to be able to live their own way of life on their own land.

And, of course, this land is also sacred to them.

Yes, it is. They worship the hills they live in which would have been destroyed by the mining company. That's also played a huge part in their rejection of the mines.

Apart from the determination of the Dongria Kondh, how important was the international campaigning on their behalf? What was the tipping point that made this victory possible?

I think that the international and national campaigns were extremely important. The Dongria on their own, however determined they were, would not have been able to generate the awareness in the government of what was happening to them on the ground. That's the danger when tribal people's voices are just ignored. They needed the national and the international pressure to make the government sit up and listen.

Survival's campaign involved us making a film which allowed them to speak out themselves. We know that 600,000 people viewed that film. Thousands of letters were sent to the Indian government, protests were held, we lobbied the British government and they condemned the mining there and the Church of England disinvested from Vedanta mining. Then, the Supreme Court said that the Dongria should be allowed to make the decision. This last weekend, the news has finally come that the [Indian environment] ministry has said no. So, it's been a culmination of all that hard work.

What repercussions will this news have for other tribal people in Asia and around the world?

This win for the Dongria Kondh is having
 repercussions around the world, says Grig

We know that the news of the Dongria is being listened to. And the big meetings they had last August, and the way that they rejected the mine back then, has already had repercussions. I have spoken to Sami reindeer herders in Sweden who said that they were inspired by the Dongria's rejection of the mine and that it galvanized them in their cause.

Vedanta will have looked at the Dongria and thought, 'Here are 8000 people living in a really remote part of Odisha'. They didn't think that these people were going to be able to stop them. They didn't think people were going to be able to find out about it. This can really send a strong message to mining companies and governments that they cannot go ahead with mines like this or other development projects on the lands of tribal people without getting the consent of those tribal people. And, if they don't want it, that has to be listened to and it can't go ahead.

But, bauxite is in high demand. Even though new places are being explored, there might be no real alternatives to the place that Vedanta wanted to mine in. Do you think there will be a new attempt to gain access to the sacred hills of the Dongria Kondh?

I would love to say no, but who knows. There is an election coming up in India and it is always possible that the decision might be overturned. I think at the moment though there's so much public attention that has gone into this case, it would be extremely difficult for it to be overturned. But it's definitely something that the Dongria will be watching.

There's a refinery that has been built at the base of their hills, which was supposed to be processing the bauxite mined in the area. While that is still there, the Dongria will be nervous about further attempts to mine. But, I think as things stand, it's a huge victory and we have to hope that it will be maintained.

Sophie Grig is an Asia Expert for Survival International and is based in London.

China to ease restrictions on suing government

The BricsPost, December 23, 2013

File photo of Chinese residents outside
 the Jinan Intermediate People’s Court
[Getty Images]

China’s lawmakers are discussing a new piece of legislation that would make it easier for citizens to take the government to court.

A draft amendment to the existing Administrative Procedure Law, was submitted to China’s top legislature for a first reading on Monday.

The law, which went into effect in October 1990, guarantees citizens’ rights to pursue the government through the courts, and this is the first proposed revision.

Xin Chunying, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’ s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee said filing of cases and enforcement of verdicts that favor citizens would be more effectively dealt with if this revision is brought.

Widening economic inequality in China has given rise to public discontent and the new Chinese leadership has vowed to settle for a slower but more sustainable pace of growth.

The new draft amendment stresses the courts’ duty to ensure citizens can take governments to court and underlines the need for courts to accept cases involving governments as defendants.

The amendment means more rights infringement cases should be accepted by the courts.

People’s courts will now accept suits in which administrators have infringed citizen’s legal ownership or right to use over natural resources such as forests, pasture, mineral reserves, mountains and water.

Chinese courts shall also be required to accept suits of infringement of rural land contract and management rights, illegal fundraising, unlawful collection or requisition of property, or unfairly apportioned fees.

Citizens may bring cases against governments which fail to provide appropriate subsistence allowances or social insurance benefits.

Monday’s announcement could pave the way for further reforms in the way Chinese courts work.

More court cases, especially corruption trials, will make increased use of social media, a spokesman for the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) said recently.

“Public supervision via the Internet is now the most important channel to monitor the obstruction of justice,” Sun Jungong.