Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa has set a five-point agenda for the fishermen level talks between India and Sri Lanka; MR visits Abu Dhabi; Sri Lankan assistance to Uganda; USAID announces new program to revive the fishery community in the North; Australian PM
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Whatsapp
  • Linkedin
  • Print

    • According to reports, Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has set a five-point agenda for the fishermen level talks between India and Sri Lanka scheduled to be held on January 27. The Tamil Nadu government has already conveyed to the Centre that the talks should be held without prejudice to, and must not in any way, compromise the stand already taken by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in her petition W.P (Civil) No. 561/2008, filed in the Supreme Court, on India’s territorial sovereignty over Katchatheevu. Further, the resolution to be passed in the talks would be subject to the clearance of the State government, an official release said. The agenda for the talks include: (a) Reiterating the traditional fishing rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen to fish in their fishing waters of Palk Bay irrespective of any artificially drawn boundaries with mutual harmony on either side; (b) reiterating the commitment made in previous discussions to abjure from violent attacks on TN fishermen on the high seas by the Lankan Navy and desisting from unfriendly acts like abduction, detention, long periods of incarceration of Tamil Nadu fishermen in Lankan jails and preventing the seizure, confiscation of their boats/fishing equipment by Lankan authorities; (c) discussing ways to speedily facilitate the repatriation of fishermen and their boats abducted by the Lankan Navy; (d) suggesting ways for fishing on convenient and agreeable terms for both sides; (e) exchanging information such as distress incidents and environment friendly fishing operations to ensure sustainable and viable exploitation of fish and fishery resources in Palk Bay. 1

    Reports noted that the United States Embassy in Colombo through its development arm, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced a new program to revive the fishery community in the Maradankerny Division of Jaffna. This initiative is part of a significant USAID livelihoods project worth US$1.5 million that focuses on empowering economic opportunities and accelerating permanent resettlement for many displaced families in the North, the Embassy said in a release. 2

    Reports noted that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott arrived in Sri Lanka on January 24 on a transit visit and was received by Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne at the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport. 3

    According to reports, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi voiced the parliament's support for the development of cooperation between Iran and Sri Lanka in different areas. He made the remark in a meeting with Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Iran Mohammad Feisal Razin on January 26, 2014 adding that tapping into the potentials of the two countries would pave the way for boosting cooperation and improved bilateral and regional relations. 4

    According to reports, ahead of the March session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, who is in charge of the National Action Plan for the Implementation of the Recommendations by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), left for the United States on January 22 to brief the leaders of that country on the developments in Sri Lanka. 5

    According to reports, Vietnam has asserted that it will do its "utmost" to support Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) where Sri Lanka would be challenged on the human rights and accountability issues at its next session in March. Vietnam, which is a member of the UNHRC for 2014-2016 tenure, has given this assurance when Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's special envoy and the General Secretary of Communist Party Minister D.E.W Gunasekera met Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on January 23 during his working visit to Viet Nam. 6

    According to reports, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka has noted that it had received 7,752 complaints on alleged violations between the period of January - December of 2013. 7 However, according to the Human Rights Watch, Sri Lanka made little progress in 2013 in accountability for serious human rights abuses committed during the civil war that ended in 2009. 8 The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) also in its quarterly human rights report for the last quarter of 2013 stated that the Human rights situation in Sri Lanka had not improved in the last three months despite the intensified international focus on the country’s human rights issues. 9

    Reports noted that Sri Lanka assumed the chairmanship of the Vienna Chapter of the Group of 77 from Sudan on January 22, 2014 at a formal meeting in Vienna attended by the Group's Ambassadors as well as the executive heads of Vienna based international organizations. Ambassador Aliyar Lebbe Abdul Azeez, the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka, officially took over the chairmanship of the Group of 77 (G-77) Vienna Chapter. 10

    In other developments, according to reports, President Mahinda Rajapaksa made one-day visit to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. 11

    Reports noted that Shiranthi Wickramasinghe Rajapaksa, the First Lady of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri-Lanka went to Uganda to lay a foundation stone and unveil the plan for the construction of a vocational training institute at UWESO’s Masuliita Children’s Home, a gift from the Sri-Lankan government to help uplift the lives of vulnerable children in Uganda. 12

    Top