Civil Report to RIO +20 "Let's Protect Our Future Through Sustainable Development"

Civil organization including NAFSO, and several other environmental foundations and organizations including Centrer for Environmental justice were collaboratively organized a program on Rio+20 Earth summit.
During the two days program participants were revised and analysed the achievements and drawbacks of the deceleration of the 1992  Earth summit.

Community members from several sectors were produce their sector reports concerning sustainable development and environment protection.
Fisheries Sector, Farmers, workers,Health, Women,and Youth,  representation were on the workshop.
Drafted report presented to the participants at the end of the second day
and got the necessary alterations and additions from the audience. Common final report will be prepared and submit to the Sri Lanka Government and  will present to the Earth Summit of Rio+20 by civil organization participants.  

Ruling affirms traditional fishing rights

IN A first for SA, a magistrate ruled yesterday that the fishing tradition of a Wild Coast community gave them a constitutionally protected customary right to fish in a marine protected area inside the Dwesa-Cwebe Reserve.

This means SA’s legal system has taken a step towards recognising customary fishing rights, as is the case with the recognised rights of traditional communities in places such as Canada, Norway, the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand.

Elliotdale magistrate Greg Nel convicted three members of the Hobeni community for contravening the Marine Living Resources Act, but said the ban on the community fishing in the marine reserve amounted to "a complete extinguishment of (their) customary rights".

The three would now go to the high court in Mthatha to challenge their conviction for contravening the Marine Living Resources Act by entering the reserve and fishing, or attempting to fish, after the magistrate said he had no authority to strike down the provisions of the act, Legal Resources Centre attorney Wilmien Wicomb said yesterday.

Mr Nel said he had no choice but to convict the three of this charge — one of four charges that they faced — because it was not within his powers as a magistrate to make declarations on the constitutionality of laws. He gave the trio — two adults and a child — suspended sentences.

"There can be no other conclusion than that the absolute ban on fishing and/or harvesting of marine resources in the reserve amounts to a complete extinguishment of the customary rights of the communities of Dwesa and Cwebe to practise these customs in that specific geographical area," he said.

"The fact that such extinguishment occurred without consultation is also irrefutable. Whether the provisions of the Marine Living Resources Act (18 of 1998) in so far as section 43 are concerned would survive a test of constitutional validity is debatable."

The three were charged under the Marine Living Resources Act and a Transkei military decree (9 of 1992), which had not been repealed. They were acquitted of three other charges.

Ms Wicomb said the judgment was " better than we expected " and an appeal would be lodged in the Mthatha court shortly.

University of Cape Town social researcher Jacqueline Sunde said in court papers the community had a long history of using the area’s marine resources and that "several international and regional human rights and fisheries instruments developed in the past three decades articulated the obligation of states to recognise, protect and promote the customary rights of fishing communities".

Issues of War affected people in Baticaloa Directed to Eastern Chief Minister

National Fisheries Solidarity Movement work with war affected people in Baticaloa district for few years. Specially widowed women and resettled people are our concerns. We intervene through awareness raising on Social, Political and economical issues they face and also to develop livelihood activities.

As we are an organization that can not directly solve most of the community issues, we planned to meet Eastern province Chief minister and direct the issues to political authority. On 15^th May 2012 we met the Mr Shiwanesathurei Chandrakhnthan, CM of Eastern province and handed over the community issues which were collected from five villages of Chenkaladi divisional secretariat division. It included the following villages Walicakandy, Kopavali,Thumpalachcholei, Kithul and Urukamam.

We gathered the issues from the villages to a form and rechecked with village leaders befor handover to CM. A petition signed by village heads were also enclosed with it.

For this event Mr. Anthony Jesudasan, (Overall coordinator of North and East Program of NAFSO) Mrs. Lavina Hasanthi (Coordinator of Women Program of NAFSO), A. Selvakumar (NAFSO voluntary activists  – Baticaloa district)   and Mr. Prashanthan (member of Baticaloa town council) were also partipated.

According to the peoples’ information of five villages following are the main issues they facing-

Number of families still live in Temporary hoses;- 584

Houses without toilet facilities;- 647

Widowed Women;- 184

Number of families have no proper water supply;- 780

Families without electricity;- 790

Number of families not included in “Samurdhi subsidies” scheme;- 250  

Chief Minister, Mr. S.Chandrakhanthan given his positive words on the raised issues. According to him,

Houses will be provided through the government housing scheme for these families and toilet facilities, electricity, Samurdhi issues will be solved as soon as possible.  

Specially Samurdhi will be provided soon, to families in Thumalacholei, who have no information on there husbands after the war.  

Read Tamil Mirror News Article

Tourism sector Development and Peoples' right to live in Sri Lanka

Prior Arrangements on Economic Rehabilitation Program

Monthly evaluation meeting on  the programs that NAFSO implements especially in the North and East was held commonly on 3^rd of April 2012.  District coordinators in Jaffna, Mannar, Ampara, Trincomalie, Betticaloa and Kilinochchi participated to the meeting and administrative secretary and program coordinators participated as NAFSO secretariat.

 In the mean while a separated meeting was conducted with the district animators in Trincomalie, Mannar and Betticaloa where the new project called Economic Rehabilitation Program among women headed families is going to implement to assess the previous month progress according to the plan on this project. Therefore, some planed activities have been complete in district level.

According to Mannar district, they have met women who are in Thaalpadu  community to aware about the project and identify their attitude on that. A meeting was held to identify the correct members for selecting committee. They have nominated some committee members consisting of religion leaders, Grama office, president of citizen forum, one deputy minister of education, president of  focus group, one representative of local government and coordinator of wome rural development society.

As Trincomalie district, they have discussed  about the project among activators   moreover and prepared a rough plan to continue the project. Information about various  income generation activities and potential to be started have been collected and categorized as sector wise.  They also have identified some persons to the selecting committee as one principle, Grama officer, president of fisher cooperative society, one representative of local government, president of citizen forum, religion leader and president of district women society.

Betticaloa district also has completed some planned activities. They have prepared a rough plan to conduct the program discussing among them.  As a important  thing, they have discussed with Grama officer, members of agrarian society, president of rural labour society and president of focus group   to build up the selecting committee.

The basic preparation is been achieved to implement the project strongly. 

Task force recommends reducing global harvest of 'forage fish'

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A task force that conducted one of the most comprehensive analyses of global "forage fish" populations issued its report this week, which strongly recommends implementing more conservative catch limits for these crucial prey species.

The Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force calls for the harvest reduction of sardines, anchovies and other forage fish so that they can continue to serve as critical prey for larger species, including salmon, cod and tuna, as well as for dolphins, whales, penguins and seabirds.

The report concludes that the fish are "twice as valuable in the water as in a net."

"Forage fish are essential components of marine ecosystems," said Selina Heppell, an Oregon State University fisheries ecologist and one of the authors on the report. "The status and importance of each species can be difficult to evaluate because many of them migrate long distances and they can fluctuate dramatically in abundance.

"There also are regional differences in how the fisheries are managed and the relative health of the population," added Heppell, who is an associate professor in OSU's Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. "The West Coast sardine fishery, for example, is carefully monitored. They have a 'harvest control rule' that sets the harvest at about 10 percent of the overall stock, and when the population gets below a certain level, they stop fishing.

"Those are the kinds of regulations that may need to be adopted in other parts of the world."

Funded by the Lenfest Ocean Program, the task force is comprised of 13 scientists from the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, and France. They include researchers who have studied forage fish, as well as their predators, including larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals.

The task force reviewed forage fisheries worldwide and conducted analyses of 82 marine ecosystem models. It concluded that these small schooling fish are a crucial link in marine food webs because they consume phytoplankton and in turn are preyed upon by a variety of animals that may switch from one forage fish species to another, depending on relative abundance.

In computer model simulations, reduced harvest of forage fish led to persistence of top predators, and more fish for fisheries.

The harvest of these forage fish has increased with demand, as they are used not only for food – from canned sardines to anchovies on pizza – but primarily for fish meal and fish oil to feed farmed fish, pigs and chickens. They also are used as nutritional supplements for people.

"Traditionally, we have been managing fisheries for forage species in a manner that cannot sustain the food webs, or some of the industries they support," said Ellen K. Pikitch of Stony Brook University in New York, who led the task force. "As three-fourths of marine ecosystems in our study have predators highly dependent on forage fish, it is economically and biologically imperative that we develop smarter management for these small but significant species."

The report estimates that forage fish worldwide generate $5.6 billion as direct catch, but contribute more than double that - $11.3 billion – by serving as food for other commercially important fish.

Oregon State's Heppell said conservative management is particularly important because these forage fish are subject to major fluctuations. Sardines almost completely disappeared from the northern California Current System for about 30 years then reappeared during the 1980s. By the 1990s, sardines were again harvested and their numbers peaked around 2000, but have begun dropping again.

Likewise, eulachon smelt once filled many Northwest rivers and have largely disappeared, she noted.

"There has been a growing concern by commercial and recreational fishing groups about the status of forage fish, because they are so important to their livelihood," said Heppell, who is on the science team of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages West Coast fisheries.

"This report underscores the need for ecosystem-based management because the success of forage fish is important for dozens of other species that we care about," she added.. Original message

Economic Rehabilitation Program among Women Headed families

NAFSO works with women headed families as well as Internal Displaced People(IDPs) who were become as a result of the war especially in the North an East. So, NAFSO has significant experience and equitable information about the women headed families. We have analyzed existing situation in the community ,  income generation activities  and potentials to be engaged with self employment ways.  We are looking for any opportunity to assist women headed families for enhancing their economic strength.

 

In this situation, we have a golden space to assist women headed families through a new project called Economic Rehabilitation Program among women headed families. So, a introducing workshop about the new project for our district activators who are the responsible pilots in district level   was held as  the prior work  at the Chithana Training Center in Nainamadama on 13/15 of March 2012. 

It was planed to implement this project in Trincomali, Betticaloa and Mannar districts. we succeeded in

providing  better understanding about the project  for field activators and plan some necessary

basic preparations. According to that, we planed some activities to fulfill in district level as the basement of implementing this project.   

   

Inceptive activities –

1.       Discuss with field staff and prepare a  rough plan

2.       Reorganize the collected information about women headed families as sector wise

3.       Update the existing records on women headed families

4.       List out the women headed families who were already engaged with NAFSO through existing information

5.       Find the information about the women headed families who did not engage with NAFSO using stabilized form

6.       Maintain separated files for different sectors

         Community facilitators related to the project have been recruited in each district so, they have  started preparing basic arrangement on the project.  We arranged a field visit to assess the progress of the basic arrangement  on the project in Betticaloa district.   We were able to discuss with district activators as well as women who are in Velikakandi, Thumpalahcholei and Kopaveli villages.  We identified some income generation activities which                       can be started as widows in the regional level.

             Those are

·                                                                                                                                                                   Animal husbandry( Hens, Goats, Cows)

·         Home garden

·         Sewing

·         Palm productions

·         Food productions

 We are considering and categorizing the information to implement the project successfully.  We would like to assist more than 420 women headed families in Betticaloa as well as Trincomali and Mannar district on this project in near future.

Our Seas are Empty today-So, our plates and our stomachs are empty. - FAFO statement

Mr. President of IFAD, Vice President, Diplomatic delegates, Comrades, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,
My name is Herman Kumara,
 I represent Small Scale, Artisanal Fishers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, through World Forum of Fisher Peoples’. [WFFP].
 Within the given short period I need to draw your attention on the situation of SSF, why those happened so and possible solutions we foresee to overcome the situation. However, our message to this august assembly may be disturbed you all.

Why do I say so?
Our Seas are Empty today,
Our Nets are empty too.
So, our plates and our stomachs are empty.

 This is the disaster. The FAO has reported and we are daily experiencing the depletion of fish stocks and no viable income for our survival. What are the reasons of empty seas?

Over exploitation of marine resources by Factory trawlers, Pollution due to dumping garbage and nuclear wastes to the aquatic environment, destructive fishing gears, dynamiting, bottom trawlers and other destructive methods so the recovery rate is very low.

Why our nets are empty?

That is because privatization of coastal and aquatic resources through ITQs, tourism, coastal industrial aqua culture practices. At the same time unaffordable rates of inputs such as fishing gears, Kerosene and other fuel, spare parts, prevent fishers to engage fishing.
Due to poor catch, fishers travel behind fish stocks and cross the international maritime boundaries and capture by coast guards and help in foreign jails for months or years. At the same time, the natural disasters caused to the coastal communities to put their life in to danger. And all these lead to the fisher communities to push in to the poverty, hunger and malnourished in many parts of the world.

We need solutions for all these vulnerable situations. However, when fisher communities are ready to overcome these situations through manage, own and sustain the water bodies, fisheries resources preventing from destructions, the respective regimes are not welcome our involvement, practical knowledge, wisdom we gained through life struggles to face such challenges.

 In this context, we welcome IFAD’s initiative to bring farmers organizations in the world to get the views of them and to promote stake holder participation effectively. Though there is limited participation for Fisher Folk organization, we do hope the attention will be paid for the voice of the fisher folk organizations adequately.
 However, we need adequate space for policy dialogues as small scale food producers. We do hope IFAD would facilitate these in many levels, starting from local, national, regional and global scales. For this we as WFFP and as representatives of Small Scale, artisanal Fisher Folk organizations urge from this august body of FAFO, to consider the important role play by the SSF, to reduce poverty, contribute to food security in the world and eradicate hunger and malnutrition and support SSF and their organizations to work effectively in National, regional and global levels.
 In concrete terms, we urge IFAD to consider; 
 To organize a special session on Small Scale Fisheries, Food Security and Poverty Reduction at the next Farmers Forum to be held in 2014.
 Support and facilitate to the fisher folk organizations to participate the Rio plus 20 global conference to be held in Brazil in 2012.
 In collaboration with all Rome based UN agencies, such as FAO, IFAD and WFP to facilitate the FF organizations and their effective participation of formulation Voluntary Guidelines on Securing Sustainable Small Scale Fisheries in the world.
This way, ensure FF contribution to supply cheap protein food supply to the poor and needy, reduce hunger and malnutrition and poverty among fisheries communities.
Through these, we believe the recognition of fisher folk and the dignity of them will be enhanced as important small scale food producer in the world. There will be more youth engage in fisheries when fisheries become a viable and respectable livelihood among others.

Thank You Mr. President.
Herman Kumara, Convener-National Fisheries Solidarity Movement[NAFSO],
Special Invitee, World Forum of Fisher Peoples’ [WFFP] 2010 Statement

Ensure the security of Fishers Union Leaders Herman Kumara and Anura Roshantha

We, the undersigned civil society organisations and activists, are deeply disturbed by the threats faced by Mr. Herman Kumara of the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) and Mr. Aruna Roshantha Fernando of All Ceylon Fisher Folk Federation (ACFFF) and condemn these attempts to stifle democratic rights and silence these leaders.

Herman Kumara was followed from the airport by an unknown group upon his return to Sri Lanka after attending a meeting overseas on 24th February 2012. This group tailed him to his village and made inquiries from neighbours about his whereabouts. Herman Kumara believes that their intention was to abduct him.

We believe that that the current threat to Herman Kumara is a direct consequence of his naming in Parliament by the Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Development, Dr. Rajitha Senarathne on 21st February 2012, as one of two persons responsible for the protests of the fishing community against the fuel price increase – in which one fishermen in Chilaw was shot dead by the Special Task Force (STF).

Despite numerous statements by the protestors themselves that their agitation was spontaneous and self-organised, and not instigated by others, both Herman Kumara and Anura Roshantha have had to go into hiding in fear of their safety because of these unfounded and malicious allegations.

Herman Kumara is the national convenor of a vibrant fisher people’s organisation in Sri Lanka – the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) – and he has been the General Secretary of the World Federation of Fisher People (WFFP) for several years.

He is a leading activist involved in other movements including the People’s Alliance for the Right to Land (PARL). He has worked tirelessly on individual campaigns to protect the rights of fishermen in the Negombo lagoon, whose livelihood was threatened by the introduction of sea-planes, and in opposing moves to appropriate the land of villagers in Kalpitiya for tourist development.

We have worked with Herman Kumara and his organisation for many years and we know the important role they have played in creating people’s awareness and sustaining the struggle against injustice where the socio-economic and democratic rights of people are threatened by the State or other actors.

Herman Kumara and NAFSO have also participated in building solidarity between people in the North and East and those in the South through people-to-people dialogues for peace and sustainable development. The despicable threats and the use of the state media to intimidate Herman Kumara and NAFSO aim to undermine all these initiatives.

These threats against Herman Kumara and others are not isolated incidents but rather, just an example of a pattern of events that is taking place in the country to intimidate civil society organisations and human rights defenders involved in protecting and securing the rights of our fellow citizens. As organisations and individuals actively involved in struggles and movements for social justice and democratic rights, we are deeply concerned by these recent incidents targeting individuals, and the broader trends of intimidation and violence.

We would like to appeal to all people, regardless of political opinion, to join in solidarity to condemn this intimidation and to call for basic freedoms of association and expression to be protected so that Herman Kumara, Anura Roshantha, and many others activists and organisations, can function freely.

We appeal to the government of Sri Lanka to take urgent steps to:

Conduct impartial investigations into the threats faced by Herman Kumara and Anura Roshantha;

1.To protect the lives of these activists exercising their lawful and constitutionally protected freedoms;
2.To instruct state security and intelligence agencies to desist from surveillance and intimidation of all activists engaged in non-violent social action;
3. To unequivocally and publicly defend the rights of human rights defenders in accordance with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

Endorsed by (Organizations):

1. Movement for Land and Agricultural Reforms (MONLAR)
2. Uva farmers’ collective of poison free agriculture (UFCPFA)
3. Vikalpani National Women’s Federation
4. People’s Health Movement
5. Sri Lanka Nature Group
6. Environment Conservation Trust
7. Mothers and Daughters of Lanka
8. Womens Centre
9. IMADR Asia Committee
10. Sri Lanka human rights defender network
11. Centre for Environmental Justice.
12. Savisthri women’s Movement
13. Women’s Action for Social Justice
14. National Active Women’s United Collective
15. Centre for Policy Alternatives
16. Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union
17. Movement Of Stand-Up
18. All Lanka Peasants Front
19. Interfaith Cooperation Forum
20. International Movement of Catholic Agricultural and Rural Youth
21. International Federation of Catholic Adult Rural Movements
22. FIAN Sri Lanka Working Group
23. Uwa Vellassa Kantha Sanvidhanaya
24. Southern Fisheries organization, Matara
25. Christian Alliance for Social Action
26. People for Human Rights and Equality (PHRE), Melbourne, Australia
27. Lawyers for Democracy
28. Lanka Solidarity
29. People’s Alternatives to Climate Change and Crisis in Agriculture

Endorsed by (Individuals):

1. Rev. Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda
2. Fr. Oswald B. Firth, OMI
3. Rev. Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando
4. Rev Fr Ashok Stephen OMI
5. Prof. Kumar David
6. Prof Amal Kumarage
7. Dr. Sumathy Sivamohan – Senior Lecturer
8. Dr. Deepika Udagama—academic
9. Lionel Bopage
10. Melani Manel Perera – Journalist
11. Danesh Karunanayake – academic
12. Sunila Abeysekara
13. Gamini Viyangoda
14. Balasingham Skanthakumar
15. Chandraguptha Thenuwara- Artist/ Senior Lecturer
16. Padma Pushpakanthi- Social Development Activist
17. K. P. Somalatha- Social Development Activist
18. Priyanjith Alokabandara – freelance journalist
19. Anushaya Collure
20. H.M.P. Sanjeewanie – Researcher
21. Ruki Fernando
22. Shanthi Sachithanandam
23. Sandun Thudugala
24. Rohini Hensman (freelance writer and researcher)
25. Mylvaganam Sooriasegaram
26. Santhush Kumar Pararajasingam
27. Sunil Bastian
28. Shamala Kumar, University of Peradeniya
29. Ainslie Joseph, Convenor of Christian Alliance for Social Action
30. Ahilan Kadirgamar
31. Balachandran Gowthaman
32. Mahendran Thiruvarangan
33. Shakya Pathmalal Lahiru
34. Niyanthini Kadirgamar
35. Marshal Fernando
36. Dayapala Thiranagama
37. Mahendran Thiruvarangan
38. Chinthaka Rajapakse

Monday, 26 March 2012

Original Massage:
transcurrents : Ensure the security of Fishers Union Leaders

Acquainting workshop on new project

 NAFSO is waiting to implement a new rehabilitation project which is called Economic Rehabilitation Program among women headed families. This project was planned to implement especially in Trincomali, Betticaloa and Mannar district. Every basic preparation was completed to be a reality in the relevant fields. So, NAFSO organized  a workshop to introduce about the new project for responsible pilots in district level. According to that the  acquainting   workshop was held in Chinthana Training Center at Nainamadama on 14 and 15 of March 2012. District coordinators as well as their community facilitators in above districts participated to the workshop. Miss. Geetha Lakmini, Priyankara costa, Anthony Jesudasan, Laveena Hasanthi and Praeep wanigasuriya also participated as NAFSO secretariat.

District participants were well educated about the project contains ,  goals, strategies,   time frame and other important components  . District community facilitators have already  been identified  to implement the project in the field well. So, we succeeded in providing  better understanding about the project  for field activators and plan some necessary basic preparation on this project. As the important thing, we identified major criteria to select the beneficiaries and responsible officials who should be nominated for the selecting committee with the agreement of district activators.  According to that, some basic agreements between district activators and NAFSO secretariat were singed on this project.

So, some basic arrangements in the project are being prepared in district level discussing  with field staffs, other relevant persons, Government officials, religion leaders, and community leaders. This is not a first approach to the women headed families who are living in the North and East in the country. NAFSO has experiences working with women headed families as well as Internal Displaced People (IDPs) as overall war effected people in the North and East especially. So, NAFSO has  experience and relevant information about the women headed families to implement the project strongly.

We are willing to assist more than 1500 women headed families through this project. Specific objective of this project is that Economic rehabilitation for poverty alleviation and food security among 1500 women headed families, fish and agriculture communities based in Trincomalee and extended to neighboring Batticaloa and to Mannar districts in a post crisis situation. So, we are hoping to be reality of this project in the district field as a collaborative effort soon. 

SAAPE absolutely denounces the threats, intimidation and harassment towards human rights defenders and journalists by the Government of Sri Lanka

28 MARCH 2012, KATHMANDU, NEPAL

The South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE), a regional civil society network encompassing all eight countries of South Asia, absolutely denounces the threats, intimidation and harassment directed to Sri Lankan human rights defenders and journalists by the Government of Sri Lanka, against the background of the recent resolution on Sri Lanka adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council on 23 March 2012 in Geneva.

SAAPE members Nimalka Fernando, Sunila Abeysekera and Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu have been particularly attacked by the hate campaigns sponsored by the government and its crony media on the basis of their active involvement with regard to the aforementioned 19^th session of the Human Rights Council. All three human rights defenders and journalists have a long-standing credible history in the field of promoting and protecting human rights, exposing as well as opposing the culture of impunity and the lack of accountability and justice by the state to her innocent citizens. On this note, SAAPE also extends its solidarity and support to the statement jointly issued by these three members on 23 March defending their cause in continuing to uphold their commitment to their democratic ideals and goals.

SAAPE is strongly concerned for the full safety and dignity of its members who are firmly standing up against all types of injustices and gross human rights violations. SAAPE firmly believes that human rights violations of any kind is non-negotiable and hence, urgently calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to abide by the Constitution of the country including the international human rights conventions to which it is signatory. SAAPE demands that the Government of Sri Lanka is obliged to allow its citizens to fully and freely exercise their democratic rights for the promotion and protection of democracy, human rights and peace. SAAPE also appeals to the international community to support Sri Lankan peoples in their fight against the undemocratic culture propagated by the Government of Sri Lanka.  

Dr. Arjun Karki

Co-ordinator

Farmers Demanding fair Price for Paddy

Around 2000 farmers where majority are paddy cultivators staged a walking protest in Dambulla on 20th March. (North Central Province). Paddy farmers are struggling to sell their crops for fare price.
Price of all most all commodities have been increased within last one month time period after fuel price increase but paddy price per kilo have been decreased. Last season farmers have sold their paddy about 32 to 35 LKR, but this season price per 1Kg of paddy has decreased to 20 to 22LKR.

 Farmers are complaining that the government has not given enough attention to their issue, if the government buy the paddy for fixed price, private sector would take it for best price. Now it is only the private sector buys the paddy while government sector not paying enough attention. Paddy farmers are demanding 40LKR per Kg of paddy, while vegetable farmers are also demanding fair prices for vegetable.

Farmer organizations from Island wide gathered to support the farmers and also including fisheries sector people. Struggle will continue if the government not met the demand.

FAME March in Marseille'

alternative Water Forum which was held at Marselle, France from 14-17 March, 2012. It was an meeting place of various social movements struggling against water privatization and making profit from water. The theme of the forum was "Water For Life, Not For Sale". Several events, struggles, films, marches, debates, round tables, videos and many more displayed at the forum by various grass root groups, scholars, activists, indigenous people, etc. (To View photos go to the link) FAME March in Marseille

Fisheries Minister Mutate the words. No Connection of Church to the Stating of Names of HK and Aruna.

Discussion carried out with rev. fathers of Catholic church in Negombo area, including, Rev.Fr. Julian Thisera, Fr. Lester Nonis, Fr. Patric Perera, Fr. Sriyanada, to clarify the churchs' connection with the Fisheries ministers statement and on issue of  life threats to social activists.

By a Parliamentary statement of Fisheries minister, Dr. Rajitha Senarathne, have mentioned the names of Mr.Herman Kumara and Aruna Roshan. as the "culprits" behind fuel protest held on 13th Feb. 

According to Fisheries Minister, Fr. Lester Nonis and Archbishop of Sri Lanka, Malcam Ranjith, have  confirmed the connection of protest and mentioned social activists.

According to the rev. fathers who participated to the discussion, Fisheries Minister have misguide the people by altering rev. fathers words as always doing by politicians. Fr. Lester Nonis or Archbishop have never used the Names of Mr.Herman or Aruna, in any occasion according to them.      

After one our discussion, Rev. members of the church agreed to make a statement and publish it in church's monthly news letter, "Gnanarthaya Pradeepaya"  on next issue. 

Discussion was held in Dalupotha Church, on 15th March evening, with participation of social activists from several organizations, Fisher community members and family members of the victims.  

Urgent Alert: Sri Lankan APWLD member facing threats, intimidation

Urgent Alert: Sri Lankan APWLD member facing threats, intimidation

SRI LANKA: The Human rights activist for fisher folk Herman Kumara tells the story of the attempted abduction and continuing threat to his life — Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: The Human rights activist for fisher folk Herman Kumara tells the story of the attempted abduction and continuing threat to his life — Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: A plot to kill or otherwise harm the human rights defender Herman Kumara – AHRC

SRI LANKA: A plot to kill or otherwise harm the human rights defender Herman Kumara – AHRC

SRI LANKA: The Human rights activist for fisher folk Herman Kumara tells the story of the attempted abduction and continuing threat to his life — Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: The Human rights activist for fisher folk Herman Kumara tells the story of the attempted abduction and continuing threat to his life — Asian Human Rights Commission

The Hindu : States / Kerala : Protest march for fishermen protection

The Hindu : States / Kerala : Protest march for fishermen protection