Child Sex Tourism (CST) in Sri Lanka

Recently the Sri Lankan Tourist Board & UNICEF launched the ‘Zero Tolerance for Child Sex Tourism’ campaign in Sri Lanka.

CST rarely happens cos a 'tourist' looking for sex happen upon a child & offers him/her a gift in return for the favour – though it apparently does. It’s a wide-scale problem cos of the commercial nature it has taken – a ‘business’ run by a person ‘employing’ children & selling them off with a tidy commission for himself. There are even employees to ‘market’ the children. Apparently there are websites where paedophiles can actually ‘order’ children –by colour, height, age–I can’t verify that at this point though. There isn’t much that gets more twisted than this!

SL Stats: 100,000 children (6-14 yrs) are kept in brothels; an additional 5,000 children (10-18 years) work in tourist areas. (Sourced NCMEC)

The 'Zero Tolerance' campaigns through TV/radio ads(see pic), billboards, banners, car stickers, flyers, in-flight mags & disembarkation cards which publicize the msg. Well, kudos for the initiative. But, is it enough?

To see these ads, banners, etc one must already be in SL; to see the in-flight magazines one must already be in-flight! Would a paedophile read the notice & get off the flight or take a return flight back or just be extra careful? It is an underground trade after all! And how many peoples would arrive for a sunny holiday & suddenly be tempted to use a child for sex?

Realistically, without the poverty issue being resolved it’s unlikely there’ll be a significant change. CST is an underground trade – and will continue to be so. Skills training is catching around fast so there is hope!

Other Do-ables:

1. A tip-off system - tip offs to authorities who act IMMEDIATELY

2. Ban paedophiles. How? Stamping a holiday visa on arrival may encourage tourism, but it also encourages convicted paedophiles (either in their native countries or elsewhere). Technology which link international offender databases do exist. Scan a passport – scroll down past sexual offences – & wave him bye-bye!

3. Most importantly - empowering children. As Yasmin Haque (SL Unicef) said– “We…hope…the children…are able to say ‘no’…that they feel safe in saying ‘no’ to being pulled into the sex industry.” (my emphasis)

The ‘Zero Tolerance’ campaign needs to be commended for drawing attention to the issue. But we need MORE. Fast. Where are the funds? How about the private sector?

How much would it cost SL to gain access to such technology?

How much would it cost SL in the loss of childhoods? In traumatized future generations?

Must we sell our children to boost our economy?

Papers due..aarrrrrrgggghhhhhh!

Sorry, there won't be much blogging in the coming few days.. 2 papers due on Monday!!

aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!

Another Sri Lankan First!!

An hour ago AlertNet reported this:

"Long associated with sectarian violence in the Middle East, the suicide attack has been refined by Sri Lanka's secularist Tamil Tiger rebels into a sophisticated weapon of war.

Analysts generally agree that the Tigers pioneered the use of the concealed suicide bomb vest -- a technology now used to deadly effect across the world.

'There is no doubt about it, they have perfected the art of the suicide bomb,' said one Western diplomat.

'Security experts say the Tamils have adapted the strategy to battles on land and, most notably, at sea, where suicide "swarm tactics" against the Sri Lankan navy have been highly effective.

A survey of suicide attacks worldwide between 1980 and 2003 found that 24 percent were the work of the Tigers, outpacing such Middle Eastern armed movements as Hamas and Islamic Jihad." (My emphasis)

Another Sri Lankan FIRST!!

Painting:
The Scream,
Edvard Munch

Finally!!

AND I've finally updated my profile!!

I forgot to be eclectic!! ;o)

You know what I realized today?? This blog, since of late, has become more politically-oriented and not at all eclectic as I had intended!!

Oh, what tragedy!

Henceforth, I shall endeavour to keep future posts as eclectic as possible!

(ok, you can stop celebrating now)

AND I got that book of short stories (The Banana Tree Crisis) yesterday! Await my review (unbiased I promise!!)!

What happened in Sri Lanka Yesterday

This is what happened in Colombo, Sri Lanka yesterday:

"On Thursday, around 1,000 people marched in Colombo then gathered in a park to urge an end to the fighting. Reuters journalists said scuffles broke out between the peace activists and hardline Buddhist monks who oppose concessions to the rebels.

The scuffles turned into an open fight after the shaven-headed, saffron-robed monks took over the stage, forcing religious leaders from Hindu, Christian and Muslim communities as well as other Buddhist monks to flee.

'They were saying we should go to war,' said pro-peace monk Madampawe Assagee. 'We like to listen to other opinions so we let them do that but then they started fighting and we couldn't control some of our people.' There were no reports of serious injuries."

Full report here.

It's not the scuffle I find so bloody ridiculous. It's these three words: hardline Buddhist monks.

I thought Buddhists were advised to take the middle path, to not go to extremes, to say no to violence.

Guess I thought wrong.

OR maybe Buddhism gives different advise to those monks who live in temples and those who sit in Parliament? That must be it. So no worries then.

And in other news, the South African cricket team has flown home due to a security report on the state Sri Lanka is at the moment. Today's Daily News headlined the departure as "Shame: South African cricketers chicken out" while the Daily Mirror stated the South African team flew out "amid fears of losing rather than bombs."

To all of us who looked forward to the cricket, after all the endless reports of killing - what disappointment. We, who've lived all, if not most, of our lives during the war, the security situation is not one that makes us think of fleeing the country asap (if we possibly could). This in itself is sad cos to some extent it means we're immune to violence. And even more sadly, there are so many people for whom the war is "in the North" and of no real concern - unless a bomb blast in Colombo either injures/ kills a loved one or catalyses a curfew when they were so looking forward to going out clubbing..what tragedy! *Manshark rolling eyes* (not a pleasant sight!)

To most non-Sri Lankans, or even Sri Lankans who've left the country, fighting in Jaffna, fighting maybe even 300 or 400km away is so scary they'll be shitting in their pants. *Manshark rolling eyes again* So how can you blame the South Africans?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a postscript to the above post.

I just read this (the article on the South Africans leaving SL) - the website title should have alerted me - but guess I was a bit slow today. Anyways, this article claims the South Africans left SL cos "the past happenings in South Africa indicates that some political elements in the country having a hidden political agenda in promoting and sympathizing with the LTTE Tamil terrorists. The top ranking murders of LTTE have been given rousing welcomes in South Africa. Is this plot a part of their hidden agenda to provide undue publicity to ruthless LTTE terrorists who don’t have a scant respect to the human lives and children rights."

Where/ what do these fuckwits crawl out of?? Seriously.

The CPA said..in Memory of K. Loganathan

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) said:

"We will have a demonstration this Wednesday (16th August) at 4: 30 pm at Lipton Circus to protest against the ongoing violence here. For this week we would like to ask everyone participating to do a board of their own focusing on a person, friend, individual or any other group that have been killed or assassinated because of ethnic conflict.

We will do about 15 with names of people who have been killed for those who do not have time to do their own. Please do one of your own choice if you have any. We would like to focus mostly on unarmed, civilian activists, politicians who have tried to intervene in this conflict and have been killed as a result.

This protest is in the memory of Kethesh Loganathan who was killed this Saturday and the many others like him.

Please bring any one else who may be interested in coming."

A Story from Another World

I don't know why I'm writing this blog and this story, but I needed to - perhaps cos I think could this have been my sister? My fiance's sister? My best friend? Me?? In another life?

The year was 2004.

There was a teenager called Atefah Sahaaleh who was 16 years old and lived in Iran. She had lost her mother to a car crash as a child after which her father spiralled into drug addiction. Her life, amongst the teenage angst we all went through/ are going through, consisted of cooking and cleaning for her grandparents. A psychologist who examined her reported that she was desperately looking for love. Not an unusual story.

On a previous occassion after being seen in a car with a boy, her chastity was called into question. She received 100 lashes as punishment.

When she was 13 she started a relationship with a man, a taxi driver by profession, who was quite a bit older than her (some reports say he was about 51 years old). This relationship, if it was of a sexual nature, would be - in most, if not all, Western countries - what is called statutory rape. She claimed she had been raped by the 51 year old man - but rape is almost impossible to be made out in Iran where the age of consent for a girl is 9 years. Let's assume, there was no rape and she had had a "relationship" with this man. It's still an adult taking advantage of a child. It's a desperate little girl looking for love - from wherever she can find it.

Under the Islamic law code in Iran, a girl in a sexual 'relationship', over the age of consent (9 years) takes the responsibility of having "tempted" a man.

Her documents, for some reason, stated her as 22 - the legal age after which the death sentence can be imposed as punishment. She was convicted of committing acts acts which were 'incompatible with chastity'.

One of her other "crimes" was arguing with the Judge at her trial. (I guess sort of like SB Dissanayake, in Sri Lanka, who was given 2 years RI for contempt of court - an unfair sentence in terms of precedent, in general legal opinion.) The difference though? Atefah had no access to legal counsel.

She was convicted and sentenced to death. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence.

Where were you two years ago (Aug 15th) yesterday??

Two years ago yesterday Atefah was dragged through the town square and hanged - the noose applied by the trial judge himself.

Human Rights live on. So does cultural relativism.

For more info.

If Children = Terrorists - what is "right"??

This is the ethical dilemma that I cannot think my way out of.

The LTTE claims that the SL forces bombed an orphanage and have killed at least 61 schoolgirls and injured at least 150 more.

The govt categorically denies this allegation.

"It is a lie to say that schoolchildren were targeted," government spokesperson Chandrapala Liyanage told the AFP news agency. "The air force had bombed a LTTE training centre. We don't know if they had moved child soldiers there" - I've sourced this from the BBC.

I think I can safely make these two assumptions:

1. Terrorism should never be tolerated.

2. Children have nothing to do with war - they should be kept as far away from it as possible under the circumstances.

BUT IF (I'm saying IF here so don't get your pants in a twist!) children are/ were being used by terrorists, not as shields, but as cadres - they're being trained to become potential terrorists. If the children are of an age between 15-18 where if they are brainwashed "trained" well enough they are potential suicide bombers, is it still wrong if they are taken out by security forces?

What does everyone think??

What is the "right" and/or "ethical" answer?

What is the "political" and/ or "legal" answer?

Does anyone care about what is right or wrong when it comes to politics and the military and war?

Liberty Plaza Bomb Blast

The bomb blast near the Liberty Plaza shopping centre, which has taken 7 lives and injured at least 17 is said to have been targeted at a military convoy which was escorting a VIP according to TamilNet news while the Pakistan Foreign Ministry confirmed their Ambassador to SL was targeted.

The blast "came after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Air Force jets bombed an orphanage in the northeast, killing 43 schoolgirls aged 15-18 and injured 60" according to AlertNet. The military confirmed there had been air raids but denied knowledge of such an incident according to BBC though the LTTE Peace Secretariat photos show otherwise.

The BEST book EVER is in stores NOW!!!

The best book of short stories EVER!!

You can get it at the nearest Vijitha Yapa Bookshop or online here!!

Enjoy!!

Lessons to Learn, Questions to Ponder

The two films I watched over the weekend were both documentaries and screened here as part of the Melbourne Int'l Film Festival this year.

Iraq in Fragments was a movie in three parts - Mohammed of Baghdad, Sadr and the Kurds of the South. Mohammed of Baghdad is an 11 year old boy who works for a Sunni man as an apprentice. He has failed grade 1 three times and is repeating it again now. He knows only how to write his own name. He keeps dropping out of school so he can work. The segment ends showing him working at a new place - having given up school completely apparently - where he is very happy. In between running around working and getting into mischief, this boy listens to the passionate conversations of the adults around him - most of which claim that while Saddam Hussain gave them no freedom, Iraq was in a much better state then; now Baghdad is not a city with rivers and green trees - it's all red, red, red and bland and people are suffering much more because there are no jobs.

What stuck with me about this part of the film - Mohammed is asked by his school teacher what he wants to be when he grows up - a doctor, an engineer, a pilot? He says he wants to be a pilot cos then he can fly up, up where he can see birds flying and from where he can look at all the beautiful countries that exist; he says he will leave all the ugliness in Iraq behind and fly down into the most beautiful country he sees.

The second segment covers the story of a Shiite youth who is taking on a leadership position in his area. The third segment is about an elderly father and his very young teenage son who are kurdish. The boy talks of going to school and the plans he and his bestfriend has - of becoming a doctor. Later he has quit school and is working in the fields cos his father is too old to manage by himself and there are other siblings in the family to be supported.

What stuck with me about this part of the movie is the father says there has been too much blood spilt between the Kurds, the Sunni and the Shiite people in Iraq. The only way to have peace is to cut the country into three pieces.

Off camera, a little child questions his statement - "Iraq is a country. How can you cut it into pieces? With a saw?"

The second movie I watched was A Hero's Journey - a documentary narrated by Xanana Gusmao - the man behind the birth of the nation state of Timor Leste (translated as "East - where the sun rises"). This is by far the most beautiful movie I have ever watched - in terms of photography and content. It's extremely moving and I cried through many parts of the movie and after it, stood in line to talk to the producer (who was there) about getting the DVD cos it's a movie to be watched everytime one feels the weight of the world on one's shoulders.

In the movie, we are taken, by Gusmao, to the mountains in Timor Leste, covered in misty clouds, where he hid during his guerilla days, and he talks of trying to sleep there, his feet numb in the freezing conditions; he introduces us to an elderly lady who looked after him for almost a year when he had Malaria and wanted to die. He introduces and hugs the man who betrayed him to the Indonesian forces which led to Gusmao's arrest, charged with subversion, deprived of his defense & sentenced to life imprisonment. We're taken to the prison where he served 7 years before his release after the referendum. He talks to the villagers of a village where five men were taken to an open field by Indonesian forces and the villagers were forced at gun point to gather around - then relatives of the chosen five men, mostly fathers and brothers, were asked to shoot them. Afterwards, female relatives of the chosen five men were asked to stab the men just in case the shots hadn't killed them. The village name starts with "M" - I can't remember it now as I cried right thru this bit. There were many such inhuman massacres in East Timor leading upto the referendum and right after it. For more info on the 24-year conflict go to Gendercide Watch.

There is so much to this film that I can go on for days and days. Int'l release of the movie is being sought at the moment and I hope and pray all of you out there will get a chance to watch it too.

This is what is called inspiration. What stuck with me most about this movie - Gusmao takes us to his Presidential Palace - a bullet-pock-marked building that's falling apart - perhaps under all that it has witnessed.

Gusmao is very aware of the responsibility that weighs on his shoulders - but he is optimistic. He says cheerfully, "when you dream, dream big."

As a Sri Lankan, and with all the baggage that comes with it, these two movies made me realize just how young I am and yet how very very old.

Lessons to learn...and ...Questions to ponder...

Me Back!

And...I'm BACK!!

This pic is SO not me. Anyways, I watched two movies last Sat (what? what? WHAT?? I'm a geek, so what??):

1. Iraq in Fragments (Dir: James Longley, 2006), which won 3 awards at this year's Sundance Film Festival and

2. A Hero's Journey (Dir: Grace Phan, 2006), the BEST MOVIE I've ever watched!!

Will write all about them in the next blog..It's well-after midnight and my tummy's making rumbly-tumbly noises - dinner calls!

;o( ;o( ;o( ;o( ;o(

Me feeling down and out... so no blogging ;o(

Buddhism

I was doing what I do best - reading random blogs - when I came across Cynically Yours' blog and read it with growing shock.

A few readers of the above said blog had asserted that such sightings happen not only in SL (or Buddhists) and exist in other parts of the world with other religions. In fact, the bloger herself has had to clarify that she was not talking just of Sri Lanka. There are many religions in the world which are based on faith. Buddhism, as far as I've understood it, is not in anyway based on faith - it's a philosophy which rationalizes a way of life. Therefore, comparisons to beliefs that are held by religions based on faith are unequal and thereby void.

The Buddha was a human being who developed his mind to a point where he was able to let go of the trappings of life. It was he himself who advised and encouraged those who chose the Buddhist way of life to take his word and use it as a springboard to understand a certain concept instead of blind faith in his word. This is the basis of the importance of living a "Buddhist" life rather than visiting the temple everyday to accumulate "merit."

We Buddhists worship the Buddha, in respect for imparting to us a philosophy for living a certain way of life, and lay flowers/ light lamps at his feet, to remind ourselves of the impermanence of the material aspects of life. We do not worship the Buddha or light lamps merely to accumulate "merit." This is why the claim of seeing "budu ras emitting from cement statues...[which]...are supposed to be symbolic" (as Cynically Yours has said so well) is so against everything that is Buddhist and is shocking.

This brings me to a point which has continued to bother me, for a very long time and more so in the last couple of years, about Buddhists in Sri Lanka. I am not talking of Buddhists elsewhere because I don't know enough about their beliefs and traditions to make such comments.

Section 9 (Ch 2) of the Sri Lankan Constitution reads "The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana...". Therefore Buddhism is given "the foremost place" in most things including poltical decisions. However, I wonder if Buddhism is given the foremost place in the homes of a lot of Buddhist people?

The JHU lobbied, with much support behind them, to have anti-conversion legislation changed to safeguard Buddhism in Sri Lankan society. But what are we trying to safeguard when we say safe guarding "Buddhism"?

One of the strongest memories I have from my childhood is sitting in the Budu Ge at my grandmother's house listening to the soft-spoken intonations of pirith. Even today, the fragrance of incense reminds me of the getting-dressed-for-school time of my teenage years and the memory of my grandmother sitting on her low stool in front of the Buddha Statue taking pansil.

One of the most important advises, among so so many, my grandmother imparted to me, was to take Pansil every morning - not to receive "merit" but to remind myself of what I believe in as I go through the rest of my day. As years passed, I found that I could not reconcile starting the day with "I shall not take the life of a living being" and eating the flesh and blood of a being whose life was taken by another for my enjoyment/ consumption.

What bothers me about Sri Lankan Buddhists is this - whether they expressly take Pansil everyday or not, pansil is the minimum a lay-Buddhist would, or seek to, uphold in their everyday life.

In a country where Buddhism is given the foremost place, in a country where Buddhists are bothered by the fast conversions happening around them, why are we so ready to preserve something, of which the majority of Buddhists cannot seem to uphold the most basic of principles?

Please note here that I am not in anyway advocating policies and legislation advocating "vegetarianism for Buddhists" - for one thing, that is against the very principles of Buddhism (one need not be ordered or told what to do - it must come from within with one's own understanding) and for another, I am not some fanatic trying to force people to accept my ideas..at least not yet.

I am merely asking why it is that we are striving so hard to preserve in society that which we cannot seem to preserve in our very own homes?

Sorry this is so long!

Ski Pics!!

I can't be bothered writing anything at all today cos I am tired...and unfortunately I have become incredibly irritating to myself..pity you can't run away from yourself ;o(

So, to save all you poor souls too from my irritating self today.. Here we go with the much awaited pics from the SKIING (of course all you good people out there were waiting for these - you just didn't know it!)



...Ready









..Steady (err.. maybe not)







GO!

What a great day that was!