Sri Lanka is still dealing with the aftermath of its most devastating economic crisis since independence, a government without popular support and intensifying geopolitical competition in its neighborhood, a year after the Sri Lanka’s massive unrest. Known as the Aragalaya protests which were spurred by the economic crisis, the protests led to mass resignations across the government with former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing the country in July 2022.

In the year since, the country has secured an IMF agreement, and its economy has ambled toward a slow path of recovery. However, there have still been concerns on the human rights front as the current government of Ranil Wickremesinghe has clamped down on further protests and continually postponed elections.

Sri Lanka’s economy appears to be making a slow and steady recovery, but its governance challenges must be addressed to sustain the momentum. Its domestic politics, economics and foreign relations have evolved one year after the country-wide protests.

The government of Wickremesinghe, who was elected president by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the party of the once politically dominant Rajapaksa family, is engaged in sustained efforts to enact repressive laws that stifle dissent and curtail the freedoms of media and civil society. Since parliamentary elections have not been held in the aftermath of the political crisis the current government is the same as the one headed by Gotabaya, the only difference is that Wickremesinghe is the president. Although the conditions of the IMF bailout package have pushed the government to propose some reforms, such as a new anti-corruption law, the lack of political will makes it unlikely that these initiatives will precipitate change in government behavior. Particularly since those in Parliament are the very same people who were part of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime and responsible for the multi-dimensional crisis with which Sri Lanka is still grappling. These parliamentarians have been reportedly demanding ministerial portfolios from Wickremesinghe to continue their support to him, thereby demonstrating the ongoing corrupt political culture and lack of accountability.

The military continues to acquire land in the north and east to expand military camps. Security agencies and the military have continued their surveillance, intimidation and harassment of civil society organizations, the media, families of the disappeared, former combatants and Tamil political and civic activity in conflict-affected areas. The draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act, which does not adhere to international human rights standards and the implementation of which has resulted in human rights violations, is still on the statute books. As part of the Sinhalization of the north and east, which has rapidly escalated, Hindu temples are being destroyed and in their place Buddhist temples being built.

There has also been no progress in holding perpetrators of human rights violations related to the war accountable. Nor has there been any attempt to provide a political solution to the ethnic conflict or undertake substantive constitutional reform. Instead, to avoid being subject to the scrutiny of the U.N. Human Rights Council, the government is proposing the establishment of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, its version of the truth-seeking mechanism, while hundreds of recommendations of similar previous commissions remain unimplemented. 

The 2022 protests did ignite increased public discourse on issues of public interest and demands for accountability, at least on certain issues, such as how public funds are spent and corruption. Yet, the decades-long rights struggle of communities, such as the Tamils, which have challenged the state and particularly the Rajapaksas, was largely absent in the narrative and the consciousness of the protesters.

Increased political awareness among the southern public has the potential to be the beginning of the acknowledgment of historical discrimination and repression, which should ideally result in the south heeding and addressing calls for truth, justice and equal citizenship. Such realization can lead to a pluralistic and diverse Sri Lanka where one would not have to divest one’s ethnic or religious identity to be Sri Lankan.

Hence, legal reforms alone will not change the way Sri Lanka’s institutions and politicians behave and perform. To ensure that the momentum generated in 2022 for accountability from elected representatives evolves into sustained challenges to entrenched systems of discrimination and corruption, the root causes of Sri Lanka’s crises and the multiple elephants in the room must be addressed.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its international debt a year ago, after facing unprecedented inflation and a balance of payments crisis. In sight of securing a new IMF program, Sri Lanka’s relationship with New Delhi has grown considerably stronger along economic and diplomatic lines, while their already close defense ties are largely unchanged. By contrast, China’s response has been highly disappointing to Sri Lanka, which continues to wait on Beijing’s full cooperation in debt restructuring.

India’s economic support to Sri Lanka predates the 2022 crisis. In 2020, New Delhi agreed to a $400 million currency swap under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) framework. For more than a year, India was reportedly silent on whether it would approve Sri Lanka’s requests for an additional $1.1 billion currency swap and a moratorium on bilateral debt. Since early 2022, however, India’s support for Sri Lanka has been unprecedented. New Delhi perhaps realized the trendline of the impacts to the south was increasingly linked to its own economic and security interests and the credibility of its “neighborhood first” diplomacy.

The nature of support has been mostly lines of credit, currency swaps and deferred repayments. In January 2022, India provided another currency swap of $400 million under the SAARC framework. It also deferred settlement of $2 billion in Sri Lanka’s Asian Clearing Union trade credits, which are mostly for imports from India. In February 2022, it offered a line of credit worth $500 million for importing fuel from India, and the following month it provided a credit facility of $1 billion to buy food and medicine from India and further aid worth roughly $72 million. No less significantly, in January 2023, New Delhi provided the first assurances to the International Monetary Fund to enable the latter’s $2.9 billion package. Recently, India extended its $1 billion credit line for another year and appears likely to offer Sri Lanka a 12-year term to repay its debts. Later this month, President Wickremesinghe will make his first visit to India since entering office.

Beyond economic and diplomatic ties, India continues to be Sri Lanka’s primary defense partner. In the past year, the Sri Lanka Air Force has received a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft from India, while the two countries held their annual defense dialogue in February and the Sri Lanka-India naval exercise, SLINEX, in April.

In contrast, China has been mostly uncooperative despite being Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral lender. Earlier, it had offered a currency swap worth $1.5 billion that was subsequently criticized because Sri Lanka could not benefit from its stringent terms. It also offered another $500 million loan with interest in 2021. Most importantly, China’s reluctance to actively participate in the debt-restructuring process with other lenders has cemented deeply held concerns about its transactional approach to Sri Lanka and other growing economies. Earlier this year, China finally agreed to a moratorium on debt servicing to Sri Lanka for only two years. But questions remain about whether Beijing will deliver on its assurances about debt restructuring.

Nevertheless, Sri Lankan officials representing their smaller state cannot afford to criticize China. Instead, officials emphasize their hope that Beijing will cooperate on the debt crisis and in other areas of the relationship. Wickremesinghe is expected to visit China in October to seek foreign direct investment in several projects, including for a potential $4 billion oil refinery in Hambantota.

Source: USIP

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UN Special Rapporteur of Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, has once again called on the authorities of Tajikistan to release imprisoned Tajik journalists and bloggers.

Mary Lawlor posted on her social media account, formerly Twitter, that during a meeting with Tajikistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Jonibek Hikmat, in New York on October 24, she reiterated her call for the Tajik authorities to release the convicted human rights defenders and journalists, including Daler Imomali, Abdullo Gurbati, and Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva.

Last year, in Tajikistan, eight journalists and bloggers were sentenced to various prison terms, ranging from 7 to 21 years. Four of them, Daler Imomali, Abdullo Gurbati, Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzoda, and Zavkibek Saidamini, were found guilty of collaborating with banned organizations. The journalists and their families have denied the allegations. Some of the convicted journalists claimed to have been subjected to torture in detention.

Tajikistan sentenced eight journalists and bloggers to various prison terms, ranging from 7 to 21 years. Four of them, Daler Imomali, Abdullo Gurbati, Abdusattor Pirmukhammadzoda, and Zavkibek Saidamini, were found guilty of collaborating with banned organizations.

Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva was arrested following the events of May 2022 in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) and was sentenced to 21 years in early December 2022. The Tajik authorities accused Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva of organizing mass disturbances in the Rushan district and the city of Khorog in May 2022. Supporters of Mamadshoeva consider the criminal case to be fabricated.

In September of this year, eight UN experts stated that they were awaiting a response from the Tajik authorities to a letter expressing concern about the fate of imprisoned journalists and civil activists. In their 20-page letter, they noted that the rights of detained journalists and activists were grossly violated from the time of their arrest to the trial.

In a letter signed, among others, by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, and the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, cases of torture and cruel treatment of detainees were cited. UN experts stated that the arbitrary arrests of some of the convicted individuals contradict the laws of Tajikistan and international law. They criticized the Tajik authorities for imprisoning detained journalists and bloggers on fabricated charges of extremism and collaboration with banned organizations. The actions of the Tajik authorities serve as a stern warning to other human rights defenders: criticism will be met with harsh punishment, as stated in the letter.

The Tajik government has faced criticism in recent years from the UN, Western countries, and international human rights organizations for regular human rights violations in the country.

Source : Radio Liberty

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John Hamilton and Sophie Daud gave a lecture on climate change to the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy 2023 cohort.

On 5 September, the Embassy joined a session with the 2023 cohort of the United Nations’ Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Preventive Diplomacy Academy (UNRCCA) to discuss the crucial topic of climate change.

Our Deputy Head of Mission, John Hamilton, was joined by Sophie Daud, the Chief Executive of the Future Leaders Network a youth-led, non-profit organisation that discovers and develops the next generation of leaders in the UK.

John gave an overview of climate issues facing Central Asia including, dwindling water resources, fast rising temperatures and growing greenhouse gas emissions. Sophie gave an informative insight into the workings of international climate negotiations and how to ensure youth voices can make a difference at the highest levels.

Sophie and John answered a wide range of insightful questions from across the Central Asia region. Their questions demonstrated that this set of future leaders have a deep understanding of the defining challenge of our age.

Source: UK Government

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The universal and absolute prohibition of torture has been enshrined in several universal and regional treaties, and all fifty-seven OSCE participating States have ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT). All States parties regularly submit reports to the UN Committee against Torture on measures being taken to implement the rights undertaken under the Convention, and receive recommendations from the Committee.

Against this backdrop, from 18 to 21 July 2023, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan (PCUz), in close collaboration with the National Center for Human Rights of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – Regional Office for Central Asia (UN OHCHR ROCA) held a specialized training course titled “Professional Development of State Agencies for the Preparation of the Sixth Periodic Report Of Uzbekistan on the Implementation of the [United Nations] Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” in the Tashkent region.

Thirty senior and mid-level government officials from the Senate and the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (National Parliament), as well as ministries and agencies gained a deeper understanding of the international practices for the preparation of the periodic state report to the UN Committee against Torture, and examined the importance of ratifying the Optional Protocol to the UNCAT.

In his opening remarks, the Acting OSCE Project Co-ordinator, Ambassador Clemens Koja, underlined that “with the OSCE Ministerial Council Decision 7/20 adopted in 2020, the OSCE participating States have explicitly and unequivocally pledged to uphold the absolute prohibition of torture. In 2017-2023, we have witnessed the serious efforts undertaken by Uzbekistan to identify and eliminate shortcomings in torture prevention, affecting the level of protection of human rights and freedoms.”

Professor Akmal Saidov, First Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, Director of the National Center for Human Rights of the Republic of Uzbekistan noted that “a fundamental right that is recognized in both national laws and international human rights treaties is the prohibition of inhumane treatment and torture. No one may be subjected to torture, violence, or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, declares the new Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan.”

Overall, participants deepened their knowledge of the UNCAT, the substantive state obligations and areas of interest for national reporting process, strengthening national capacity to improve the mechanism for monitoring and implementing the concluding observations of the UN Committee against Torture.

Mr. Jakhongir Azizkhodjaev, Acting Head of the UN OHCHR ROCA stressed that “amnesties for torture are incompatible with the obligations of State parties on absolute prohibition of torture; thus, they shall abstain from granting amnesties to perpetrators of torture and issuing pardons to persons found guilty of committing acts of torture.”

This specialized course was supported in the framework of the PCUz UB project “Promoting Rule of Law, Human Rights and Media Development”.

Source: Mirage News

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The United Nations on March 22 opened its first conference on water in almost half a century, aiming to address challenges concerning what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described as the “world’s lifeblood.” Activists from Central Asia participating the conference expressed hope that the gathering can mark a transformative moment.

“We must do something. There is no option to not act now,” Meerim Seidakmatova, founder of the Young Environmentalists group at the Kyrgyz National Agrarian University, said during a panel discussion hosted by Columbia University’s Harriman Institute on March 20.

Cholpon Aitakhunova, another panel participant, described the conference as historic. “I really believe … this [the UN conference] is something more inclusive; this is something more participatory.”

Ahead of the conference, UN agencies released a report that warned of a looming global water crisis unless nations immediately address overconsumption and pollution. Water scarcity is projected to affect upwards of 2.4 billion people around the globe by 2050, more than double the number in 2016, the report states. The three-day UN gathering aims to finalize a Water Action Agenda that promotes climate resilience, expanded access to clean drinking water, transboundary cooperation and sustainable development.

Central Asia is among the regions most threatened by stressed water supplies. A recent study showed that dwindling resources are causing the rapid degradation of agricultural land in the region, costing the economies an estimated $6 billion. Land in Central Asia, the study added, was five times more productive in the 1980s than it is now. A different study said the region faces a drinking water crisis, noting that 80 percent of rural residents in Tajikistan lack access to regular supplies of clean drinking water.

Lyazzat Syrlybayeva, a Kazakhstani water management expert, said political will in Central Asia has been building to address transboundary issues. “In general, over the past few years regional water cooperation has been strengthening,” she said. “All countries in the region understand the importance of cooperation.”

Seidakmatova, Syrlybayeva, Aitakhunova and other female activists from the region were attending the UN conference under the auspices of Women in Water Management – Central Asia and Afghanistan, an initiative supported by a variety of international organizations, including the OSCE, the Stockholm International Water Institute and CAREC, the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program. The initiative enables young activists and experts from Central Asia to gain global experience and build connections, better positioning them to play active roles in decision-making and water governance in their home countries.

“Women are among the stakeholders that need to be involved,” said Aitakhunova, a research fellow at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She quipped that having at least one woman in the room during negotiations on any given water-related issue can raise the chances of a successful outcome. In Central Asia, “when women are present at the table,” men “tend to be less confrontational, and more cooperative, more diplomatic.”

Source : Eurasianet

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DUSHANBE – In 2022, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) received a US$357,000 contribution from the Government of Japan in support of the country’s School Feeding Programme.

The contribution was used until February 2023 to purchase food commodities, including fortified wheat flour and vegetable oil and pulses, for 68,000 schoolchildren and their families in Tajikistan. Schools with Afghan refugee children and Tajik children from the host community who are at risk of food insecurity were prioritized.

“The Government of Japan has been a significant partner to WFP Tajikistan over the years,” said WFP Representative and Country Director Adham Musallam. “We are extremely grateful for Japan’s continued support as communities, including Afghan refugees, still need our support in strengthening food and nutrition security and building resilience against shocks.”

For more than 20 years, WFP has been providing healthy, nutritious school meals to Tajik children through the national School Feeding Programme. More than 450,000 primary school children in some 2,000 schools across the country receive daily hot meals and fresh bread.

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

Source : Relief Web

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The governments of Tajikistan and the Netherlands are in the midst of hosting the March 22-24 UN water summit in New York where experts will warn delegates that the world is facing an imminent water crisis – demand for fresh water is expected to outstrip supply by 40% by the end of this decade.

Water is an ever-increasing worry for Tajikistan. Disputes over water rights are one reason why the country has been embroiled in several armed clashes with neighbour Kyrgyzstan during post-Soviet times. Tajikistan is also among the Central Asian nations threatened by warming winters and shrinking glaciers that cause erratic and declining water supplies from the mountains. In fact, researchers say climate change is causing rapid melting of glaciers right across the ‘Third Pole’ – the Tibetan Plateau that is home to the largest global store of frozen water outside of the north and south polar regions – disrupting regional water distribution. The Third Pole functions as a complex water distribution system that delivers the life-giving liquid to multiple countries, including parts of Afghanistan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan and Tajikistan. 

A new worry for Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan is a decision by Afghanistan’s Taliban regime to push ahead with a major canal and irrigation scheme that could deplete water resources the trio draw from the Amu Darya border river. Iran is also involved in tense exchanges with the Taliban over river water rights in a border area, while an irate and water-stressed Iraq this week persuaded neighbour Turkey to release extra water flows from a dammed reservoir for at least one month.

At the UN 2023 Water Conference, experts are making the case that governments must urgently stop subsidising the extraction and overuse of water that is triggered by misdirected agricultural subsidies. A landmark report on the economics of water will be introduced as scientists urge nations to start managing water as a global common good, given how most countries are highly dependent on neighbours for key water supplies. It will outline how industries ranging from mining to manufacturing must be made to overhaul wasteful practices.

The report – Turning the Tide, A Call to Collective Action, by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water – is highly significant in that this is the first time that the global water system has been scrutinised comprehensively. Its value to individual countries, and the risks posed to their prosperity if the issue of water is neglected, is outlined in clear terms. As with the Stern review of the economics of the climate crisis in 2006 and the Dasgupta review of the economics of biodiversity in 2021, the report authors aim to highlight the water crisis in a way that policymakers and economists can easily deal with.

Johan Rockstrom, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and co-chair of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, and a lead author of the report, last week told the Guardian that the world’s neglect of water resources was leading to disaster. “The scientific evidence is that we have a water crisis. We are misusing water, polluting water, and changing the whole global hydrological cycle, through what we are doing to the climate. It’s a triple crisis.”

The report sets out seven calls to action on water:

• Manage the global water cycle as a global common good, to be protected collectively and in our shared interests.
   
• Ensure safe and adequate water for every vulnerable group, and work with industry to scale up investment in water.
   
• Stop underpricing water. Proper pricing and targeted support for the poor will enable water to be used more efficiently, more equitably, and more sustainably
   
• Reduce the more than $700bn of subsidies in agriculture and water each year, which often fuel excessive water consumption, and reduce leakage in water systems.
   
• Establish “just water partnerships” which can mobilise finance for low- and middle-income countries.
   
• Take urgent action this decade on issues such as restoring wetlands and depleted groundwater resources;, recycling the water used in industry; moving to precision agriculture that uses water more efficiently; and having companies report on their “water footprint”.
   
• Reform the governance of water at an international level, and including water in trade agreements. Governance must also take into account women, farmers, indigenous people and others in the frontline of water conservation.

Addressing the water crisis is fundamental to fixing the climate crisis and global food crisis. “There will be no agricultural revolution unless we fix water,” Rockstrom was also cited as saying, adding: “Behind all these challenges we are facing, there’s always water, and we never talk about water.”

The report from the Global Commission on the Economics of Water warns: “We are seeing the consequences [around the world] not of freak events, nor of population growth and economic development, but of having mismanaged water globally for decades. As the science and evidence show, we now face a systemic crisis that is both local and global.

“Our collective actions have pushed the global water cycle out of balance for the first time in human history, wreaking increasing damage on communities everywhere. Further, countries are interconnected not only through transboundary rivers or streams of groundwater, but also through atmospheric flows of water vapour. And dangerously, we face water’s deepening connection with climate change and the loss of biodiversity, with each reinforcing the other.

“We can only fix this collectively. And if we move with urgency.”

Source : Intellinews

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