Human Rights

Earth Hour 2023: A Call to Action for the Health of Our Planet

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As lights around the world turned off at 8:30 p.m. local time on Saturday to mark Earth Hour 2023, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warned that the next seven years will be crucial to stop irreversible nature loss and climate change.

This year’s event is needed more than ever to inspire and mobilize millions of people to take action and shine a spotlight on critical environmental issues, the WWF urged.

“Switching off lights is great for creating awareness and celebrating, but we also want people to reflect and act on nature because the challenges we are facing are so big,” Cristianne Close, WWF’s deputy global conservation director, told Xinhua in a recent video interview from Brazil.

“In 2014, the Galapagos Islands banned plastic bags during Earth Hour. In 2019, Indonesia planted thousands of mangroves,” she said.

Now in its 17th year, Earth Hour is the WWF’s flagship global environmental event and was created in Sydney in 2007.

Over the years, it has grown to become the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment, inspiring individuals, communities, businesses and organizations to take tangible environmental action.

“The climate and the nature crisis are completely linked. We cannot see them as separate. If temperatures are not kept at 1.5 degrees Celsius, we will lose much more nature. Wildlife populations have already plummeted by an average of 69 percent since 1970 and we really need to create awareness of this,” Close said.

TAKING ACTION

Earth Hour has featured many of the world’s most iconic landmarks switching off their lights, from the London Eye in Britain to the Eiffel Tower in France and the 2,000-year-old Colosseum in Italy.

“The two main things we want from governments and businesses is to really implement the transition towards clean energy and phase out fossil fuel. That’s a must for everybody,” Close said.

“Nature is said to be linked to at least 50 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP). We depend on nature for economic well-being,” she added.

“That’s why we are calling on businesses and governments to really, really create this awareness. Earth Hour is a way of society signalling to leaders ‘we care’ and we need to do something about it before it’s too late,” she said.

This year, apart from the symbolic “lights off” moment, the WWF is calling on individuals, communities, and businesses across the world to “give an hour for Earth” and spend 60 minutes doing something positive for the planet.

Ideas range from cleaning up beaches, planting trees, cooking dinner with sustainable ingredients, or getting friends together for an Earth Hour event, the WWF said.

NO TIME TO WASTE

This year’s Earth Hour comes hot on the heels of the historic Kunming-Montreal Agreement at COP15, which in December committed the world to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.

Close told Xinhua the next seven years will be crucial for ensuring that the decade ends with more nature and biodiversity than when it began, not less.

She also said it was not too late yet to achieve the target and stay under the 1.5 degrees Celsius climate threshold needed to avoid irreversible damage to the planet.

“These are very big policy requests. Now our focus is on implementing them. Translating these high-level policies into national policies and regulations that can be implemented on the local level and help the livelihoods of the people that depend on it,” Close said.

Close also reinforced China’s crucial role in taking action against climate change and nature loss: “We are pleased and thankful for the role that China played with the COP15 presidency in Montreal. China really kept the momentum going.”

“They were really instrumental in allowing 196 parties to reach a consensus for the mission of halting and reversing nature loss by 2030. China really played a strong role,” she said.

The WWF is an independent conservation organization based in Gland, Switzerland, with over 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries and regions.

Its mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature.

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The Thin Line: Ethics of Defending Heinous Criminals

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by Our Political Affairs Editor

A lawyer’s highest obligation is not to his client, but to the administration of justice.” – Robert F. Kennedy

Some lawyers in Sri Lanka are protesting, as they feel that the government is undermining their professionalism. This protest is also a testament to the usual scenario where human beings are so keen and enthusiastic about pointing at others, but it is hard for them to see themselves and address their conscience. We hope that they pay the taxes owed to the government, even for the payments received in cash. Let’s take the case in point.

The recent incident involving the arrest of two Sri Lankan-origin alleged criminals in Madagascar and their subsequent defence by leading lawyers in the country has sparked controversy and raised questions about the moral and ethical principles that lawyers should uphold. The fact that these alleged criminals are spending a significant portion of their black money to retain the services of these lawyers has only added fuel to the fire. According to reliable sources, one-fourth of their black money is being spent on lawyers.

While it is a fundamental right of every accused person to be represented by a lawyer, it is also the ethical responsibility of lawyers to ensure that they do not defend clients who are clearly guilty of heinous crimes. In this case, the law enforcement agencies have clear evidence to prove the allegations against the alleged criminals, and their defence by leading lawyers is, therefore, tantamount to obstructing justice and denying the victims their right to a fair trial. The fact that these alleged criminals are spending a significant amount of their black money to retain the services of these lawyers raises serious questions about the accountability of lawyers for their income. While it is true that lawyers have the right to earn a decent living, it is also their ethical responsibility to ensure that their income is earned in a morally and ethically acceptable manner.

The impact of this on the social justice of a society is also significant. By defending alleged criminals who are clearly guilty of heinous crimes, these lawyers are not only obstructing justice but also sending a message to other criminals that they can escape punishment by spending money on top lawyers. This undermines the rule of law and erodes public trust in the justice system. The recent case of another drug trafficker who was able to escape to India after being bailed out by a lawyer raises serious questions about the accountability of lawyers for their actions. The fact that the whole society is blaming the intelligence agencies for this incident only underscores the need for lawyers to act in a responsible and accountable manner.

The greediness of some lawyers, who are willing to accept large sums of money to defend cleared cross-border criminals and drug traffickers, can have negative consequences for society at large. By defending these criminals, they may be prolonging their criminal activities and enabling them to continue to harm individuals and communities. Additionally, the lawyers’ actions could contribute to a breakdown in the rule of law, as their defence of criminal activity undermines public trust in the justice system. Furthermore, their focus on the financial gain over justice can lead to a lack of representation for victims who cannot afford to pay for high-priced lawyers, which in turn perpetuates systemic inequalities in the justice system. Ultimately, it is crucial for lawyers to prioritize their ethical obligations to society and the justice system over their financial gain in order to ensure fairness and justice for all.

Tom Bingham, a renowned British judge and legal scholar, introduced eight key principles of the rule of law. These principles include accessibility and clarity of the law, equal application of the law regardless of status, consistency and predictability, protection of fundamental human rights, independence and impartiality of the judiciary, adequate resources for the efficient administration of justice, fair and transparent judicial processes, and upholding the rule of law by all branches of government. Upholding these principles is crucial for maintaining the integrity of the justice system and ensuring that justice is served for all individuals.

These principles are essential for ensuring that justice is served and that everyone, including lawyers and judges, is equal before the law. However, when leading lawyers defend criminals, as argued above, while victims have no money to pay for legal representation, it undermines these principles and harms the integrity of the justice system. When powerful criminals are able to hire top lawyers to defend them, they can often escape justice and continue to engage in criminal activity. This creates a two-tiered justice system where those with money and power are able to escape punishment while those without resources are left vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. It also erodes public trust in the justice system and creates a sense of cynicism and disillusionment among the general public. In order to ensure that the rule of law is upheld and justice is served, it is essential that all individuals have equal access to legal representation.

The recent incident involving the defence of alleged criminals by leading lawyers in Sri Lanka raises serious questions about the ethical principles that lawyers should uphold. It is essential that lawyers act in a responsible and accountable manner and ensure that their income is earned in a morally and ethically acceptable manner. This is essential for the preservation of the rule of law and the maintenance of public trust in the justice system. As Louis D. Brandeis, an American lawyer who served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, once underscored the importance of lawyers’ commitment to seeking and upholding the truth in their work, “The highest morality in the practice of law is to serve as a vehicle for the truth.”  Our question is clear: You may earn and become the richest of the rich, but at what cost in this short life?

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The Resilience of Women: You Can Strike Us, But You Can’t Break Us”

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What constitutes a crisis worthy of global attention? When a regional bank in the United States falls victim to the inversion of the yield curve (i.e., when short-term bond interest rates become higher than long-term rates), the Earth nearly stops spinning. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) – one of the most important financiers of technology start-ups in the United States – on 10 March presaged wider chaos in the Western financial world. In the days after the SVB debacle, Signature Bank, one of the few banks to accept cryptocurrency deposits, faced bankruptcy, and then Credit Suisse, an established European bank set up in 1856, fell due its longstanding poor management of risk (on 19 March, UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse in an emergency deal seeking to halt the crisis). Governments held emergency Zoom conferences, financial titans called the heads of central banks and of states, and newspapers warned of system failure if safety nets were not quickly sown underneath the entire financial architecture. Within hours, Western governments and central banks secured billions of dollars to bail out the financial system. This crisis could not be allowed to escalate.

Other serious developments in the world might be called a crisis, but they do not elicit the kind of urgent response undertaken by Western governments to shore up their banking system. Three years ago, Oxfam released a report that found that the ‘world’s 22 richest men have more wealth than all the women in Africa’. That fact, which is more shocking than the failure of a bank, has moved no agenda despite the evidence that this disparity is caused largely by the predatory, deregulated lending practices of the Western banking system (as we will show in our April dossier, Life or Debt: The Stranglehold of Neocolonialism and Africa’s Search for Alternatives).

Silence greeted the publication of a key report this past January on the regression of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) being met on the African continent. The 2022 Africa Sustainable Development Report, produced by the African Union, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank, and the UN Development Programme, showed that, because of the failure to finance development, African countries will not come anywhere near abolishing extreme poverty. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 445 million people on the continent – 34% of the population – lived in extreme poverty, with 30 million more people being added to that number in 2020. The report estimates that, by 2030, the number of people in extreme poverty on the continent will reach 492 million. Not one alarm bell was rung for this ongoing disaster, much less the rapid apparition of billions of dollars to bail out the African people.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) found that women in Africa are more likely to be struck hard by the pandemic. The data, the IMF reported, is camouflaged by the prevalence of self-employment amongst women, whose economic difficulties do not always appear in national statistics. Across Africa, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets over the past year to question their governments about the cost-of-living crisis, which has evaporated most people’s incomes. As incomes fall, and as social services collapse, women take up more and more of their households’ workload – tending to children, to elders, to those who are sick and hungry, and so on. The African Feminist Post-COVID-19 Economic Recovery Statement, written by a pan-African feminist platform, offered the following assessment of the situation:

the absence of social safety nets needed by women due to their greater fiscal precarity in the face of economic shocks has exposed the failures of a development trajectory currently prioritising productivity for growth over the wellbeing of African people. Indeed, COVID-19 has made evident what feminists have long emphasised: that the profits made in economies and markets are subsidised by women’s unpaid care and domestic work – an essential service that even the current pandemic has failed to acknowledge and address in policy.

On 8 March, International Working Women’s Day, protests across Africa focused attention on the general decline in living standards and on the specific impact this has had on women’s lives. That evocative statement from Oxfam – the world’s 22 richest men have more wealth than all the women in Africa – and the realisation that these women’s living conditions appear to be deteriorating have not provoked a crisis response in the world. There have been no urgent phone calls between the world’s capitals, no emergency Zoom meetings between central banks, no concern for people who are slipping deeper and deeper into poverty as their countries forge a path of austerity in light of a more and more permanent debt crisis. Most of the protests on 8 March focused their attention on the inflation of food and fuel prices and on the precarious conditions that this is creating for women. From the Landless Workers’ Movement’s public action against slave-like labour practices in Brazil to the demonstration against gender-based violence by the National Networks of Farmers’ Groups in Tanzania, women organised by rural and urban trade unions, by political parties, and by a range of social movements took to the streets to say, with Josie Mpama, ‘make way for women who will lead’.

At Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, we have been tracking how the pandemic has hardened the structures of neocolonialism and patriarchy, culminating in CoronaShock and Patriarchy (November 2020), which also presented a list of the people’s feminist demands to confront the global health, political, social, and economic crisis. Earlier that year, in March 2020, we released the first study in our feminisms series, Women of Struggle, Women in Struggle, in which we pointed out how economic contraction and austerity cause more women to be unemployed, put more pressure on women to care for their families and communities, and lead to increased femicide. In response to these horrendous conditions, we also wrote about the rise of protests by women across the world. At that time, we decided that one of our contributions to these struggles would be to excavate the histories of women within our movements who have been largely forgotten. Over the past three years, we have published short biographies of three women – Kanak Mukherjee (India, 1921–2005), Nela Martínez Espinosa (Ecuador, 1912–2004), and now Josie Mpama (South Africa, 1903-1979). Each year, we will publish a biography of a woman who, like Kanak, Nela, and Josie, fought for a socialism that would transcend patriarchy and class exploitation.

In the early 1920s, Josie Mpama, born into South Africa’s Black working class, joined the informal workforce, washing clothes, cleaning homes, and cooking. When the racist regime tried to enforce policies and laws to restrict the movement of Africans, she entered the world of politics and fought the oppression that came with decrees such as the lodger’s permits in Potchefstroom (in the country’s northwest). The Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), established in 1921, provided shape to the myriad protests against segregationist laws, teaching the workers to use their ‘labour and the power to organise and withhold it’, as their flyers declared. ‘These are your weapons; learn to use them, thereby bringing the tyrant to his knees’.

In 1928, Josie joined the CPSA, finding support both for her organising work and for her desire for political education. In the 1930s, she moved to Johannesburg and opened a night school for ideological training as well as for basic mathematics and English. Later, Josie became one of the first Black working-class women to enter the senior leadership of the CPSA and eventually travelled to Moscow using the pseudonym Red Scarf to attend the Communist University of the Toilers of the East. Under Josie’s leadership as the head of the party’s women’s department, more and more women joined the CPSA, largely because it took up issues that spoke to them and encouraged women to struggle alongside men and fight for more radical conceptions of gender roles.

So much of this history is forgotten. In contemporary South Africa, there is a focus on the importance of the Freedom Charter (adopted on 26 June 1955). But there is less acknowledgement that the year before, the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) passed a Women’s Charter (April 1954), which – as we say in the study – ‘would eventually become the basis for certain constitutional rights in post-apartheid South Africa’. The Women’s Charter was passed by 146 delegates who represented 230,000 women. One of those delegates was Josie, who attended the conference on behalf of the Transvaal All-Women’s Union and became the president of FEDSAW’s Transvaal branch. The Women’s Charter called for equal pay for equal work (yet to be attained today) and for the right of women to form trade unions. Josie’s leadership in FEDSAW caught the eye of the South African apartheid regime, which banned her from politics in 1955. ‘Josie or no Josie’, she wrote to her FEDSAW comrades, ‘the struggle will go on and ours will be the day of victory’.

On 9 August 1956, 20,000 women marched to South Africa’s capital of Pretoria and demanded the abolition of the apartheid pass laws. That date – 9 August – is now celebrated as Women’s Day in South Africa. As the women marched, they chanted: wathint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo, uzokufa (‘you strike the women, you strike the rock, you will be crushed’).

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The Power of Forgiveness: South Africa’s Reconciliation as a Model for Sri Lanka

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by Our Political Affairs Editor

If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. – Desmond Tutu

Sri Lanka has experienced deep-rooted conflicts and a prolonged civil war, which have resulted in widespread human rights violations and atrocities. In the aftermath of the conflict, the Sri Lankan government established a transitional justice mechanism in various forms to address past wrongs and bring about reconciliation. The process has, however, been fraught with challenges and criticisms, including accusations of inadequate participation and engagement with affected communities and lack of progress in implementing reforms.

To address this inadequacy, the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established after the end of apartheid, offers valuable insights into Sri Lanka’s transitional justice process. The Commission was based on a forgiveness-based approach that aimed to promote healing and reconciliation through truth-telling and forgiveness, rather than retribution and punishment.

Drawing on this approach, Sri Lanka could consider prioritizing forgiveness-based reconciliation as a means to heal the wounds of the past and build a more cohesive and inclusive society. This would involve a process of truth-telling, accountability, reparations, and ultimately, forgiveness. By embracing this approach, Sri Lanka could establish a foundation for lasting peace and justice and ensure that the atrocities of the past are not repeated.

One of the most significant aspects of the TRC was its emphasis on forgiveness and reconciliation. The commission provided a platform for victims and perpetrators to come forward and tell their stories, with the aim of promoting healing and forgiveness. While the TRC was not perfect, it was a significant step towards building a more just and inclusive society in South Africa.

Sri Lanka can also learn from South Africa’s commitment to transparency and accountability. The TRC held public hearings and released its findings to the public, ensuring that the truth was not hidden from the people. This level of transparency helped build public trust in the commission’s work and ensured that the process was seen as legitimate and credible.

It is also worth noting that South Africa’s commitment to truth-seeking and reconciliation mechanisms is not unique to the country. Many other countries in the global south have established similar systems, demonstrating that these mechanisms are not exclusive to Western democracies.

In contrast, many Western democracies have struggled to establish effective truth-seeking and reconciliation mechanisms, particularly in cases where the state has been responsible for human rights abuses. The United States, for example, has yet to establish a truth commission to address the legacy of slavery and racism in the country.

That is why we strongly believe that Sri Lanka can learn a great deal from South Africa’s experience. First and foremost, Sri Lanka needs to establish an independent and impartial truth commission that is free from political interference. The commission must have the power to subpoena witnesses and compel them to testify, and it must be able to recommend reparations for victims.

Secondly, Sri Lanka must prioritize the involvement of victims and their families in the truth-seeking process. This means providing them with legal and psychological support, as well as ensuring that their voices are heard and their experiences are acknowledged.

Thirdly, Sri Lanka must be willing to confront its past and acknowledge the crimes that were committed during the civil war. This requires political will and a commitment to accountability, which can be difficult in a society that is deeply polarized and where there is a culture of impunity.

South Africa’s success in establishing a truth and reconciliation commission is even more remarkable when one considers the country’s history. Like Sri Lanka, South Africa was a deeply divided society that had suffered from years of violence and repression. However, unlike many Western countries, South Africa did not simply brush its past under the rug and move on. Instead, it confronted its history head-on and took steps to address the injustices of the past.

Within this context, we can commend the ongoing visit of the Sri Lankan delegation as a symbol of the strengthening partnership between the two nations. The discussions on nation-building, constitutional making, and building a better future for all demonstrate the commitment of both countries towards democracy, human rights, and justice.

This visit of Sri Lankan delegates has provided an opportunity for both countries to strengthen their partnership and share experiences in building a better future for their people. The discussions on lasting peace, unity, justice, and reconciliation demonstrate the shared commitment of both countries towards building a democratic and inclusive society. The importance of consensus-building and confidence-building mechanisms for national revivification, as well as the role of ordinary people in shaping constitutionalism, were also emphasized during the visit. It is hoped that this visit will pave the way for more meaningful collaboration between the two countries in the years to come.

In addition to the main theme, the Sri Lankan delegation also highlighted their responsibility as the chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). Former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s foreign policy was marked by the pursuit of non-alignment, regional cooperation, and peace-building efforts. In the 1970s, she advocated for the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace and proposed a UN resolution to this effect. The initiative aimed to promote peace and stability in the Indian Ocean region and ensure freedom of navigation, especially for developing countries.

The resolution was tabled at the UN General Assembly in 1971, and it was eventually adopted as Resolution 2832 in December of the same year. The resolution recognized the importance of the Indian Ocean for world peace and development and called for the establishment of a zone of peace in the region. The resolution was a significant achievement for Sri Lanka and helped to promote regional cooperation and peace-building efforts. Sri Lanka continued to play an active role in promoting the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace and supported various regional initiatives to this effect. Sri Lanka, as a vital Island nation, is always inspired by its own uniqueness and value of upholding democratic values. Sri Lanka has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to regional peace and stability through its actions under any circumstances. It is in this context Sri Lanka is going to play an important role as the Chair of IORA.

However, as Minister Sabry emphasized, some sections of the Sri Lankan diaspora are unfairly involved in domestic affairs in Sri Lanka. The delegation emphasized the importance of devolution of power and supporting the required executive actions in terms of decision-making. Furthermore, they stressed the need for credible and transparent domestic accountable mechanisms, which can learn from other countries, especially South Africa, as a genuine partner. The visit of the Sri Lankan delegation to South Africa was deemed significant in this regard.

The delegation also discussed the importance of accountability mechanisms acceptable both for victims and perpetrators. The benefits of such a mechanism would be many. It would help to promote healing and closure for victims of the conflict, and it would help to create a shared understanding of the past among Sri Lankans. It would also help to promote national unity by creating a sense of ownership over the process among Sri Lankans. South Africa’s success with the TRC highlights the importance of transparency and inclusivity in establishing such mechanisms. Sri Lanka could benefit greatly from adopting these principles in its own efforts to establish a truth-seeking and reconciliation mechanism.

It is worth noting that South Africa’s success with the TRC is particularly noteworthy given that it is a country in the global south. This stands in contrast to some Western countries, which have been criticized for their own truth-seeking and reconciliation mechanisms that are perceived as hypocritical or driven by dubious motives. By learning from South Africa’s example, Sri Lanka can establish a nationally and internationally recognized and acceptable truth-seeking and reconciliation mechanism that is transparent, inclusive, and effective.

It’s time to put an end to the politically-driven pursuit of revenge through “eye for an eye” tactics. As Mahatma Gandhi once wisely observed, such a path will only lead to a world where everyone is blind. Now is the time for forgiveness and coming together to work towards a brighter future for our nation.

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Indian investigators link Coimbatore car blast to Sri Lanka Easter bombings

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Those involved in last October’s car explosion in front of Coimbatore’s Sangameswarar temple operated an Islamic State (IS) module inspired by Zahran Hashim, the mastermind of the Easter 2019 bombings in Sri Lanka, the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) probe has found, the Hindu reported.

Hindu’s report reads further as follows;

A source privy to the investigation said that the agency has unearthed material and digital evidence which showed that the 12 persons who have been found to be involved in the blast so far were inspired and radicalised by Hashim.

The evidence showed that they watched multiple videos of Hashim. Jameesha Mubin, the suspected mastermind of the Coimbatore blast, recorded a video of himself before carrying out the attack on Sangameswarar temple, as is typically done by IS suicide bombers. The farewell video was shot in a style similar to the one shot and released by Hashim before the Easter Sunday bombings. In the video, Mubin said that he wanted to become a shaheed (martyr). The module is believed to have had plans to release the video. However, that did not happen.

“Evidence strongly support that they acted like an IS module inspired by Hashim,” said the source, adding that the agency could not find links to any outside handlers in the module’s operation so far.

Common link

The investigation into the Coimbatore car blast, in which Mubin was killed, has also revealed that Hashim was the common point of inspiration for the IS module behind the car blast and another module headed by Muhammed Azharudheen, which was busted by the NIA in June 2019. Mr. Azharudheen was a Facebook friend of Hashim himself.

Y. Shiek Hidayathullah, an associate of Azharudheen in the first IS module, was also arrested for his alleged role in the car blast. Mr. Hidayathullah’s brother Sheik Safiullah and two others, namely Mohammed Hussain and A. Shajahan, were arrested by the Coimbatore city police a few days later in June 2019. The police had found that they planned to carry out a terror attack on places of worship using a truck laden with explosives.

“Several materials were seized from the trio by the police. They also studied how to make explosives. The investigation has found common links from the first module to the latest one,” said the source.

Preventing bail

NIA is nearing the completion of its investigation into the car blast and is planning to submit a chargesheet against 11 accused (Mubin was killed in the blast) before April 21. Chargesheeting the 11 persons, currently in judicial custody, before April 21 is also aimed at preventing them from getting the benefit of statutory bail in the UAPA case after 180 days. (It is normally a 90 day period, and was extended by the court to 180 days on the request of the investigating agency.) 

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Reviving “lab-leak” theory of COVID-19 irresponsible, senseless

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Some U.S. politicians have hyped up the “lab leak” theory of COVID-19 again to shift responsibility for its own failure in handling the pandemic.

A group of U.S. Republican senators are pressing the Department of Justice to pursue legal action against Chinese officials after the COVID-19 leak theory was revived recently in the United States, according to a Fox News report.

This is another utterly irresponsible and senseless attempt by some U.S. politicians who try by all means to smear China, cover up the fatal incompetence of U.S. authorities in tackling the pandemic, and seek political gains for themselves.

Tracing the origins of the virus is a matter of science. To date, all the evidence that has stood up to scientific examination does not support the theory that the virus came from a laboratory.

In early 2021, experts of the World Health Organization (WHO)-China joint mission, after field trips to a lab in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province and in-depth communication with researchers, reached the conclusion that “a laboratory origin of the pandemic was considered to be extremely unlikely.”

Fabian Leendertz, a zoonoses expert who had participated in the WHO search for the origins of the coronavirus, said that a laboratory leak as the possible origin of the COVID-19 pandemic was “purely politically motivated,” and that political power games were behind this theory.

The expert told German Press Agency recently that “there is no new data that would strengthen the laboratory hypothesis that I am aware of. It remains the most unlikely hypothesis of all.”

More and more clues from the international scientific community are linking the origins of COVID-19 to sources around the world. This study should be, and can only be, conducted jointly by scientists around the world.

China has supported and participated in global science-based origins-tracing. In contrast, the United States has never invited WHO experts to its land for joint study, or shared any early data on COVID-19 origins.

Rather, the U.S. has been politicizing and instrumentalizing the issue, and mongering its lab leak theory without any supporting evidence. By doing so, U.S. politicians just want to shift the blame for its own COVID-19 response failure and accumulate political capital as “blaming China for bad things” has become a potential consensus between the two major U.S. political parties.

Yet baselessly blaming and slandering others for one’s own failures might deflect people’s attention for a while, but it is never conducive to solving problems.

The spread of SARS, Ebola and COVID-19 demonstrated painfully that unknown, lethal viruses do exist and are able to wreak extensive havoc, making humanity’s destiny closely linked. How humanity can better cope with the next pandemic is a question demanding a good answer, and one consensus is to apply a science-based approach.

The United States should do better to respect science and facts, stop its political manipulation, and refrain from undermining global cooperation on science-based origins-tracing.

Disinformation and smear can go nowhere, but put humanity in greater jeopardy.  

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UN chief urges elimination of racial discrimination in all forms

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the international community to take action to address racism wherever and whenever it arises, and eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.

Guterres made the remarks while addressing a UN General Assembly event marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which falls on March 21.

Racial discrimination is one of the most destructive forces dividing societies, responsible for death and suffering on a grotesque scale throughout history, he said.

Today, racial discrimination and the legacies of enslavement and colonialism continue to ruin lives, marginalize communities and limit opportunities, preventing billions of people from achieving their full potential, he added.

“Xenophobia, prejudice and hate speech are rising. Political leaders scapegoat migrants, with devastating impact,” said Guterres.

He pointed out that after a period of increased global awareness of racism, some countries are experiencing a vicious backlash against anti-racist policies and practices.

The UN chief also underscored the need to address racism in the digital age, noting that white supremacist influencers profit from racism on social media platforms, and artificial intelligence algorithms amplify and digitize racial discrimination.

“We need to resist and reverse these trends resolutely and condemn and eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms,” Guterres said. “We must take action to address racism wherever and whenever it arises, including through legal channels.”

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Russia Files Criminal Charges Against ICC Prosecutor and Judges

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The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has initiated criminal charges against Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Ahmad Khan, as well as judges of the International Criminal Court Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez, the Russian embassy in Sri Lanka said in a statement. 

“On February 22, 2023, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Ahmad Khan, acting as part of a criminal investigation, submitted applications to Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court for warrants of arrest in relation to citizens of the Russian Federation,” it added.

The statement reads further as follows;

“Based on this application, the above-named judges of the International Criminal Court issued illegal arrest warrants in relation to the President of the Russian Federation and the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights. This criminal prosecution is illegal by definition because there are no grounds for bringing criminal charges.

“According to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons of December 14, 1973, heads of state enjoy total immunity and cannot be subjected to the jurisdiction of a foreign state.

“Actions by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court contain elements of offences as per Part 2, Article 299, Part 1, Article 30, and Part 2, Article 360 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, including knowingly ascribing criminal responsibility to an innocent person, combined with unlawfully accusing a person of committing a grave or especially grave crime, as well as preparing an assault against a representative of a foreign state benefitting from international protection with a view to complicating international relations.

“Actions by the judges of the International Criminal Court contain elements of offences as per Part 2, Article 301, Part 1, Article 30, and Part 2, Article 360 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, including knowingly illegal detention, as well as preparing an assault against a representative of a foreign state benefitting from international protection with a view to complicating international relations.”

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Should ICC be equally active not only in Ukraine but also in Myanmar?

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It has been two years since the military coup in Southeast Asia’s Myanmar. The military junta came to power after overthrowing the democratically elected government on charges of corruption. Myanmar has been under the leadership of the country’s military chief Min Aung Hlaing since February 1, 2021. For more than two years, the military government has repressed the people’s movement and protest demanding democracy. According to various international organizations, at least 2,000 people have been killed and more than 15,000 arrested in the junta’s crackdown; At least another 1 million have been displaced. Even then, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has not seen any role in the beleaguered country.

The people of Myanmar may be in solidarity with their Ukrainian brethren, but they have every reason to be infuriated by the contrasting response from the international community to the crisis they face at home.

Western nations and key Asian allies responded within days to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with tough sanctions and weapon supplies. The international reaction to the bloody military takeover in Myanmar one year ago has been half-hearted by comparison.

There is a degree of racism. The West is quick to defend a fellow and easily identifiable Western state. In part, it speaks to diaspora politics in the West, given the presence of Ukrainian communities in the U.S. and across Europe, something Myanmar does not enjoy to the same extent.

The types of Russian weapons used in Ukraine are also killing people in Myanmar, an independent United Nations expert has said, urging countries at the UN to form a coalition — as they had done after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine — to put pressure on Myanmar’s military rulers. UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said that a coalition of countries should target Myanmar’s military with sanctions and an arms embargo.

Following the military coup, in April 2021, Myanmar’s pro-democracy and elected representatives formed the National Unity Government (NUG). They formed a government against the junta and announced the acceptance of the mandate of the ICC. The ICC also recognized the declaration. The NUG originally requested the ICC to investigate the junta’s war crimes and crimes against humanity in Myanmar. Because the political leaders know very well that there is no possibility of trial in the courts of that country. And that is why Myanmar, a country of 55 million, is now looking to the international organization in the hope of justice.

But sadly, the ICC is not as active in Myanmar as it is in investigating the crimes committed in Ukraine. This raises the question of many, is the ICC more concerned about the suffering of the West? Myanmar and Ukraine lend themselves to comparison, but the differences in international response are revealing. Why have many countries in the Indo-Pacific responded more forcefully to Ukraine than to Myanmar? Ye Myo Hein and Lucas Myers argue that the “democracy versus authoritarianism” framing is not persuasive to many regional actors, who are more interested in defending the norms of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Additionally, their findings expose differences in risk tolerance and interests regarding global order between Russia and China.

Russia-Ukraine recently marked one year of direct conflict. Just a few days after the start of the conflict, the ICC representative went there and started investigating the incident. The International Criminal Court even issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Putin on Friday (March 17) for war crimes. Although the Myanmar conflict has passed twice as long, there is still no ICC activity there.

Political analysts say that since the ICC has recognized the NUG’s declaration, the ICC must send a team of investigators like Ukraine to find the truth and announce a fair trial against the perpetrators. This will increase the transparency of this international organization and make it a place of trust for the affected countries.

But here comes a question. That is, whether the anti-junta NUG government can represent Myanmar at the ICC. According to an analysis published in The Diplomat, a Washington DC-based online news outlet, the Government of National Unity has the power to make this representation. According to the authors of the analysis, John Daugaard, Chris Gunes, Tommy Thomas, Yuyun Wahuningram and Ralph Wilde, according to domestic law, the NUG is the legitimate government of Myanmar. Because according to the 2008 constitution, these representatives were elected through popular vote in 2020. Thus, they have no chance of being illegitimate even if they are repressed by the junta; Their government formation is completely legal.

On the other hand, the junta seized power through a military coup, in clear violation of Articles 71(a) and 417 of the country’s constitution. These articles contain clear instructions for the impeachment of the President and the imposition of a state of emergency. But according to the rules it was not followed. On the contrary, the military has taken power by force, ignoring the protests of the people and putting the democratically elected people, including the president, in jail.

As a result, analysts say, the military’s seizure of power in this way is completely illegal.

At the end of 2021, the UN removed the junta representative from its General Assembly and allowed the NUG representative to represent Myanmar at the meeting. The International Labor Organization (ILO) also agreed with this decision of the United Nations. As a result, the ICC must now accept the NUG’s declaration as valid. There should be fair investigation and prosecution of the crimes committed and committed there.

The UN Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar was established in 2017 by the United Nations to investigate the persecution of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar. Analysts believe that a similar investigation committee should be formed against the illegal junta government. And through this they are of the opinion that justice should be ensured for the common people of Myanmar. The people of the country have been waiting for justice for a long time. So, the state, UN and ICC should take appropriate steps in this regard. ICC should be equally active not only in Ukraine but also in Myanmar.

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Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo is Sentenced for Three More Years in Prison

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On March 9, the judiciary of Peru extended the preventive detention of former left-wing President Pedro Castillo from 18 months to 36 months. Castillo was overthrown in a parliamentary coup in December 2022 and was sentenced to 18 months of preventive detention shortly after.

Supreme Court Judge Juan Carlos Checkley ordered the three-year pretrial detention for Castillo over alleged accusations of organized crime, influence peddling, and collusion in cases related to public works contracts and in the sale of fuel to the state-owned petroleum company Petroperú.

The ruling has been widely criticized as being politically motivated and part of the attempt to completely exclude the ousted president from political and civilian life.

In May 2022, the prosecutor’s office began investigating Castillo’s former Transportation Minister Juan Silva and six congressmen of the opposition center-right Popular Action party for irregularities in the tender for the construction of the Tarata III Bridge.

Businesswoman Karelim López, who was being investigated for money laundering at that time, had alleged that Silva accepted bribes in exchange for awarding public work contracts with Castillo’s authorization. Castillo has denied the charges, adding that he and his administration were being politically persecuted by the prosecutor’s office and the judiciary, whom he alleged are controlled by the conservative oligarchy.

Since Castillo’s ouster, thousands of citizens have been mobilizing to demand radical political changes. These include Castillo’s immediate release, his successor Dina Boluarte’s resignation, advancing the elections, and a referendum on a constituent assembly.

The Boluarte government has responded with brutal repression leading to at least 60 deaths and has left more than 1,200 people injured in Peru.

Credit Line: from the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service

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