Sri Lanka wins the bid to hold CACCI conference in 2010

Sri Lanka won the bid to organize the 24th Confederation of Asia - Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) Conference and the Council meeting in year 2010 in Colombo.

The joint project proposal for the bid was submitted by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry Sri Lanka backed by Sri Lanka Convention Bureau ( SLCB).

Chairperson of SLCB Prema Cooray said that this is an important event for Sri Lanka hence the direct involvement of SLCB in the bidding process. Such prestigious conference, apart from its economic merits, gives an immense boost to Sri Lanka’s image abroad, when the news gets around that Sri Lanka will be hosting 24th session.

The 22nd CACCI Conference this year was held in Manila, Philippines from October 23-28.

By Christine Hettiarachchi
Courtesy: Lankapuvath

Clinton signs up CBK to charity fund

Former President Bill Clinton said he has signed up at least 12 high-level government leaders including former President Chandrika Kumaratunga for an Asian version of his charity forum. Mr. Clinton said Tuesday that current and former government leaders from the Philippines, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand, among other countries, will join his Clinton Global Initiative meeting in Hong Kong in early December. The Hong Kong meeting, to be held Dec. 1-2, will be Mr. Clinton’s first attempt to expand the forum outside the U.S.

Courtesy : Dailymirror

ADB to supports Sri Lanka’s trade finance

ADB aims to attract private capital to support development in the poorest countries of Asia. Trade is an important component of economic development and ADB is working to promote trade by developing, among other things, public -private partnerships that involve risk-sharing arrangements.

The Asian Development Bank and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. have launched a trade finance scheme for developing countries the initial phase of which will be in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

An ADB statement said the bank and SMBC have entered a risk-sharing agreement that will enhance support for international trade in developing countries in Asia.

The ADB said these types of risk sharing agreements could be particularly important in developing intraregional trade between smaller developing countries.

The transactions covered in the scheme range from short-term letters of credit to tenors that last up to two years.

The program will be introduced in phases with the first phase being launched in Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Phase II will extend coverage to include financial institutions in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam.

Courtesy : Lankapuvath

LTTE leaders will be prosecuted for child soldiering

The newly signed law by the US federal government on Friday (Oct 3), to arrest and prosecute war lords and terrorist leaders for child soldiering has send worries within in the tiger diaspora and the LTTE network itself. The enactment of the new legislation is to be considered a dire warning to the LTTE, and no doubt seals the lid over its propaganda efforts. This follows the freezing of foreign assets worth millions of dollars of the outfit during anti-terrorist raids in Canada, US, India, Italy and France.

The law could apply to leaders of dozens of forces that have recruited and used child soldiers in over 20 armed conflicts. The Child Soldiers Accountability Act makes it a federal crime to recruit knowingly or to use soldiers under the age of 15 and permits the United States to prosecute any individual on US soil for the offense, even if the children were recruited or served as soldiers outside the United States.

The law imposes penalties of up to 20 years, or up to life in prison if their action resulted in the child’s death. It also allows the United States to deport or deny entry to individuals who have knowingly recruited children as soldiers.

“The US is saying to the world that using child soldiers is a serious crime and that it will take action,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch. “Military commanders who use children can no longer come to the United States without the risk of ending up in jail.”

The legislation was introduced by Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois and adopted unanimously by both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate in September 2008.

In a statement issued on October 3, Senator Durbin said: “The United States must not be a safe haven for those who exploit children as soldiers. The new legislation has brought the need for further scrutiny to seek possibilities to apply same to those terror sympathizers who have been funding such organizations over a decade at the cost of many innocent lives, Sri Lankan defence observers state.

The use of children as combatants is one of the most despicable human rights violations in the world today and affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of boys and girls who are used as combatants, porters, human mine detectors and sex slaves.

The recruitment and use of children as soldiers was recognized in 1998 as a war crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The LTTE an internationally banned terrorist outfit has continued with this treacherous crime since its inception in 1975, and still remains to be the top most child recruiter in the world today. Latest reports on the use of child soldiers by the LTTE records that child soldiers make up sixty percent of the Tigers’ latest recruits.

In 2007, four former military commanders from Sierra Leone were convicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for recruiting and using children as soldiers. Rebel and military commanders from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have also been charged under the International Criminal Court with recruiting and using child soldiers, though none have yet gone to trial.

Children are currently used in armed conflicts in at least 17 countries. Countries and territories in which children are known to have been used in hostilities between 2004 and 2007 include: Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Nepal, Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand and Uganda.

During its recent offensives into the tiger heartland, Sri Lankan soldiers have come across several bodies of young children in LTTE camouflage uniforms which were returned through the representatives of the ICRC. At LTTE training centres in Kilinochchi, there are unconfirmed reports that untrained children as young as 15 were given weapons and sent to the battlefront.

The UNICEF has handed over to the LTTE a list of 1,387 child soldiers on the rolls of the Tigers and urged it to stop recruiting underage fighters and release those who are already enlisted.

Courtesy: Ministry of Defence

Direct blow to LTTE; US adopts legislation to prosecute child soldier recruiters

The United States of America adopted legislation that would enable it to prosecute foreign military leaders who recruit child soldiers. This would be direct blow to the LTTE which had been recruiting child soldiers in its war against the Sri Lankan Government, Human Rights Watch said yesterday (Sep 16).

The Child Soldiers Accountability Act was unanimously passed in the House of Representatives on September 8 and was adopted by the Senate on Monday.

“The exploitation of children as soldiers persists in many armed conflicts because child recruiters are rarely held accountable,” Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate for Human Rights Watch said. “This law tells military commanders worldwide that they cannot recruit children into their forces and then seek safe haven in the United States.”

The law makes it a federal crime to knowingly recruit or use soldiers under the age of 15 and permits the United States to bring charges under the law against both US citizens and non-citizens who are in the United States. The law imposes penalties of up to 20 years or up to life in prison if death results, and allows the United States to deport or deny entry to individuals who have knowingly recruited children as soldiers.

Children are currently used in armed conflicts in at least 17 countries. Recruiters prey upon children, who are often the most vulnerable potential recruits and the most susceptible to threats and coercion. Child soldiers are used as combatants, porters, guards and spies for other duties.

The recruitment and use of children as soldiers was recognized in 1998 as a war crime under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. In 2007, four former military commanders from Sierra Leone were convicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for recruiting and using children as soldiers. Rebel and military commanders from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have also been charged under the International Criminal Court with recruiting and using child soldiers, though none have yet gone to trial.

“International tribunals are beginning to prosecute individuals for recruiting child soldiers, but almost no national governments have done so,” Becker said. “The United States is giving real leadership to efforts to end the use of child soldiers.”

Senator Richard Durbin authored the bipartisan bill, which he introduced together with Senators Tom Coburn, Russell Feingold, and Sam Brownback.

Countries in which children are known to have been used in hostilities between 2004 and 2007 include: Afghanistan, Burma, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Nepal, Philippines, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, and Uganda.

Courtesy: Ministry of Defence