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| Sunday, 14 March 2004 |
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President against wrong-doers President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday urged voters to refrain from casting their votes for wrong-doers, irrespective of which party they represent. She was addressing a meeting of the National Council on Preventing Crimes at the President's house. The meeting which was also attended by Government Agents and Divisional Secrataries, religious leaders was summoned to educate the regional authorities on preventing crimes. Also already the meeting were Interior Ministry Secretary M. N. Junaid and IGP Indra de Silva. The President charged that the open economy, which was introduced without any preparation had guided the country towards disaster, and that younger generation lost their way become of it. EU observers unhappy key recommendations not implemented Chief of the European Union Election Observation Mission, John Cushnahan said they were disappointed that key recommendations they had made after observing the 2000 and 2001 elections have not been implemented. Addressing a media conference in Colombo, he said the recommendations included the appointment of a multi-member Elections Commission and a Code of Conduct for political parties. Sixty five EU observers are to visit Sri Lanka. Twenty observers have already arrived in Colombo while the others will arrive a week ahead of the elections, he said. EU observers will be in the island for three weeks after the elections to submit a comprehensive report and recommendations. Call for competent authority to oversee State electronic media Six civil society organisations which are in the forefront of monitoring elections have urged the Commissioner of Elections to appoint a Competent Authority to oversee the actions of the State radio and television stations during the forthcoming elections under the power vested in him by the 17th Amendment, which addresses the issue of unfair and biased reporting by State-owned electronic media. The six civil society organisations are People's Action for Free and Fair Elections, Centre for Monitoring Election Violence, Movement for Free and Fair Elections, Transparency International Sri Lanka, Free Media Movement and INFORM. While commending the polls chief for the measures he has taken so far to ensure an election campaign that is free of violence, coercion and corrupt practices, the six organisations have urged the polls chief to appoint a team of responsible persons to monitor the implementation of the guidelines worked out for the electronic media. Tyronne leads delegation to CHR session Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando will lead the Sri Lanka delegation to the 60th Session of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), scheduled to commence in Geneva next week. During his stay in Geneva from March 18-19, Minister Fernando will address the high level segment of the CHR. Sri Lanka was elected a member of the CHR in May 2002 for the period 2003-05. He is also expected to meet the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNCTAD Secretary General and Director General of the UN Office in Geneva. The delegation consists of among others Sarala Fernando, Permanent Representative to UN Geneva and Ranjith Uyangoda, Director General United Nations Affairs at the Foreign Ministry. Govt. commended for signing anti-corruption convention Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), an organisation against corruption, has commended the Government for signing the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). The Anti-Corruption Convention will be signed by 107 countries including Sri Lanka. TISL has also pointed out that under the UNCAC, the government will be required to comply with international standards to fight corruption and cooperate with the international community to eliminate the menace of corruption. TISL has further stated that it was now confident that Sri Lanka would soon become a party to the Regional OECD/ADB initiative, which is the leading Asia-Pacific regional action plan to fight corruption. |
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