Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee

1. Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee By: Emma Bunting, Bella Issaand Zuri Marley

2. Tamil Tigers • LTTE a separatist militant organization based in northern Sri Lanka founded in 1976 • Waged violent nationalist campaigsn to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil people • There are two groups of Tamils in Sri Lanka: the Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian Tamils.

3. Tamil Tigers • The Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka are undoubtedly one of the most organized, effective and brutal terrorist groups in the world. They invented the suicide vest and, according to the FBI, are the only terrorist group to have assassinated two world leaders. • The Tigers — which include 5,000 to 10,000 guerillas — are fighting to secede from the the island country of Sri Lanka. Tamils originally immigrated to Sri Lanka from southern India and make up 10 to 15% of the population, compared to the majority Sinhalese, who constitute about 75%.

4. Tamil Tigers • 1983 LTTE attack on Sri Lankan security forces sparked riots across the country that left hundreds of Tamils dead. • The Indian government, which reportedly provided some quiet support to the LTTE in its early years, sent peacekeeping troops to Sri Lanka in the late 1980s to help quell the violence ravaging the country. Unable to stop the bloodshed, they pulled out by 1990.

5. Tamil Tigers • In the past years (2009), the federal forces have tried to forcefully put down the Tigers, pushing into their strongholds and leading up to the January 2 capture of Kilinochchi. In a speech announcing the takeover, Sri Lankan President MahindaRajapaksa called on the Tamil Tigers to surrender. Hours later, a suicide bomber struck the air force headquarters in the country's capital, Colombo, killing at least two. • Sri Lankan Civil war 1983 – 2009

6. Permanent Delegation to UNESCO • Sri Lanka joined UNESCO in 1949 • H. E. Dr Dayan JayatillekaAmbassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Delegate • Chairman: MrBandulaGunawardhana • Vice Chairman: Mr. S.M. GotabayaJayarathna • Secretary-General: Mr R.P. Perera • Deputy Secretary-General: Ms. S.L.D.K. Wijayasinghe

7. Constitution of Sri Lanka • Article 10 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka guarantees freedom of thought and conscience and article 14 guarantees the “freedom of speech and expression including publication”. • Article 15 of the Constitution includes eight clauses which spell out the grounds on which the fundamental rights can be restricted. These include “national security”, “racial and religious harmony”, “parliamentary privilege”, “contempt of court”, “defamation or incitement to an offence”.

8. Emergency Regulations • Security agencies have been vested with wide-ranging powers of: • preventive detention • censorship • prohibiting public gatherings and assemblies

9. Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act • Whoever “by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise”, promotes or attempts to promote enmity between communities on grounds of language, ethnicity, religion (and other such) would be liable to prosecution.

10. Health • The average lifespan has risen steadily, lengthening by 30 yrs within the past five decades, thus reflecting the tremendous progress achieved in the health standards of the population. • Women’s health and maternal care has been accorded top priority, by many Government and Non government organizations engaged in improving community health services. The sharp rise in contraceptive prevalence rates with the declining fertility and maternal mortality rates, give ample evidence of their worthy effort.

11. Education • The granting of free education facilities to the entire population has made a rapid increase in literacy levels, and given an opportunity for both the rich and the poor alike to pursue higher education. • Mid-day meal program, and the supply of free school books and uniforms for school children, are the most recent programs launched by the Government to further enhance the welfare package, implemented to improve the quality of education in the country. • 1963: one out of every three adults found to be without any formal educational background • 1994: this underprivileged group had narrowed down to one in ten • 2000: one in twelve

12. Status of Women • In general, the status of women has always been and still is, lower than that of men in the traditional conservative society in Sri Lanka. • Improvement in the status of women within the household as well as in the society, could be attributed mainly to the educational opportunities that were provided to them, by the introduction of free education • Gender gap in literacy levels has dwindled down to a mere 3 percentage points by 2001. • Women have entered the labor force slowly, but has shown a continuous growth over the years as shown

13. Malnutrition • Malnutrition among the younger generation continues to be a serious health issue, and a social problem in Sri Lanka. • Energy protein malnutrition causing stunting and wasting is the most common ailment observed among youngsters. • The high prevalence of anaemia specially among pregnant women is a serious nutritional problem, affecting both the mother and the unborn baby (high probability of the child weighing less than the standard 2.5kg. at birth) • Physical growth as well as cognitive development of such a child would be impaired throughout the childhood years, and in the case of a girl child, she would grow up to become a malnourished woman, thus carrying this vicious cycle of malnutrition to the next generation as well.

14. Addiction to Liquor and Drugs • Addiction to liquor and drugs has been identified as a serious health issue and a social menace today. It is seen as the major cause for the eroding human values in the modern society of Sri Lanka. • There is a rapidly increasing trend of convicted prisoners for offences related to narcotic drugs in the past two decades. An alarming twenty fold increase is registered over a span of twenty three years, according to records maintained by the Department of Prisons. • It is no secret that Sri Lanka is listed as one of the countries with highest alcoholism levels.

15. Female-Headed Households • A steady increase is observed in households headed by females, in the past two decades. • Recent surveys have disclosed that these households are relatively poor, the majority of the household heads are widows and their educational level is comparatively lower than that of male heads. • As such, their vulnerability makes them easy prey to acts of abuse and exploitation.

16. Elderly Population • The age structure of the population shows a shift towards the adult age intervals, with the proportion of children declining rapidly. • The aged population defined as those 65yrs. and above is on the increase. • It is an opportune time to study this growing trend and take serious note of the social needs as well as health care necessities of this hapless group.

17. Suicides • Sri Lanka ranks first among South-East Asian countries with respect to commitment of suicide. Poverty, destructive pastimes and inability to cope up with stressful situations, are the main causes which tend to the sudden ending of human life in this tragic manner. • The overall suicide rate has registered a four fold increase since 1950. • Nearly 70% have ended their lives by poisoning after the use of pesticides or unspecified substances. • 14% have been subjected to strangulation or suffocation due to hanging themselves. • Other methods of committing suicide include burning themselves, jumping in front of a moving train and getting drowned.

18. Works Cited • http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/worldwide/asia-and-the-pacific/sri-lanka/ • http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/freedom-of-expression/professional-journalistic-standards-and-code-of-ethics/south-asia/sri-lanka/ • http://www.statistics.gov.lk/social/social%20conditions.pdf