Connections | September 24, 2012

Commonwealth Parliamentarians on safeguarding Democracy,
the Rule of Law and HR
Sri Lanka recently played host to a high profile international event – the week long Commonwealth Parliamentarians conference held in Colombo in September, was one of the biggest events to be held in Sri Lanka since the end of the war and brought together policy makers from 54 member countries to discuss important issues covering numerous topics.
On Connections today we bring you some excerpts from one of the sessions that opened up a discussion on a topic of much interest and concern to member states; Democracy, Rule of Law and Human Rights.

Citizen Journalism in Sri Lanka: a book launch and views
Challenges relating to Human Rights, the Rule of Law and Democracy are faced by many countries across the world. Speaking out and expressing alternate views on such issues through the media is not often possible due to censorship and intimidation. New media is changing all this, providing individuals space and tools to freely express themselves and network with the various communities.
The advancement of the internet has now turned a great many internet users into internet reporters – this development over the years is now commonly referred to as “Citizen Journalism”.
Our next report takes a look at an event where a university student presents her research thesis on Citizen Journalism in Sri Lanka which has been printed in book form.

Manjula Dissanayake on Educate Lanka Foundation
Manjula Dissanayake together with Rasan Amintha set up Educate Lanka Foundation in 2006 to empower underprivileged students in Sri Lanka. Since then they have been carrying out the project through donations, grants and fundraisers.
On this segment we speak to Manjula and his work with Educate Lanka Foundation.

Palmyrah based products make a comeback
The development of various sectors of the Jaffna economy is seeing a revival in the market for traditional Jaffna products. Here’s a report on one such product, based on a natural resource that is available primarily in the north – the Palmyrah