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DateLine Wednesday, 10 October 2007

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Animal rights

A group of animal lovers have banded the themselves together calling for the setting up of a separate Ministry to deal with animal welfare.

They bemoan the absence of responsibility on the part of the authorities to ensure proper treatment of animals and to protect them from cruelty at the hands of man. Holding a press briefing, speaker after speaker lamented on the lack of interest shown towards animal rights by the authorities.

They claimed that no Minister was willing to present a Bill in Parliament to deal with animal rights. Instead the Bill they said was being passed on from one Department to another with no one willing to take the lead to get it into our statute books.

The issue of animal rights has many advocates some with NGO backing. While their intentions may be genuine and borne out of the love for our dumb brethren some of these organisations must be more active in their campaigns.

Only a few organisations speak about the rights of animals who are slaughtered for their meat and cart bulls who are turned into beasts of burden. Animal rights was never an issue in the past where a people brought up in a Buddhist culture always showed compassion towards animals.

However, with the change in the social landscape following liberalisation and increasing contact with the outside world many organisations and bodies sprung up championing many causes and interests. The animal rights lobby too can be placed under this category along with the environmentalists.

The message projected by these organisations is worthy of commendation not only due to the nature of their mission but also the inherent message sought to be conveyed to the public.

They should more vigorously espouse the cause of animals who are being placed under the knife. While doctors and medical experts may expound on the merits of leaving out meat from one's diet there is no denying that Sri Lankans by and large consume animal flesh.

There may be bouts of conscience on the suffering put to by the animals but there is no statistics or proof to indicate that the public have been weaned away from meat consumption.

This may be one of the reasons why the authorities have been fighting shy in enacting legislation towards animal protection. Any Act in this respect would invariable have to include certain restrictions on animal slaughter. This would affect the large meat industry and many livelihoods.

Quiet persuasion, whereby the public could be weaned off meat eating on a voluntary basis, could be an alternative. A vigorous campaign has to be launched by animal rights activists to take their message to a wider populace.

They should raise their voices against the rapid dwindling of various animal species in the country and urge authorities to stamp out poaching. Today most of their energies are expended on protecting the canine population. This has elicited a good response, but a larger campaign should be launched to cover all animals subjected to cruelty.

A change of climate

The recent deliberations on climate change at the UN and also in Washington have once again brought into focus the urgent need for action on global warming.

There are clear signs of an emerging consensus on this phenomenon which will result in catastrophic consequences for the world if left unchecked. Global warming has the potential to create a disaster far worse than the 2004 tsunami.

It is indeed a pity that the United States, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, did not participate in the September 24 UN High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change. However, Washington's decision to convene a separate 16-nation meeting on the same topic augurs well for the future.

The central message from the Washington conclave was that the Bush administration is now serious about the threat posed by global warming.

Both meetings could be described as precursors to the November meeting in Bali, Indonesia on the same topic, where even more ambitious targets will be discussed under the Kyoto Protocol's parent treaty, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The goal is to pave the way to a global agreement that will be concluded in 2009, with ratification set for 2012.

Sri Lanka too is playing an active role in these initiatives. It was disclosed yesterday that Sri Lanka would become one of the first Carbon Neutral destinations in the world.

Sri Lanka will thus become a 'Travel and Tourism Earth Lung'. This will be a major challenge, given that the country is heavily dependent on long-haul tourism, in addition to being a developing nation with a rapid pace of industrialisation.

Sri Lanka has thus shown the West that even developing countries can take concrete steps towards reducing global warming, even though they will be granted an extended grace period under the Kyoto Protocol. It is now up to the developed nations to work swiftly towards more comprehensive emissions cuts.

'Right to Life':

A fundamental right

 The laws that are primarily intended to protect and assist victims of crimes or violation of fundamental rights, witnesses to such crimes following the 1985 UN Declaration on Victims of Crime and Abuse of power. Many countries have enacted VWAP laws. In South Asia, Sri Lanka has become the first country to initiate legislation.

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Erasing the stigma of mental illness

Mental illness affects 10 per cent of the population of any country and this proportion increases to 25 per cent at times of major traumatic national events, according to Dr Harischandra Ghambeera, senior consultant at the Mental Hospital (Teaching), Angoda and President of the Sri Lanka College of Psychiatry.

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Legislation against sound pollution timely

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