R2P and the democratization of the UN - Part II:
Importance of focusing on people’s needs
The principle of R2P rests on three equally
important pillars. They are that (1) the primary responsibility of
states to protect their own populations from the core crimes of
genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity,
as well as from incitement to perpetrate such crimes; (2) The
responsibility of the international community to assist a state to
fulfill its R2P; and (3) the international community's
responsibility to take timely and decisive action, in accordance
with the UN Charter, in cases where the state has manifestly failed
to protect its population from one or more of the four crimes.
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The Human Dimension - Nayomini Rathnayake
Weerasooriya
Are we thankful for what we have?
As I write this article, news networks report
that Europe is in the midst of one of the worst cold weather
episodes in history. Sleet outside your window covering everything
in sight…blocked roads, dangerously slippery surfaces, the misery of
long and dark evenings and shorter spells of daylight. As delightful
as snow is in its first fall, especially to someone who has not seen
snow before, snow can soon turn into a miserable, long stretched out
period of watching nothing but more snow.
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Traditional fishing techniques
Fishing with an implement known as the karaka,
or the karak gediya is a practice coming from time immemorial. The
karaka is a basket like implement broad at the bottom and narrow at
the top. Made of either small but hard and flexible wooden sticks or
rattan it is shaped like a funnel. Both bottom and top ends are open
and the hole on top is big enough for a man to thrust his arm in and
is about two or three feet wide at the bottom. The fisherman
operates the karaka from the edge of a river, stream, tank or pond.
If the water course is shallow he operates it by wading in the
water. The karaka is placed in the water to reach the bottom, and
the fish that are trapped in it are caught by hand.
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The PSC as a suitable mechanism for a solution
Mahatma Gandhi when he visited the Shanthi
Nikethan once wrote in the autograph book of one of the students
there that "if you have given a promise, safeguard it even with the
sacrifice of your life". Rabindranath Tagore wrote another saying
beneath the one made by Mahatma Gandhi, in front of him. That note
was, "Nothing can be kept tied by a chain made of clay. Similarly,
if you find that the promise you made was a wrong one throw it away
immediately".
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