This just in from my publishers Hurst: the ebook versions of my book ‘To End A Civil War‘ are now live globally across all platforms. Apparently the easiest way to find them is through Kindle stores (via Amazon).
N. America: Amazon.com www.amazon.com/Kindle-Store/b?ie=UTF8&node=133140011
Erik Solheim, chair of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee, speaks at the University of Ottawa on Jan. 13.
Wednesday, 01/20/2016
The leader of a main group of aid donors says Canada’s new government should set a path to boost aid to reach international standards.
Erik Solheim, chair of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee, said the new Liberal government should continue with the former Conservative government’s focus on leveraging private-sector investment in developing countries, and go further.
If Britain’s Conservative government can hit—during tough economic times—the global gold-standard of 0.7 per cent of gross national income spent on foreign aid, then Canada can do it too, said Mr. Solheim, speaking during a visit to Ottawa on Jan. 13. “No one expects Canada to go to 0.7 tomorrow. A trajectory of gradual increase is feasible,” he said.
Canada languished at 0.24 per cent in 2014 according to the OECD-DAC, or $4.2 billion USD. No major political party during last fall’s election campaign would produce a firm timeline to reach that goal, though the NDP said they’d get to it eventually.
At a time when both Canada and the world are starting a new chapter of international development policy priorities, Mr. Solheim suggested niches Canada could lead on. With the world focusing for the next 15 years on achieving 17 new Sustainable Development Goals announced last year, Mr. Solheim suggested, Canada’s new government could take the lead on Goal 14 for instance, to conserve and sustainably use oceans and marine resources.
He also spoke of the health of mothers and children: Canada’s top aid priority for the last six years, one the Liberal government has deemed a valuable focus, with some tweaks. And he mentioned fragile states; Aid Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has been tasked with focusing Canada’s aid on the poorest and most vulnerable as well as supporting fragile states.
Mr. Solheim, a former Norwegian Socialist Left Party leader and member of Parliament, met with Ms. Bibeau and Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion in order to connect with the new government, one he described as having “a lot of promise, promising to reconnect with the world.”
While in Ottawa, the former Norwegian international development and environment minister also spoke alongside the author of a new book on his and other Norwegian government officials’ efforts in the early 2000s to end the Sri Lankan civil war. Mr. Solheim was the lead negotiator from 2000 to 2005 shuttling between the Sri Lankan government and independence-seeking Tamil minority rebels.
The ultimate goal of peace in the decades-long conflict wouldn’t come until after the government finally crushed the rebels in May 2009 in a bloody military campaign that left thousands of civilians dead.
A new government came to power in Sri Lanka last year and co-sponsored a resolution on itself at the United Nations Human Rights Council recognizing the need for truth, justice and reparations after the war.
Mr. Solheim spoke to Embassy after the book launch of To End a Civil War with author Mark Salter, presented by the University of Ottawa. The following are excerpts from Mr. Solheim edited for style and length.
Where Canada can lead
“We need Canadian leadership in the world. Development is not mainly about money, but it’s about leadership. And please fund areas where Canada can take global leadership…
“[Priorities] must come from the side of Canada, not from [our] side. I suggested one area as an example. The Sustainable Development Goal 14 is about oceans. There’s no clear owner of that goal. You need to set the policies right. And Canada has the longest coastline of any nation on the planet. It is well placed to lead on that.
“But there are so many other areas. “You have always played a role on women’s issues and maternal health. That’s another area where Canada can potentially lead. “There’s a strong desire to be effective on climate, but oceans is a key [part] of climate.
“Fragile states, we need nations who can really lead on some of the most difficult fragile states, like South Sudan, Central African Republic, Haiti and many others. “No one can lead everywhere. But Canada can lead somewhere.
“…Canada has no enemies. There is not one nation in the entire planet who doesn’t like Canada. You have good politicians. The prime minister is a kind of global rock star…but you also have strong civil society, strong civil service…You have all the systems and ability to lead.”
On the private sector and reaching 0.7
“You need a lot more both private sector investment and aid. There’s no contradiction. No one should argue that you should do aid and not private sector investment, or vice versa. We need both.
“The private sector can never pay for education in Central African Republic. But, on the other hand, if you want to build a hydroelectric power plant or solar plant, it might be better to make it a commercial entity and assist the private sector in doing it. For sure, you need both.
“Canada should step up. It should propose a trajectory for increasing its aid. And the Conservative government did well on the private sector. The new government should please continue with that. Don’t put that in the dustbin. Build up on it…
“The United Kingdom and their Conservative government has brought aid up to 0.7 at a time of great financial troubles. So it can be done. No one expects Canada to go to 0.7 tomorrow. A trajectory of gradual increase is feasible. “…It’s all about the political will. If David Cameron could do that in the United Kingdom, for sure it can be done in Canada.”
How Canada should work with Sri Lanka
“It should embrace the new government. It should engage with Sri Lanka at all levels. It should increase investment, encourage tourism, and in all ways engage with Sri Lanka.
“And it should also encourage Sri Lanka to find a settlement of the Tamil problem; [there’s a] Tamil diaspora here, they will want that. It should offer every support for such a settlement. “But to me, this is the most hopeful moment in Sri Lankan history. It’s a huge chance to get it right, and Canada should support Sri Lanka getting it right.”
On Sri Lankan government reconciliation efforts
“I think it’s a good start. But there [is] more to be done. “There must be a full stop in all sorts of violence. Still there are cases where people have been disappearing and who have been raped; that must stop.
“Now we are seven years after the war. All political prisoners must either be brought [to] a court or released. You can’t sit more than seven years in prison after the war. The time has come to release them, or if there are very serious accusations, bring them to court so that there is some serious consideration of the issue.”
Lessons learned from Sri Lankan peace talks
“You need patience. You need to keep all doors open, to speak to everyone, to speak to dictators and guerilla movements, and to so-called terrorists. You need to speak to everyone. “…You need to have overlapping ethnical identities. Because, I mean, say you’re an Indian, but you’re also a Tamil, you’re also a Hindu. If you insist on just one identity, it’s very difficult…
“You need to engage the big powers. Unless the big powers are working together, it’s very hard. There is no way whatsoever that Afghanistan could have been in this mess, or for that matter Syria, if it was not for the involvement of different powers dragging it in different directions. So whatever you can do to bring the major outside powers together is essential for peace everywhere.”
kshane@embassynews.ca
@kristenshane1
https://twitter.com/TamilGuardian/status/687738075682856960?s=04
Tamil Guardian @TamilGuardian
Panel begins @AtlanticCouncil with Bharath Gopalaswamy
Interview with Erik Solheim and myself at the 14 January Toronto launch of my new book.
by Ranjit Bhaskar in Toronto
The Sri Lankan civil war holds many a lesson for the island-nation’s diaspora community in Canada and the world in general, according to Erik Solheim, former Norwegian Minister for International Development and for the Environment. Solheim’s name is synonymous with peacemaking in Sri Lanka.
“My biggest sorrow was that thousands of Tamils died unnecessarily due to lack of vision from both the Sinhala and Tamil leadership,” he said in Toronto this week, lamenting the futility of the civil war. The country having gained a measure of calm in recent years, Solheim called on the diaspora community to participate in the South Asian nation’s economy and thereby help heal the ethnic fault line. It has long been suspected that the country’s Tamil diaspora worldwide, including its largest presence here in Canada, helped fuel the civil war through remittances and arms shipments.
From 2000 to 2005, Solheim was the main negotiator of the process that led to a ceasefire agreement between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in early 2002 and the Oslo Declaration. “Around that time, I was the most well-known foreigner in Sri Lanka next only to [then U.S. President] George Bush,” he recalled. “Also, I am the sole non-Tamil who has had the most face time with [LTTE chief] Velupillai Prabhakaran.”
Role of diaspora
Solheim was in Canada this week for the launch of To End a Civil War, a book by Mark Salter on Norway’s peace efforts to end the island nation’s bitter fight. He referred to the formation of an air force by the LTTE, the first by a non-state player that was made possible by diaspora contributions. “While it was an impressive achievement, it made absolutely no impact on the final outcome of the war.” Currently the Chairperson of the Development Assistance Committee for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Solheim said apart from political initiatives, a lasting solution to the ethnic fault line can be achieved through rapid economic growth.
Describing the Tamil diaspora as among the most successful in the world, he said it could play a big role in Sri Lanka’s growth. “You now need to go back to invest and put your expertise to use,” he told a largely Tamil audience at the Toronto book launch. “More so because diasporas are generally made up of the most industrious of a populace.”
Bipartisan consensus
The peacemaker suggested that a bipartisan consensus between Sri Lanka’s major political parties would further help the healing. The lack of such a consensus between the historically-opposed Sinhala political parties, the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), had played a role in prolonging the civil war. He hoped the current bipartisan administration of President Maithripala Sirisena (SLFP) and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (UNP) can see through the process of rewriting the country’s constitution and move ahead on transitional justice.
Author Mark Salter said the importance of achieving bipartisan consensus is evident elsewhere. “Peace in Northern Ireland is a prime example of buy-in by all factions involved in a conflict.” Salter said the inability of the then Wickremesinghe government to explain the peace dividend in simple terms to the majority Sinhalese Buddhist population was a key factor in the failure of the Sri Lankan peace process. Buddhists account for over 70 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 21 million people.
Looking back
Solheim said he wished he had a bigger and broader team to engage more broadly with key groups on the island, including Buddhist leaders. “We should have also insisted on better access to Prabhakaran and spoken to him more often.” In his opinion, Prabhakaran was a brilliant military leader, but a failed politician. “He thought every issue had a military solution and went on to make many wrong decisions.” It was exacerbated by the death of LTTE political ideologue Anton Balasingham. “Prabhakaran became very isolated and was pushed to the wall. There was not one meaningful initiative from him in an international context.”
Solheim said straight-talking Balasingham was able to give his Norwegian team a unique insight into the LTTE’s leadership. “He never lied to us.” He said Prabhakaran’s biggest mistake was his decision to assassinate former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. “It was an astronomical blunder that finally led to the LTTE’s destruction [in May 2009].” Solheim said Sri Lanka’s destiny is tied to India on many counts, with close proximity to its giant South Asian neighbour being one. “If one wanted, you could take a boat to Chennai from Jaffna, watch a movie and return.”
Canada’s “We’re back”
His Norwegian team had been in constant touch with India and the U.S., the two big international players, throughout the peace process. “No one nation can lead on all fronts in international affairs today,” Solheim told New Canadian Media when asked for his reaction to the new Canadian government’s global aspirations. “You must define a few areas of interest. But most importantly the desire to help must come from the heart.” Expressing delight over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “We’re back” pronouncements, he was planning to meet Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion in Ottawa during his trip to the capital for the launch of Salter’s book.
The Toronto launch was organized by Sri Lankans Without Borders and was moderated by Amaranth Amarasingam of Dalhousie University.
Excellent BBC interview with in-the-news Israeli authoress Dorit Rabinyan in which she gives a concise, clear – and in my view truthful – account of the reasons the Israeli Education Ministry has moved to stop her new novel, Borderlife, entering the national curriculum. Like thousands of others, I will definitely be buying the book once the English translation comes out. All power to her!
Time Out Tel Aviv’s great video response to the Iaraeli Education Ministry’s recent book ban. Go for it, guys n’ gals!
For details of the book launch event scheduled for next Wednesday (13 January) in Ottawa visit the links (English and French) below. As at the other North American launch events, speakers will be myself and Erik Solheim. The launch will be held 4-6pm at Fauteux Hall, located at the Human Rights Research and Education Centre.
https://cdp-hrc.uottawa.ca/en/jan-13-book-launch-end-civil-war
https://cdp-hrc.uottawa.ca/fr/13-jan-lancement-du-livre-end-civil-war
Here the link to the film of my new book’s late-October 2015 London launch, held at the School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS). Also in attendance were Erik Solheim, the former lead Norwegian negotiator in Sri Lanka, Vidar Helgesen, Deputy Foreign Minister during a crucial period in the Norwegian engagement in Sri Lanka, and Dr. Sutha Nadarajah, a senior lecturer at SOAS with strong past connections to the former chief LTTE political advisor, Anton Balasingham, who died in 2006.
1 1/2 hours may be pushing it a bit so suggest you can pick and choose your favoured bits!
Here are the details of next Thursday (14 January)’s launch event for my new book on Sri Lanka, at the Atlantic Council building.
All present in the vicinity very welcome!
Here’s a recent interview I did on the Tamil IBC TV channel. The subject was – unsurprisingly – my new book on the Norwegian peace effort in Sri Lanka. Equally unsurprisingly, they’ve seized on the most controversial topic covered for a title . . . . .
http://www.ceylonews.com/2016/01/01/rajapaksa-wanted-a-closed-door-deal-with-prabhakaran/
