Women's Human Rights : Issues of Implementation in Sri Lanka
This thesis is about issues concerning the implementation of women's human rights in Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka has had a conflict between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, LTTE for two decades. Since 2002 there has been a ceasefire agreement in place, which is being violated by both parties. Before being abandoned in 2003, one woman was present during the peace talks that were held.In this paper I present the results of my field research conducted in Sri Lanka in November and December of 2005. The aim was to find out how women were active in the peace process since it is stipulated in international conventions that they have a right to participation. During the interviews with women activists it became evident that women were not involved in the official peace process. Therefore the thesis is about women’s human rights in Sri Lanka and the obstacles for their implementation.Two main reasons for the lack of implementation of women’s human rights in Sri Lanka are identified. Firstly, for reasons of culture and patriarchal structures, there is a general lack of implementation internationally of women’s human rights. Secondly, the unresolved conflict situation in Sri Lanka, which reflects the unequal power relations between men and women that existed prior to the conflict. The lack of implementation of women’s human rights in Sri Lanka results in women not being present in the political life and they are therefore not part of the official peace process.International conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW and the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on peace and security are addressed in the thesis in order to examine women’s human rights and their right to participation in politics and peace building.Finally, I conclude that in order to include women in the official peace negotiations women need to actively participate in politics. The method presented to ensure such participation is that of affirmative action. It is a measure that falls under the category of temporary measures, which is suggested in CEDAW article 4.1.
Women, armed conflict and international law
“IHL takes a particular male perspective on armed conflict, as a norm against which to measure equality. In a world where women are not equals of men, and armed conflict impacts upon men and women in a fundamentally different way, a general category of rules that is not inclusive of the reality for women cannot respond to their situation.”
Effective adsorption of lead ions using fly ash obtained in the novel circulating fluidized bed combustion technology
Abstract Fly ash was examined for the separation efficiency of Pb2+ ions from water in batch experiments. Fly ash is industrial waste produced from the incineration of sewage sludge by the novel circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) technology and was taken into the experiments. Physical and chemical properties of the material were characterized using several methods, such as fraction analysis, particle size distribution, bulk density, composition, morphology, surface and internal structure by elemental analysis, FT-IR, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction analysis, comprehensive thermal analysis, fly ash texture by BET adsorption isotherms, specific surface area, volume of pores, average pore diameter and pore volume distribution by the BJH method. The influence of pH values on zeta potential of the fly ash surface before and after the adsorption process was conducted. The calculated maximum adsorption capacity of Pb2+ by fly ash reached 51.98 mg/g. The kinetic analysis revealed that the adsorption process is better described by the pseudo-second order equation and it is well fitted to the Freundlich model. In conclusion, fly ash obtained in the CFBC technology is a promising low cost adsorbent for the highly effective recovery of Pb2+ from wastewater.