Point of View
Islamic and Western civilisations on a collision course?

By Siddiq Ghouse
Just prior to the tenth century the inhabitants of Europe were in a primitive stage of civilisation, wearing clothes made of skin, eating semi-cooked meat, living in thatched shacks while cities of Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus were lit with lamps, streets paved, housed with hundreds of libraries, dwelling places tiled and public baths and universities of learning were the order of the day. In 711 A.D the Visigothic kingdom of Spain fell to the famous Muslim General Tariq bin Ziad and this turn in history brought about one of the most dramatic rise in scientific inquiry, historical research, spread of commerce perfection of industry and social and economic development of mankind. The Moors who arrived in Spain were bringing with them the majestic Islamic civilisation to a dark Europe, lost in barbarism and brutality. The dark age of Europe when every necessary learning was banished from every part of it, the arrival of the Muslims into Spain began a cultural impetus which was initially welcomed only in Spain.' Arts, literature, and science prospered as they prospered nowhere else in Europe' wrote Lane-Poole in his book 'Moors in Spain.'

The introduction of Islamic manners led to the regeneration of human judgement in general in Europe. Be it geography, astronomy, medicine much of Muslim culture and sciences penetrated the West in various ways through Spain. Dr Campbell in his book 'Arabian Medicine' Vol plO6 states' we see the first dawn of civilisation in the West, the chief impulse to which was the early contact between Latin West and Islam' . Draper refers to the state of Europe in his famous works 'Intellectual Development in Europe' From the barbarism of the native people of Europe, who could scarcely be said to have emerged from the savage state, living in wooden hovels and treading upon dirty straw miserably fed on beans, vetches, even bark of trees, it is pleasant to turn to the south west of the continent' where the Moors had developed a brilliant civilisation.

This novel scientific movement started under the patronage of the benevolent Caliphs of Baghdad, Cairo and Cordova (Spain).

People from all Europe came at those times to the Universities of Cairo, Baghdad, Cordova in Muslim Spain to acquire learning, as much as we now go to Cambridge or Oxford. Medical sciences were taught in the Mosque colleges of these universities by the same teachers who taught Islamic knowledge as there was no dichotomy between subjects secular and religious, as the aim was the same in both cases i.e. winning the pleasure of God. The famous Muslim scholars of the sciences were also religious personnel, because according to Islam, pleasure of God is won not only by praying, fasting, pilgrimage, but also by any mental or physical act put in by the devotee for the welfare of mankind. The only essential condition is that the motive of the scientists should not be the furtherance of self interest or the advancement of narrower national cause but the winning of the pleasure of God through service to humanity.

When the new scientific knowledge and new scientific discoveries reached Europe through Muslim Spain and brought about the famous movement known in European history as the Renaissance, a conflict arose between the torch bearers of new knowledge and the then powerful Church. The sciences were branded by the Church as 'works of the devil'. The conflict was bitter, long and assumed enormous proportions. The Inquisition was busy flogging, imprisoning, persecuting and burdening pioneers of the new thought and the result was a estrangement between science and religion. The bearers in free thought were relentlessly persecuted in the West, the learned Bruno was being burnt on the stake by the Inquisition for upholding the Copernican theory, Galileo was being forced by persecution to recant, withdraw and renounce the views honestly held by him. During this period of ferocious bigotry eclesiasticism barred every access through which the light of knowledge, humanity or civilisation could enter. The Palatine library founded by Augustus Caesar was burnt down and study of the ancient writers of Greece and Rome were forbidden.

This attitude drove the leaders of European enlightenment who received their newfound scientific and cultural knowledge from the Muslims, to camps of scepticism and atheism. The Church found that these new scholars professing a scientific knowledge and also traces of Islam were a threat to the power of the Church, so they opposed this 'invasion' vehemently. The scientists rebelled and adopted atheism, took refuge in Godless mechanistic materialism which denied the existence of God, soul and after life. Their pursuit on these lines gradually drove them to find discoveries and methods that would stimulate only the body and not the spirit of man.

The pleasure of the body was the be all and end all of it. Meanwhile the Muslims from which the West acquired the knowledge of many of the sciences had gone into a deep slumber, enjoying the comforts of worldly life and involved in internal conflicts so much so that they lost Spain after 700 years of Islamic rule. Great advances were made by the scientists of the West through their acquired knowledge from Muslim sources, but at the expense of any spiritual progress. Materialism was the new religion of the West, but the 'materials' were lacking for this new dogma in the cold regions of Europe, so they set their eyes on the warm fertile land and products of the East. The former 'Barbarians' from their new position of superiority, now frowned and looked down disparagingly on the other peoples of the Muslim World and the East calling them 'Barbarians'. Imperialist expansion was carefully plotted out by the Europeans but first camouflaged in numerous ways. Initially explorers were sent, followed by merchants who established businesses like for example the East India Company. These earlier visitors reported back that the natives were still in the spear and the bow and arrow stage, and that to subjugate them required not numbers but superior weaponry. The scientific advancement which the West had then achieved made them to develop weapons to meet these needs like the guns, cannons etc. for which the natives had no answer.

The Muslim world who were in hybernation too succumbed to the onslaught of the Western colonialists. Algeria under French, Libya under Italy, just to name a few.

After a long period of colonisation of the Muslim lands resistance movements grew, names like Orabi Pasha, Jamad ul Afghani, Umar Mukthar led these uprisings and the Westerner had to finally yield to Independence as technology was not a closed door and the colonised too were gaining access to it to fight back the occupiers. But after years of Independence the question the Muslims in the Muslim world are asking themselves are we really free? Today the Muslim countries are merely autonomous and are, by no means, the masters of their destiny. Many of the governments are formed and replaced at the instance of the West. A clear example is Algeria where the Islamists were poised to win a democratic election, and at the West's beck the army took over to prevent this happening. It is the same West that shouts itself hoarse at Burma for its army rule, accusing Burma of crushing democracy. Muslim countries cannot bring into office a government of their own choice. The peculiar manner in which political developments takes place in many of the Islamic bloc of countries is the creation of elite groups who control all the economic resources and sources of power.

This bloc are still in the stranglehold of coco-colonisation, but however there is also an awakening among the Muslim world to sink their differences and stay together on the basis that unity is strength. This was visible in the recent attempted onslaught of Iraq by the U. S and Britain which couldn't get off the ground due to some semblance of unity when countries like Saudi Arabia refused to allow the use of its soil for such operations, and also cohesion was visible when Iran scored a diplomatic victory in holding the Islamic Summit conference of the Islamic Conference Organisation grouping 54 Islamic Countries in Teheran recently, much to the displeasure of the U.S. These moves in recent times in many of the Muslim countries is due to a realisation by the leaders of those countries that the tide is turning, and the masses are unhappy with those leaders honeymooning with the West, in particular the United States administration. This growing displeasure among the Muslim peoples is mainly due to the U.S. Governments strong backing for Israel, whether wrong or right, while Israel holds onto Muslim lands, in particular Jerusalem which contains Islam's third holiest place after Makkah and Madinah, the Al Aqsa Mosque.

It is hypocritical for Muslims to hide their faces in the sand as the proverbial ostrich and ignore the reality that there is a-great divide between the Western Governments and Islam, or to put it bluntly the Crusades are still on.
(Continued on Monday)

Tharuna Aruna Project

The Tharuna Aruna skills Development Programme was initiated in response to Her Excellency, the President's appeal to the private sector to co-operate with the Government in the national effort to provide a sustainable solution to the problem of educated youth unemployment in the country.

Responding to Her Excellency's confidence in the private sector, four leading Chambers of Com-merce & Industry signed a Memoran-dum of Understan-ding, by which they agreed to assist the Government and thus established the Tha-runa Aruna Institute undertaking the commitment of the operation and management of the Tharuna Aruna Skills Development Programme, which aims at providing skills to make our graduates employable in the private sector.

The Tharuna Aru-na Programme was officially inaugurated on 9 March 1997, and was entrusted with the responsibility of creating an awareness of its objectives among private sector organizations as it was acknowledged that the private sector would be Sri Lanka's engine of growth and economic progress of the future and would eventually become the country's main employment provider.

It also became incumbent upon Tha-runa Aruna to carry the message to the educated youth that their future was most definitely with the private sector - that opportunities with the public sector were dwindling since the Government intended to phase out economic and commercial activity into the hands of the private sector.

Wide publicity was given to this programme through all available media channels and information was also transmitted through other appropriate and effective avenues in an attempt to create awareness on an islandwide basis.

There were 11577 responses to two calls for registration with the Tharuna Aruna Programme. How-ever, only 5647 graduates confirmed their interest to remain with the programme and this is the number which forms the active register of gra-duates seeking training opportunities.

Since commencement of trainee placements in June 1997, Tharuna Aruna has secured an average of over 150 on the job skills training opportunities per month. As at date 2000 graduates have been placed in approximately 780 private sector organizations, and this is an ongoing process.

Placement opportunities are secured through direct dialogue with companies, islandwide job markets at which both trainees and employers participate, and through publicity campaigns.

The Directors of the Institute consist of Chairmen of four leading trade chambers and top level private and public sector officials and they all provide a voluntary service, investing a considerable amount of their time and effort to carry forward the mission and objectives of the programme. The private sector organizations too, in undertaking to provide on-the-job skills training to Tharuna Aruna graduate trainees, provide a completely voluntary service, free of training charges thus contributing to this national initiative.

Expenditure to date on this project totals Rs: 62.1 million, of which amount the payment of monthly allowances to trainees has totaled Rs: 42.8 million and training related ex-penditure amounts to Rs: 14.85 and balance Rs: 4.45 million has been spent on administrative and operational costs including computerization and management of data base, etc.

The present status of the project as at 30/11/1998 in summary is given below:

Commencement of Training Placements: June 1997

Period of Opera-tion: 18 months

No. of graduates seeking placements on active list: 5647

No. of Graduates placed in Training : 2000*

No. of organizations providing Training: 780 **

Expenditure Incur-red:

Rs. 62.10 Million * * *

*Average of over 150 graduates are placed in training monthly.

* *Average of 45 Training providing companies join the programme monthly.

***Expenditure of Rs: 62.1 million incurred so far consist of:

(a)Monthly allowances paid to trainees (Rs: 3,000/= per month per trainee) Rs: 42.80M

(b)Training related expenditure in respect of special TAI induction couses conducted prior to placement Rs: 14.85M

(c)Administrative & operational costs including Com-puterization & management of data base etc Rs: 4.45M

Our correspondent replies:

Tharuna aruna - the facts

The above article documents the prog-ress of the Tharuna Aruna graduate trai-ning project from June 1997 to Novem-ber 1998. During this 18 month period the Tharuna Aruna is reported to have placed 2000 plus graduates for employment training in 780 organisations and spent Rs. 62.1 million. The article avoids any mention of the central issue. How many graduates found actual employment?

In the absence of answers to this problem we are left only with the information provided earlier by the Tharuna Aruna Insti-tute to the participants at the SLFI secret conferance of September 29th 1998 sponsored by the Friedrich Eg-bert Stiftung. This was published by THE ISLAND of November 25th 1998 as 'Table 9 - Tharuna Aruna Training Programme upto August 1998' in the article by our special correspondant titled

'What is happening in the Tharuna Aruna project? '

According to Table 9 (which is published here once more) during this 15 month training period from June 1997 to August 1998 a total of 462 were trained and placed while another 78 are to be trained and placed. Let the reader be the best judge of the facts available. The crucial question that is being asked is how many graduates found employment after an 18 month training period in which the Tharuna Aruna Insti-tute admits spending Rs. 62.1 million? All else is rhetoric!

Sustainable disarmament and human development

It is a task as important in the developing South as in the developed North. Let me quote the late Mahbubul Haq who, in 1995, asked:

'Isn't it time to ask the leaders of the Third World these questions:

Why do they insist on spending two or three times as much on arms as on the education and health of their people?

Why do they have 20 times more soldiers than doctors?

How can they find the resources for air-conditioned jeeps for their military generals when they lack even windowless schoolrooms for their children?

And isn't it time to ask the leaders of the rich nations to stop the continuing arithmetic of death and destruction in the Third World - where 22 million have died in more than 120 conflicts during the 'peaceful transition' since the Second World War? Should they not fix a concrete timetable - say, the next three years - to:

Close all foreign military bases in developing countries?

Convert all existing military aid into economic aid?

Stop the arms shipments of more than $ 35 billion a year that make huge profits from poor nations that cannot even feed their people?

Eliminate subsidies to arms exporters and retain their workers for jobs in civilian industries?

Poverty, Insecurity, and Peaceful Change
Though Mahbub is no longer with us, he continues to inspire new paths to development and international peace and security. In August 1998, Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his report on the causes of conflict in Africa, succinctly stated that 'ensuring human security is, in the broadest sense, the cardinal mission of the United Nations.' This theme of human security has also figured prominently in the worked of the UN Development Programme, the World Bank, and in statements by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Oscar Arias.

In this spirit, I propose to address the contribution that disarmament can make in alleviating what World Bank President James Wolfensohn has termed the 'human pain of poverty.'I will argue that while disarmament alone offers no panacea for all the challenges of economic development, it has played and will continue to play a major role in promoting development and the prosperity of all. Because of this important role, it is all the more important for disarmament efforts to persist over time in the pursuit of the UN Charter's goals relating both to international peace and security and to economic and social development. It is this concept of 'sustainable disarmament', therefore, that will be the major focus of my remarks today.

The Charter is very sensitive to the right of each country to defend itself - Article 51 even terms this an 'inherent right' of individual or collective self-defence. This right, of course, must be interpreted within the context of the rest of the Charter and other existing international obligations. Article 26 of the Charter, for example, states that a key goal of the UN is to promote international peace and 'with the least diversion for armaments of the world's human and economic resources.' And whether it is in the pursuit of the goals of world peace or development, the UN shall be - in the words of Article 1 - 'a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.' This role is extremely important in ensuring that development and disarmament remain fully complementary and mutually-reinforcing goals throughout the world community.

And there could scarcely be a more important, yet more challenging task than the harmonizing of such complex goals, a task which leaders have recognized for many years. In 1978, the UN General Assembly held its first Special Session on Disarmament (SSOD-1) and included in its final Declaration the following finding: 'In a world of finite resources there is a close relationship between expenditure on armaments and economic and social development...(arms expenditure) diverts to military purposes not only material but also technical and human resources which are urgently needed for development in all countries, particularly in the developing countries.'

In 1987, the General Assembly convened an 'International Conference on the Relationship Between Disarmament and Development' that was attended by 150 countries. The conference's Final Document - which was adopted by consensus - found that 'The world can either continue to pursue the arms race with characteristic vigour or move consciously and with deliberate speed towards a more stable and balanced social and economic development within a more sustainable international economic and political order, it cannot do both.'

Both the UN and its sister financial institutions, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have been returning to these themes year after year. In a recent fact sheet on 'Military Spending,' the World Bank expressed its concern 'that in a number of developing countries, military expenditure exceeds spending for certain key aspects of development and this can frustrate the country's development objectives...In some countries, spending on military accounts for 10 per cent of GDP, while that for the social sectors is less than 5 per cent.'

And in March 1997, another Bank report - provocatively entitled 'What Happened to the Peace Dividend?'- estimated that 'as much as $ 720 billion' in funds were theoretically made available in the decade of 1985-95 due to defence cutbacks. The Bank found, however, that by and large these funds were used for purpose to deficit reduction and lower taxes rather than to address specific social and economic development goals.

The UN Development Programme's Human Development Report for 1994 gave even a higher estimate. The report found that 'During 1987-94, the industrial nations appear to have cumulatively saved some $ 810 billion, and the developing nations $ 125 billion, producing a sizable peace dividend of $ 935 billion. But it is difficult to track where these funds went.' Let me repeat this figure: $ 935 billion. But comparison, that represents over 60 times the Gross Domestic Product of Sri Lanka in 1997. Basic common sense suggests that both rich and poor country alike could benefit from these enormous potential savings.

In this light, it should surprise on one that the General Assembly's annual resolutions addressing the issue of the 'relationship between disarmament and development' have repeatedly emphasized the need to ensure that part of the savings from disarmament will be devoted to development purposes, a step that would surely serve the interests of world peace.

If one were to search for the right prescriptions for peaceful change, there would scarcely be a better place to look than the UN Charter. Yet the Charter-based concept of 'peaceful settlement of disputes' - with its emphasis on political solutions crafted through negotiations and involving constructive compromise - is increasingly being challenged by a dangerous new syndrome of militarily-imposed arbitrary solutions, mounting civilian casualties, and new risks of conflicts escalating to the use of weapons of mass destruction, both between and even within countries. Indeed, intra-state conflicts are the dominant feature today.

This problem is particularly severe in Africa. In his recent report on the causes of conflict in that region, the Secretary-General noted how the people of Africa have been failed by their leaders, the international community, and even the UN itself - 'We have failed them,' he said, 'by not adequately addressing the causes of conflict; by not doing enough to ensure peace; and by our repeated inability to create the conditions for sustainable development.'

In an analysis published in 1992 by the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, the Indian economist, Amit Bhaduri found that while increased armament expenditure may aim at enhancing military security, it may also stimulate conflicts and lower a country's economic performance. Thus in some respects military and economic security may be inversely related. According to Bhaduri, the historian Paul Kennedy, and others, the way out of this paradox must be to enhance military security through higher economic security.

While the UN has deliberated for many years about the closely interdependent relationship between disarmament, security, and development, we are only just beginning to see the emergence of a new global consensus about the nature of is relationship. Countries both rich and poor should rightfully recognize disarmament as not simply a noble moral principle, but as a process that serves concrete material interests as well. In short, disarmament pays. As the Secretary-General recently emphasized in his report last August on the Work of the Organisation. 'Human security and equitable and sustainable development turn out to be two sides of the same coin.'

Concept and Implementation of Sustainable Disarmament
A 'sustainable disarmament' concept has therefore become the urgent need of our time. In a sentence, it is a dynamic process - sustained by deliberate action on the part of leaders throughout the world community - to address the needs of development through the reduction and elimination of arms. It is an evolving security concept for the 21st Century - when elaborated and forged into a global consensus, it will offer a prescription for peaceful change in an increasingly violent and over-armed world.

But defining a concept is one thing, explaining the practical realities of how it will be implemented is quite another. Both the recent literature on international security studies and the general practice of nation states and international organizations all help us to develop this concept. Based on this experience, it is possible to outline several important considerations or variables which will in large measure determine whether disarmament is sustainable or a will-o'-the-wisp.

1. 'Good Governance'
Though the notion of 'good governance' can no doubt be traced back to ancient times in the early political theory of all countries - East and West - we are only recently starting to see international organizations, particularly international lending organizations, give expression to this term as a fundamental criteria for economic development.

IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus, has made it clear that excessive expenditure on arms is inconsistent with this concept. He stated last January, for example, that the IMF was trying - in his words - 'to improve the quality of government expenditure by reducing outlays for unproductive purposes, such as costly military build-ups and large projects that benefit influential groups while stroking the egos of the high and mighty.' These outlays could then be directed at meeting development needs.

A key to the success of sustainable development is thus to be found in sustainable disarmament. Sustainable disarmament can persist as a security concept if it becomes institutionalized, at both the national and international levels - its success will require sustained efforts that only organizations can orchestrate. Sustainable disarmament cannot implement itself - it requires an infrastructure. Sustainable disarmament is therefore a logical objective of good governance.

Even the economic health of nuclear-weapon states depend upon the basic principles of good governance, especially the issues of transparency and democratic accountability. Without using this specific term, Steve Schwartz the author of Atomic Audit, a massive study published by the Brookings Institution on the total cost to the US nuclear weapons program, has stated that 'We cannot rectify our mistakes or build on our achievements if such a crucial part of our nuclear history remains incompleteÉ Neither can we hope to prevent other countries from acquiring nuclear weapons if we do not fully comprehend the forces that have driven our own program and affect it still.'

2. National Action
Everybody understands that the most fundamental decisions on issues of war and peace, as well on economic development questions, are still made by nation states, even in this increasingly interdependent world and this so-called age of globalization. Sustainable disarmament must, therefore, appeal to the ideals and self interest of a diverse spectrum of groups in society, especially key 'opinion-leading' groups in government, industry, academic, the public interest community, and the news media. It must fire the imagination. The very term 'sustainable disarmament' must enter the lexicon of conventional political discourse.

We recognize that domestic economic interest are often the adversary of constructive disarmament measures. There is indeed a 'supply push' factor both to weapons proliferation and to the government acquisition of excessive arms stockpiles. Measures to attack illicit arms marketeering Ð as well as black market deals for commodities relating to weapons of mass destruction Ð rely heavily on the customs and enforcement capabilities of individual states. We will never sustain disarmament efforts if nation states prove incapable of regulating such illicit commerce. In his Hoffman lecture in 1995, Nobel Peace Laurreate Oscar Arias noted that the 'motor of the arms trade' is no longer the political demands of East-West conflict - it is driven instead by economic motive alone. He noted that as defence budgets continue their slow post Cold War decline, the 'most consistent reaction' of companies that produce arms 'has been to seek to promote new arms exports and, seeking compensation for the scarcity of production contracts, to try to sell the technologies for arms production themselves. Often these companies are subsidized in their aggressive campaigns for the exportation of arms and military technology by their national governments'.

The UN Development Programme's Human Development Report in 1994 echoed this view, saying that 'Indeed, in this past three years, several industrial countries, fearing job losses in defence industries, have increased their subsidies to arms exporters and encouraged them to increase sales to developing countries.' The report on the causes of conflict in Africa that the UN Secretary-General submitted this year to the General Assembly similarly stated that 'Very high on the list of those who profit from conflict in Africa are international arms merchants'.

This raises the obvious question: can we have sustainable disarmament - or sustainable development - amidst a round of mercantilist state policies of arms sales promotion, amidst regional arms races involving weapons of mass destruction, and amidst fears of the imminent outbreak of conventional war? The answer is clearly, no.

Sustainable disarmament must also be susceptible to various techniques of measurement, for society must be able to gauge the extent to which it is achieving its disarmament goals. It is also important for the public to be able to assess how well its leaders are implementing national laws and policies in this area. If we have indices of sustainable development, we can surely have indices of sustainable disarmament. If we can require results-based budgeting in our government, we can also require results-based disarmament.

Another area requiring national action is the exercise of restraint in the field of research and development, for it does little good to substitute one deadly arms race for another. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is one multilateral means to slow the development of advanced nuclear weapons. And controls on military research and development can also pay civilian dividends, as needed technical expertise is re-allocated to more productive pursuits. As the Secretary-General stated in a report to the General Assembly in 1992, 'Much more far-reaching (than the financial and ecological burdens of disarmament) is the problem of redirecting manufacturing and research-and-development capacities, as well as soldiers and technical personnel, from military to civilian endeavours.'

3. Multilateral Action
Thus far I have been discussing national action, but what can the international community do? The Final Document from the first UN Special Session on Disarmament stated that 'Although the decisive factor for achieving real measures of disarmament is the 'political will' of States, especially of those possessing nuclear weapons, a significant role can also be played by the effective functioning of an appropriate international machinery designed to deal with the problems of disarmament in its various aspects.'

Ever since its 1987 conference on the subject, the UN has given great emphasis to the organization of its efforts in the field of disarmament and development. The 1987 Action Programme called for 'strengthening the central role of the United Nations in the interrelated fields of disarmament and development'. It also noted that the participants recognized 'the need to ensure an effective and mutually reinforcing relationship between disarmament and development and to give practical expression to its through specific measures at the national, regional, and global levels.'

After that conference, the UN established an interdepartmental task force to address these issues and, more recently, the Secretary General has proposed a newly-composed high-level Steering Group - the Department for disarmament affairs will serve as the focal point in its coordinating efforts. The Department is now exploring the possibility of organizing workshops on the impact of military expenditures on the global economy with respect specifically to small arms and light weapons, I have recently established an internal UN mechanism called 'Coordinating Action on Small Arms' (CASA) to integrate and manage the UN's diverse responsibilities in this area. Another internal forum, the Secretary General's Executive Committee on Peace and Security, addresses a wider range of issues that also on occasion addresses disarmament issues.

The UN is today, therefore, helping not just to preach disarmament, but actually to practise it. This year, the UN Disarmament Commission made some progress in developing guidelines for countries to use in implementing practical disarmament measures in post-conflict situations. These measures include the collection and destruction of arms, demining, demobilization, reintegration of former combatants, defense conversion, and various other forms of technical assistance. Some of these are already underway and others may be implemented in Mali, Albania, Guatemala, and other countries that recognize that both their development and their national security stand to benefit from disarmament. It is gratifying indeed for me to see these countries seeking such assistance specifically from the UN Secretary-General and also to see wealthy countries like Germany, Japan, and others demonstrating their willingness to provide financial support for such activities.

One important activity pursued by the UN is fostering transparency of arms programs around the world, including the illicit sales of arms. Secretary-General Annan stated, for example, in his report on conflict in Africa, that 'The goal of public identification of international arms merchants and their activities has proved elusive, but perhaps no other single initiative would do more to help combat the flow of illicit arms to Africa Ð a trade that is made possible largely by the secrecy that surrounds it.' I should note in this context several General Assembly resolutions on 'Objective information on military matters, including transparency of military expenditures' Ð resolutions which have complemented other activities of the UN, like the compilation of a Conventional Arms Register.

What do all of these activities demonstrate? In a nutshell, they show that the UN means business, the business of disarmament and development.

4. Finance
Much has been written in the wake of the recent global financial crisis about the need for a new 'international financial architecture'. Yet even ample finance cannot guarantee peace or development in the face of widespread social injustice, regional arms races, the absence of 'good governance,' and rampant terrorism and the deterioration of civil order the architects of this new financial order must be sure that there are no bombs in the basements of the edifices they create. Furthermore, disarmament is unsustainable if there are no means to finance the costs that it generates. Repeated studies have shown that disarmament entails some short-term costs - in dealing with changing patterns of employment, defense conversion, training, environmental clean-up, and others such expenses - but offers the prospect of much greater long-term savings.

Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias put it this way in a speech given in 1995: 'Disarmament is indeed costly. Producing fewer swords requires less swordmaking, but there is not yet sufficient demand for more ploughshares. Yet, if in the short run, we must bear these burdens, it is certain that in the long run disarmament will produce enormous benefits.'

Former President Arias has proposed a 'Global Demilitarization Fund' to cover such expenses. Though there will always be problems in ensuring that any one country's 'saved resources' will be allocated in accordance with specific international standards for any specific purpose - rather than pursuant to existing constitutional arrangements - the basic concept does merit the discussion and debate that it has received in recent years.

Oscar Arias is clearly on the right track: in many respects the fruits of sustainable disarmament will help both to fund itself and to promote development. After all, the UN Development Programme's Human Development Report for 1998 found that 'É the total additional yearly investment required to achieve universal access to basic social services would be roughly $50 billion, 0.1% of world income, barely more than a rounding error.' According to the Brookings Institution, US nuclear weapons expenditures are about $35 billion per year Ð about 14% of the US defense budget - which amounts to more than $96 million per day. To bring this into perspective, last year's total 'Foreign Direct Investment' in Sri Lanka was reported to be about $130 million - this is roughly equivalent to what America invests on nuclear weapons in 36 hours.

As for question of whether disarmament is worth its costs, whatever the amount, these costs must be weighed against the alternative costs that would have to be paid as a consequence of additional large-scale wars, including those involving the possible use of weapons of mass destruction. Disarmament is hence not only good for development, but it is cheap when the costs of its alternatives are considered.

Conclusion
In conclusion, what ultimately makes disarmament sustainable are the benefits it brings to people throughout society, the constituencies that develop a stake in maintaining such benefits, and the consistency of such a policy with public ideals.

In my remarks today, I have offered an explanation of a concept that I sincerely believe will serve the collective interests of all the peoples of the United Nations, both with respect to development and to international peace and security. We must stop looking at disarmament and development as wholly unrelated concepts, when both common sense and serious scholarship confirms that these concepts are closely inter-related.

Remarkably enough, this inter-relationship is nothing new. Its roots extend back not just to the League of Nations but well beyond. What is changing now is our growing awareness of this phenomenon, an awareness that has been no doubt stimulated by the growth in recent years of communication, travel, and trade across national borders. We are at a juncture of history that it truly conducive to the realization of he goals of sustainable disarmament, a concept whose time has come.

Communalism: the bane of Sri Lanka's politics

by Gunaseela Vitanage
(Continued from yesterday)
The primitive savage's former occupation, namely, food gathering, hunting and fishing, he could do by himself, without any help, but not so new found occupation, agriculture. Food production by agriculture even to suffice the needs of the family for one whole season, or could not be done by himself alone or is family alone. It required the assistance and the co-operation of others, that is to say, not only the members of his family, but even that of neighbouring families not necessarily those of his own tribe, but of all neighbouring tribes other than those belonging to his tribe. It was at this stage that he had to forget old tribal enmities and the tribal code of enmity and cultivate friendly relations with his neighbours to whichever tribe, friendly or enemy tribes they belonged.

Thus for the first time, the code of amity and love principle came into operation extra-tribally. It was now extended to include the members of the neighbouring tribes who were not his kith and kin. He also began to share knowledge and experience with other agriculturists if the neighbourhood and there emerged friendliness and co-operation with who were once considered enemies. The principle of love or the God of Amity came to the forefront, the principle of hate or the Code of Amity receded to the background. Man became, gentle, civil, sociable and friendly, civilization began.

It is the spiritual value of love that put man on the road to civilization. It was always the unspritual quality of hate that brought about 'man's inhumanity to man' and also the downfall of mighty nations.

A word of caution must be said in this connection. As Dr. M. O. C. Walshe says in his book Buddhism for Today.

'Charity is a horrid word in modern ears, and love is scarcely any better, especially since Hollywood has got hold of it. So let us say friendliness, which is the literal translation of the Buddhist term metta. It is an unpretentious word, but human friendship at its profoundest is something, we can all recognize, and the idea of metta is just this extended to all beings'.

I believe that Jesus also used the word love to mean friendliness to all, even towards one's enemies. In the course of the Sermon On Mount, he says:

'Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless the that course you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you' (Matthew, 5: 43, 44).

It was pointed out earlier that it was the primitive savage mother's self-less and self-sacrificing love for her offspring, that was the front and origin of the spiritual emotion of love. This love was also the origin of other wholesome emotions such as compassion, sympathy, magnanimity, forgiveness, selflessness, charity etc. All these are spiritual qualities, because they relate to and have to do with the spirit of man, in other words, with his mind.

Social scientists who do not believe in any organised religion today speak of the necessity of spiritual values for man is very survival. For example, Professor V. Gordon Chile an eminent archeologist who is also a leading humanist, says in his book What Happened in History: that for the very survival of mankind spiritual values have become absolutely necessary.

He says:
'Without going in for any metaphysical substitutes, socially approved and sustained ideas that inspire such action must be treated by history as just as real as those which stand for substantial objects of archeological study. In practise ideas form an effective element in the environment of human society as do mountains, trees, animals, the weather and the rest of the external nature. Societies that is, behave as if they were reacting to a spiritual environment as well as to a material environment, to deal with this spiritual environment they behave as if they needed a spiritual equipment just as much as they need a material equipment of tools' (p.14).

Call this spiritual equipment 'religion' or 'philosophy' or by any other name one likes, it is the spiritual content that matters.

Dr. Childe goes onto say:
'So with the aid of abstract ideas men have evolved and come to need new stimuli to action beyond the universal urges of hunger, sex, anger, and fear. All these new ideal motives come to be necessary for life itself. An ideology, however remote from obvious biological needs is found in practice to be biologically useful - that is, favourable to the specials' survival. Without such spiritual equipment not only do societies tend to degenerate, by the individuals consisting it may must stop bothering to keep alive' (p. 15).

Many eminent thinkers in the West today believe that the Western civilization, because of its pre-occupation with things material to the neglect of spiritual values is going the way of its predecessors, the Greek and Roman civilizations. For example, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Christian theologian, philosopher, humanitarian and Nobel Laurate says in his Civilization and Ethics:

'Let us put on one side ingenious theories and interesting surveys of the history of civilization, and busy ourselves in a practical way with the problem of our own endangered civilization. What is the nature of the degeneration of our civilization, and why has it come about?

'To begin with, there is over elementary fact which is quite obvious. The disastrous feature of our civilization is that it is farmore developed materially than spiritually. Its balance is disturbed. Through the discoveries of secure which now places the forces of nature at our disposal in such an unprecedented way, the relations to each other of individuals, of social groups, and of states have undergone a revolutionary change. Our knowledge and our power have been enriched and increased to an extent that no one would have thought probable. We have thereby been enabled to make the conditions of human existence incomparably more favourable in numerous respects, but in our enthusiasm over our own progress in knowledge and power we have arrived at a defective conception of civilization itself. We value too highly its material achievements, and no longer keep in mind as vividly as is necessary the importance of the spiritual elemented in life. Now come the facts to summon us to reflect. They tell us in terribly harsh language that a civilization which develops only in its material side, and not in a corresponding measure in the sphere of the spirit, is like a ship which gets out of control as a constantly accelerating once, and thereby heads for a catastrophe' (p. 20).

In the same book Dr. Schwitzer says:
'What then is civilization? It is the sum total of all progress made by man in every sphere of action and from every point of view in so far as the progress helps towards the spiritual perfecting of individuals as the progress of all progress' (ibid, p. 24). That is to say, if one wants to work for the progress of the society or the country one must begin with the individual. The term 'spiritual' in this context means the inwardness or inner development which manifests itself in loving-kindness, friendliness, sympathetic joy, compassion, altruism, tolerance, magnanimity etc. This inner development is to be done by moral living, concentration or meditation, selfless service and by cultivating wisdom. Spirituality is not the preserve of men of education or for well to do people. As professor Ninian Smar in his book World Religions. A dialogue puts into the mouth of the Hindu participant to the dialogue:

'We believe that not all people are at the same stage of spiritual development. The village women who lays flowers before a tree or before what you would misleadingly call an 'idol' is expressing here a religious sense, though at a comparatively low level and within the limits of her own understanding' (p 22) Buddhism hold the same view. But must those who are in a higher level of knowledge and spirituality leave her at that low level? Should not they help her to attain to a higher stage of knowledge and spirituallity?

Modern social science seems to join hands with ancient religions in warning man that unless he achieve a balance between materiality and spirituality, unless he learns to treat with loving-kindness and friendliness his fllow men regardless of their race, religion, class, colour and caste and to help to raise their inner and outer qualities of life, his own and also humanity's survival are at stake.

The Tribal Instinct
It was mentioned earlier, that according to anthropologists, the tribal instinct is a continuing legacy which the civilized man has inherited from his animal, sub-human and savage ancestors. It is perhaps this heredity factor that some socalled civilized persons behave sometimes like brutes and savages and on occasions crowds of men go on rampage destroying public and private property, assaulting innocent people, killing people for the thrill of it, and indulging themselves in similar crimes. But how deep rooted is the 'tribal instinct' in the civilized man's mind. That really depends on the duration of the time the nature's evolutionary machinery took to produce the being called 'man'. The longer the time taken by a lower species to evolve itself into higher species, the deeper will be instinct in the mind of the ultimate product, the Man. Dr. G. G. Simpson, chairman of the Department of Geology and Palaeontology at the American Museum of Natural History begins his book The Meaning of Evolution by asking two basic questions and answering them himself:

'How old is life? We do not know, but we have some interesting clues. Aside from fantastic fiction, life can be no longer than the earth. Measurements of the results of radioactivity in certain minerals have established the fact that some rocks in the earth's crust are about 2,000,000,000 years old. There is evidence that even these astonishingly ancient rocks were formed long after the earth came into existence. The whole age of the earth is probably on the order of 3,000,000,000. years.

'How did life arise? Again the honest answer is that we do not know but that we have some good clues... Current studies suggest that it would be no miracle, not even a great statistical improbability, if living molecules appeared spontaneously under special conditions of surface waters rich in the carbon compounds that are the food and substance of life. And the occurrence of such waters at early stages of the planet's evolution is more probable than not. This is not to say that origin of life was by chance or by supernatural intervention, but that it was in accordance with the grand, eternal physical laws of the universe'.

The Jesuit Father and eminent palaeontologist, Teilhard du Carding supports the evolutionary view. He says in this book: Man's Place in the Universe.

'We shall see later that it was as a result of, and within, a coming together of primates that man must have been produced in pliocene, Similarly, it was thanks to and in the midst of a proliferation we might call it a glow, the life on earth must have emerged' (p.11)

'Pliocene' is the term used to describe the geological period which covers the earth's age between one to twelve million years ago.

Dr. Victor Barnoouw, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Milawaukee says in his book an Introduction to Anthropology Volume Two: Ethnology:

'Primates, represented by small prosimians appear in fossil records about 60 million years ago.... Possible ancestors of ours are represented by the tooth and jaw fragments of the humanoid Ramapitheous found in East Africa, North-western India, and parts of Europe, dating about 14 million years ago' (P. 12)

'Between one million to 5 million years ago, there were apelike but upright biped hominoids living in parts of Africa. The first fossil evidence of this was the immature juvenile skull found in South Africa in 1824 and named Australopitheous africanus (South African Ape) by Raymond Dart...

'The archeological evidence suggests that these hominoids used stone tools; they probably used tools of wood, bone, and horn as well' (p. 13)

'A later stage of hominoid evolution was that of Homo erectus representing by such finds as the Java and Peking skeletal remains, dated between 1.5 million and 100,000 years ago '( ibid. P. 13)

'Between clearly defined Homo erectus and the more advanced Homos Sapiens fossils there are a large immediate forms that are hard to classify but probably represent transitions to the sapiens form, from around 100,000 to 35,000 years ago, there were homonoids whom we call Neanderthal living in Europe, the near East, and parts of Africa represented by skeletal remains... (ibid. P. 14)

'People of modern physical types, Homo sapiens sapiens with chins and more high-dome skulls, appeared during the apper paleolithic period about 40,000 years ago, and the earlier Neanderthal type seems to have disappeared (ibid, p. 14)

It is the Homo sapiens sapiens that settled down to a life of agriculture in the river valleys some 25 to 30,000 and began what we now call civilization.

According to science, the time that man had lived as a civilized being, in comparison to the time he lived as a primate, hominoid and a homo erectus is infinitessimally short. It also means that the modern civilized man carries in his mental make up a continuing legacy of beastly and savage qualities as well as civilized ones. Some social scientists identify this primitive, savage and aggressive qualities of the mind with the Grudian Id.

There is a great deal of truth in the saying 'Civilization is skin deep'. Some say that its only cloth deep. It is because of the animal and tribal contents in man's mental make-up, they say, that HATE has the potency of spreading like a wild-fire while LOVE is very very slow uptake.

Communalism is the very anti-thesis of democracy. It is also opposed to all that we know as moral and spiritual. Where communalism exists there will be no peace because it is based on the tribal principle of Hate.

Communalism however cannot be eliminated from society by banning it by law. On the other hand such an action may go to strengthen it. There are, however, other and more meaningful ways of eliminating evil:

1. By more democracy at the grassroot level.

2. By the spread of egalitarian ideas among the ordinary people.

3. By the more vigorous spread of moral and spiritual ideas and ideals contained in the great religions of the world.

4. By religious laying greater and more emphasis on the moral and spiritual values common to all civilized religions, rather than on the dogmatic and doctrinal difference between and among them. The shopkeeper's argument 'My goods are superior to those of other shopkeepers' is neither relevant nor becoming in the case of religion. In this connection Emperor Asoka's edict appears to be relevant:

'He who does reverence to his own sect while disparaging the sects of others solely from an attachment to their own sect, in reality by such conduct, inflicts the severest injury to his own sect'.

5. The religious authorities must see to it that unethical and unspiritual conversions from one religion to another either by exploiting the poverty of the people or the caste difference prevailing among them or the love between two young people who belong to two different religions, are not only discouraged, but stopped. These unethical conversions tend to create distrust, animosity and conflicts among the people. They also must see that religious teachings, ideas and ideals are spread by unquestionable means, that is to say, by preaching, teaching and healing.

5. It is too true that party politics in Sri Lanka has, more than anything else subscribed to the decline of moral and spiritual values of our people by the acts of commission and omission on the part of some power-hungry and communal-minded politicians. Indeed, the people in this country now live on the moral capital of the past. The politicians in their lust for power appeal to the latent animal and tribal instincts in man and destroy what remains of those values. Because of this state of affairs people are losing their faith in democracy itself. This certainly does not augur well for the future of our country. But until we find a better alternative we have to live with the multiparty democratic system. However, with a view either to diminish or eliminate the baneful influence of communalism, it would be good if the non-communal parties in the country activate a policy and programme of enrolling as many members of the minority communities as possible, especially those living in those areas where they are in a majority. The envisaged programme must attend to their needs and also to look into their genuine grievances and take steps to redress them.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the Government will win the Tamil separatist terrorist war. But what good will there be in sacrificing the lives of thousands in their flower of youth and spending billions of rupees of public money if we are to hand over the liberated areas to those very parties who started the collision course with the democratically elected Government and which culminated in the on-going Tamil separatist terrorist war?

There will be no peace in this country as long as communalism, whether it is of the Sinhalese brand or the Tamil brand or Muslim brand exists!

It is, however, not by creating communal ghettoes or cantons and enshrining them in the constitution with a view to appease the separatist elements that we can have peace. It is by educating the people in true democracy, by increasing the wealth of the land, by inculcating moral and spiritual values especially in the young and above all by administering the country with justice and equity to all and sundry without fear or favour that we can win peace.
(To be continued)

Patterns of disability and emerging problems

Improved medical services and active disability prevention campaigns are helping to reduce many handicapping conditions in the region. On the other hand, this positive trend is counterbalanced by the increasing number of persons disabled as a result of traffic and industrial accidents, as well as by environmental pollution in the wake of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. Drug addiction is said to be reaching epidemic proportions in some Asian countries; with many of its victims becoming defunctional in semi-peconomic terms and a heavy burden on already rehabilitation facilities.

The growing numbers of victims of war in several parts of the region will call for a redoubling of vocational rehabilitation activities in the countries concerned.

There can be no mistake-we are living in an area of ever-advancing technology that is creating a hurricane of change in all human institutions. Consider changes over time in genetic mixing and control, energy conversion, methods of travel, tools and weapons, mechanisms of change and problem-solving and storage. When we think of technology we generally think of machinery. However, technology "...in a broader sense includes all practical knowledge, including information about which plants are good to eat, the words and grammatical structures with which we communicate and the social arrangements we have found effective. At its most general, technology might be designed as the ability to do things'.

Role of technology
We will now turn to the role that technology can play in preparing disabled individuals to select a career and develop the skills necessary to enter a career, as the theme of this Day of the Disabled "Employment of the Disabled, we too". Of significance is the fact that technology, in its broadest sense, is a primary tool to be used in preparing disabled individuals for living in a technological world. The problem of disablement is more acute in Asia than in any other region of the world-certainly in numerical terms, with some 500 million people disabled physically or mentally to such an extent as to require some specialised help in the activity of daily living, particularly employment. With the ongoing war in the North and East, the disabled population in Sri Lanka has increased by leaps and bounds with thousands and thousands of incapacitated services-personnel and other civilian casualties who are subject to various disablement in the way of disease, injury, highway accidents and other crippling diseases are estimated to be more than 12 lakhs or more.

While the International Year of the Disabled Persons helped to sensitise the public at large to the needs of the disabled people it did not result in the hoped-for expansion of vocational rehabilitation and employment opportunities.

Legislation, more than anything else, will help disabled people achieve their rightful place in the nation's labour force. However, it is not the whole answer. It is virtually important that disabled people's employment experiences are understood and addressed. There is ample evidence that disabled people face discrimination by employers. There job opportunities will therefore be enhanced if they have the requisite skills.

Special needs
One of the developments in recent years has been the growing use of the concept of "special needs". This description of people is comparatively loosely designed depending on the issues discussed but it seemingly includes many people whom disability organisations would not regard as disabled. It is often used to compass a range of groups usually covered by Equal Opportunities Policies. There is no problem caused by this necessarily except when organisations claim to assist people with special needs but fail to assist those with disabilities. It is easier to assist those who are perceived as the most able and ignore those with the greatest disability. This is a trend in need of close monitoring, since it could result in the disabled people experiencing even greater disadvantages than they do already.

Disability organisations have never argued that employers should recruit disabled people who are unable to do the job. It would be ludicrous to suggest that a blind man be employed as a bus driver; a profoundly intellectually impaired person in an intellectually demanding job or a wheelchair-user as a steeplejack, A distinction needs to be drawn between discrimination and differentiation. Once the legal basis is amended to be sensitive to the needs of disabled people, the Government will need to continue to invest in schemes to meet additional costs employers might encounter in recruiting disabled people. For example, inacessible premises may need to be adapted, deaf people may need a sign interpreter and blind people a reader. One aspect of public policy should be that it is reasonable for the employer to meet all costs of employing a disabled person to do a particular job other than those costs which are directly related to the disability which are over and above the costs the employer would have if had employed an able-bodied person. All such additional costs should be met by the government.

For far too long, vocational rehabilitation has been the "poor relation" of social services, and assisting the disabled has been regarded more as a charitable duty than an economic and social necessity. No country however, least of all the poorest, can afford to have one in ten citizens inactive; opening up employment opportunties for them ensures that this disadvantaged group can contribute to their own and 'their families' wellbeing and help to offset the enormous costs of providing various kinds of medical, social and welfare support.

If vocatonal rehabilitation is to be the starting point from which persons with disabilities can attain social and economic independence, then it is reasonable to expect that vocational rehabilitation services should be planned and developed within the overall context of national development plans. At the same time, and with the problems of disability assuming such vast proportions it is essential that each country, the words of the Human Rights of the Human Rights Declaration of U.N., in the words of Article 2 and 3 of Convention No. 159, should "in accordance with the national conditions, practice and possibilities formulate, implement and periodically review a national policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of disabled persons", and that "the said policy (should) aim at ensuring that appropriate vocational rehabilitation measures are made available to all categories of disabled persons, and at promoting employment opportunities for disabled persons in the open labour market".

Major groups
While the United Nations and its spcialised agencies, together with leading international non-governmental organisations maintain the disabling conditions affect at least 10% of the population of every country; the limited surveys and consensuses undertaken in some Asian countries have revealed a such lower exclusion of some of the major disability groups-e.g., the mentally ill and mentally retarded-since many surveys, especially those associated with the general population censuses, identify only those with obvious physical disabilities; other surveys concentrate only mainly on urban areas, whereas the majority of the Asian people live in rural communities; and all age-groups are not always covered. In many instances there is no recognised information of what constitutes "disablement" or of the term "disabled person". There appears to be an urgent need for surveys of disabled persons to be conducted on much more scientific lines and with a pre-determined definition of the term "disabled person" as a firm basis for indetification purposes. The lack of accurate data on the extent of disability in a community is a major obstacle to the sound-planning and development of vocational rehabilitation services.

In many countries of the region rehabilitation facilities have been developed with the needs of the physically disabled in mind. Few services exist for the mentally retarded and even fewer for the mentally ill, who, as disability and accident pevention programmes become more effective, and will far outnumber the physically disabled. Governments can do much to remedy this imbalance by encouraging and supporting those ministries and departments responsible for educational and vocational rehabilitation, in close cooperation with non-governmental organisations and parent groups, to develop comprehensive rehabilitation programmes for the mentally retarded. This would include the education of retarded children in special and (where possible) normal schools, followed by training in daily living activities, vocational training and placement in open and sheltered employment. For the mentally ill, it is the responsibility of the mental health services to stabilise and prepare their patients for a return to everyday life and to refer them; when sufficiently recovered to vocational and rehabilitation centres and employment services.

There is an urgent need and to create vocational training and employment opportunities for the disabled both rural and urban areas. The wider application of modular approach to training, expanded assessment services, greater use of general vocational training facilities for training the disabled, incentive schemes to encourage employers to offer training and work to the disabled, assistance (loans and tools) to the disabled who wish to work on their own account, the development of co-operatives of and for the disabled-these are but a few of the measures that can be taken to widen training and employment opportunities for the disabled.

If the many constraints which are hindering or preventing the development of vocational rehabilitation services for the disabled are to overcome, the whole community can and must be induced to accept the disabled as members who share the same human rights and aspirations. In the first instance, the widespread and intensive public information campaign launched during the International Year of the Disabled Persons (IYDP) needs to be reviewed

and sustained through the mass media. This is the most effective means of creating positive attitudes among the disabled and their families and of overcoming the stigma, prejudice and superstitions often associated with disabling conditions. It is also a way of convincing employers that disabled people, properly assessed and trained, can compete on equal terms with other workers in the widest possible range of occupations and professions. Governments too must play their part in launching campaigns aimed at the removal of architectural and communication barriers, by taking the lead in employing the disabled and by introducing legislation while does away with discriminatory practices.

The lack of coordination in overall rehabilitation activity in Asia, as elsewhere, continues to hinder the full development of vocational rehabilitation services.

Far too often, educational, medical and vocational services for the disabled are developed in isolation. The establishment of a National Rehabilitation Advisory Council (NRAC), provided that they meet regularly, can help considerably to improve the levels of co-ordination in rehabilitation. It is also essential for their considered advice and recomendations to be put into practical effect, and an interministerial committee can do much to ensure this.

No vocational rehabilitation service is complete without an effective evaluation and research programme. While many projects have an in-built research element in their structure, active research into new trends and developments must always be considered. The changing patterns of disability, the development of new industrial and farming techniques call for corresponding changes in vocational training programmes for the disabled. Some of the more specific areas of vocational rehabilitation to which research could be directed might include adaption of jobs, technical aids, vocational rehabilitation to which research should be directed might include adaption of jobs, technical aids, vocational rehabilitation needs of problem-groups (the mentally ill), mentally retarded, leprosy patients, paraplegies, cerebral palsy sufferers etc;), rural employment opportunities, model training schemes for aides, auxiliaries and volunteers and the cost-effectiveness of vocational rehabilitation services. Another major problem is that of the rapidly growing number of these who become disabled through drug and alcohol adiction, and here again active inter-country cooperation is needed to tackle this vast problem and to establish detexification and rehabilitation services.

A new approach to income maintenance for disabled people is long overdue. It should promote equity between disabled and non-disabled people by taking account of the additional costs faced by disabled people (transport, clothing, domestic fuel, for example). It should also promote equity among disabled people through a taxable element designed to take into account of reduced earnings consultation are now required to construct such an income maintenance scheme and decide on eligibility criteria.

Disabled people accept that the world cannot be changed overnight. However, political commitment to civil rights for disabled people can immediately begin to improve opportunities and influence the long-term process of changing attitudes to disability. The sooner we choose to make a start, the sooner social justice will be a reality for the disabled people. The countries in the Asian region are a long way from reaching this goal. Nevertheless, there are many innovative and promising developments which, if more widely applied could lead in due time to the "full participation and equality" for disabled persons, which they have the right to expect.

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