Peace Without Poison

24 October 2014Mahinda RajapaksaPresident of Sri Lankahttps://www.facebook.com/PresidentRajapaksaps@presidentsoffice.lk, anne@pop.orgDisanayaka Mudiyanselage JayaratnePrime Minister of Sri Lankahttp://www.pmoffice.gov.lk/en/sub_pgs/05_contact_us.htmlslpm@sltnet.lk, slpm@pmoffice.gov.lk, dhammika_d@parliament.lkPresident Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Jayaratne,Re: immediate cessation of forced depopulation measuresSri Lanka joined the Global Depopulation Policy in 1958, just three years after becoming amember of the United Nations, and its total fertility rate dropped from 5.8 to 2.1 children perwoman today. Due to its early action, the population has grown by only 107% since 1958, whichis among the lowest growth in Asia, and has been decreasing since 2012, partially due toemigration.As an island nation with a high population density of 323/km 2 , Sri Lanka has avoided economicand political catastrophe by interfering with people’s fertility and kick starting the demographictransition early on. This has enabled the country to make tremendous economic progress, bringto an end a 26-year-old conflict between Singhalese and Tamils, reduce the poverty rate to just8% of the population, and become the only country in South Asia that is currently rated “high”on the Human Development Index.But at what cost? The cost of all these successes has been the forced or coerced sterilization ofmore than half the population and the forced or coerced use of hormonal contraceptives for anadditional quarter of the population. And yet Sri Lanka is the oldest “democracy” in SouthAsia.If Sri Lanka’s is to become a true democracy it must legislate population control and stopforcibly sterilizing its people. If coercion is necessary to accomplish needed demographicobjectives then that coercion must be exercised openly and legally by force of law and notsecretly and illegally by military force and medical abuse.779 | P a g e