GRANTING GSP + TO SRI LANKA

WOULD BE A TROPHY FOR

NEGLECTING ITS HR PROMISES
GERMAN HUMAN RIGHTS ORGS

Image: Protesting people of Kepapulavu, Mullaithevu against

military occupation of their land. credit- Garikaalan.

25/04/2017
Writing letter to European Union and its relevant officials, a
network of German human rights organizations has called for a
deferral of granting GSP + to Sri Lanka if the GoSL not prepared to
substantially deliver in time and in concrete terms. The letter
suggests that Sri Lanka be given an additional time of six months
in order to start fulfilling at least the immediate tasks mentioned
in the previous paragraph. The scenario of a possible deferral of
GSP (+) should be directed by keeping the reform process alive,
including the Constitutional Reform.

The letter has been signed by Dr. Theodor Rathgeber on behalf of

the Sri Lanka Advocacy, Germany.
The letter has been endorsed by Shreen Abdul Saroor on behalf of
the Mannar Womens Development Federation and Womens
Action Network and Sudarshana Gunawardana, Executive Director
at Rights Now Collective for Democracy.

The letter says that the network does not principally deny the
rational of arguing against granting GSP (+) at this stage while we
still believe that the GSP (+) procedure is a useful instrument to
set a practical incentive to make the GOSL implementing its
human rights obligation better. We share our partners anxiety
that GOSL would not implement even minimal agreements
reached without external encouragement. We strongly believe
that the international community including the United Nations
Human Rights mechanisms as well as the GSP (+) procedure
should be a stepping stone towards implementation of the GOSLs
commitment in relation to accountability, rule of law and
transitional justice.

In case that GSP (+) might be granted to Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
Advocay would expect substance which can be fulfilled in such a
timeframe, such as,
immediately setting up of OMP with credible and
independent commissioners while revoking the
restricting amendment to section 11 of the OMP
ruling,
 the release of peoples land specially in the North and
East that are occupied by the military and various
state agencies,
canceling the recent declaration of about 40,000
acres of peoples traditional lands as forest reserve
at Musali divisional secretariat of Mannar district that
takes away internally displaced persons collective
return to this area,
amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure Act to
ensure detainees get the access to the lawyers,
to replace PTA and CCPA and to address the
shortcomings in the proposed CTA draft.
The next reporting period for all GSP (+)-benefitting countries will
be concluded in January 2018. That means, the drafting of the
report will start already in November 2017.

Read the full text of the letter sent by Sri Lanka Advocacy:
European Parliament.
EEAS,
EC DG Trade,
.
We, a network of German human rights organizations, have been
critically observing the governance and human rights situations in
Sri Lanka since 2010 and supported a number of human rights
defenders from the country including all major ethnic and
religious communities. We provided them a platform to air their
option and concerns till today.

Thus, we learned that a large part of our partners acknowledge

the positive constitutional, political and legal changes occurred in
the past 28 months in Sri Lanka. They have preferred a strategy
of engagement and dialogue with the government while they also
concur that there should be international monitoring, assistance
and pressure as well in order to make the Government of Sri
Lanka (GOSL) realized that it should really engage in reforms. We
further acknowledge the ambiguity that the government will get
weaker if it will not be able to improve the economic situation,
and if the government gets weaker, the political opposition in Sri
Lanka led by the Rajapaksa faction will get stronger; what would
be definitively an undesirable consequence. One of the
instruments for improving the economic situation will be getting
the European Unions grant GSP Plus (+) combined with the
expectation of further investments into Sri Lankan economy and
infrastructure.

In Sri Lanka there is a large bandwidth of opinions on re-

establishing the GSP (+) agreement with the European Union.
Those in favor of granting GSP (+) underline the prevalence of
trust and confidence on the government to fulfill its promise on
the transitional justice process and the constitutional reforms, and
on handling the reform and transitional processes in a fair,
impartial, victim-centered and timely manner though skepticism is
increasing. Till today, the promised transitional mechanisms have
poorly got established, such as the fate of missing persons be
ascertained, that land taken over by the military during the war
be returned, accountability for war crimes and crimes against
humanity be ensured and the security sector reform including
demilitarization and replacement of oppressive laws like
replacing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) take place.

The Office of Missing Persons (OMP) has been doubtless a

progress in institutional terms but we have been recently told that
even the establishment of the OMP as such might be postponed
to June 2018. Up to this moment, the President refused to sign the
gazette notification on the advice of the Sri Lankan military and
defense. In addition, the political party JVP proposed an
amendment accepted by the government of Sri Lanka. According
to the amendment Section 11 paragraph (a) should be deleted
which originally would have given power to the OMP to enter into
agreements with any other person or organization, including
external expertise. The constitutional reform process seems to be
dragging. The entire process of political reforms seems to be
paralyzed.

Our partners are communicating that their engagement with the

GOSL is turning into a ride on the edge. For instance, the
moderate section of the Tamil National Alliance is losing trust
among its people. There are many street protests and hunger
strikes by women and displaced persons demanding for
accountability on disappeared family members and release of
land occupied by the military in the North. Some of our partners
have communicated that under such conditions GSP (+) would
simply serve as trophy for the government and might encourage
the GOSL to continue neglecting its promises towards its citizens
and the international cooperation.

We do not principally deny the rational of arguing against

granting GSP (+) at this stage while we still believe that the GSP
(+) procedure is a useful instrument to set a practical incentive to
make the GOSL implementing its human rights obligation better.
We share our partners anxiety that GOSL would not implement
even minimal agreements reached without external
encouragement. We strongly believe that the international
community including the United Nations Human Rights
mechanisms as well as the GSP (+) procedure should be a
stepping stone towards implementation of the GOSLs
commitment in relation to accountability, rule of law and
transitional justice.
However, granting GSP (+) benefits back to Sri Lanka cannot be
considered to be a mechanical process. We have learned that the
European Commissions DG Trade is going to draft a List of Issues
to be shared with the GOSL in order to agree on steps to be taken.
We are of the opinion that such list should not be restricted to
EUs previous 15 point criteria. The List of Issues should be
addressing current concerns such as: fate of missing persons,
denial of land rights of the people by the military, the matter of
accountability, the reform of the security sector, the (unfulfilled)
recommendations by CERD, CAT, CEDAW or ICCPR. The list should
further address national laws and rules conflicting with
international standards; such as PTA that clearly violates ICCPR,
CAT and CERD as well as the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act
running against the UN Child Rights Convention.

The next reporting period for all GSP (+)-benefitting countries will
be concluded in January 2018. That means, the drafting of the
report will start already in November 2017. In case that GSP (+)
might be granted to Sri Lanka, we would expect substance which
can be fulfilled in such a timeframe, such as
immediately setting up of OMP with credible and
independent commissioners while revoking the restricting
amendment to section 11 of the OMP ruling,
the release of peoples land specially in the North and East
that are occupied by the military and various state agencies,
canceling the recent declaration of about 40,000 acres of
peoples traditional lands as forest reserve at Musali
divisional secretariat of Mannar district that takes away
internally displaced persons collective return to this area,
amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure Act to ensure
detainees get the access to the lawyers,
to replace PTA and CCPA and to address the shortcomings in
the proposed CTA draft.
If the GOSL is not prepared to substantially deliver in time and in
concrete terms, the grant on GSP (+) would indeed end as a mere
trophy. Under such condition, we believe that another deferral is a
necessary next step. The UN Human Rights Council has agreed by
Resolution 34/1 that the GOSL be given a two-year extension to
meet its commitments of Resolution 30/1. It is our understanding
that the government has declared its willingness to deliver what it
has promised though in a larger timeframe. We suggest to
make use of this approach and to give the GOSL an
additional time of six months in order to start fulfilling at
least the immediate tasks mentioned in the previous
paragraph. The scenario of a possible deferral of GSP (+)
should be directed by keeping the reform process alive,
including the Constitutional Reform.

One more remark on the methodology of the monitoring process.

The procedural design of GSP (+) cannot be a routine either. The
country evaluation of the conditions on the ground needs to be
adapted to good practice, such as the experience made with the
Consultation Task Force on reconciliation mechanisms appointed
by the Prime Minister. We were told at our Brussels meetings that
such a procedural design might be too costly and should neither
go beyond the routine set for all GSP (+) countries. We believe
that every country requires an evaluation genuine to its
circumstances. The reality in Sri Lanka cannot be revealed in
Colombo alone. In addition, the evaluation should consider an
institutionalized participation of civil society actors and human
rights defenders on the reporting system; similar to the Universal
Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council. This also would
help to uphold a human-rights based language and assessment of
the prevailing situation.

The situation in Sri Lanka in relation to human rights and political

power balance is delicate and requires a sensitive approach. We
learned through the UN human rights mechanisms how an
international involvement can be made successful. We would
expect that the EU reflects these standards.
Otherwise, it may be really better to postpone or to abstain from
granting GSP (+) to the GOSL.

This letter is written in our effort to reflect and uphold the rights
in particular of the war affected communities who are very
courageously demanding justice in the streets of Sri Lanka and in
the international arena. We must use the opportunity in our hands
to ensure that the GOSL abide by its promises. We are afraid that
otherwise the ground reality is becoming more fertile for various
extremisms to grow.

Please, feel free to request further information or clarification.

Sincerely,
Theodor Rathgeber

Sri Lanka Advocacy, Germany

Endorsed by

Shreen Abdul Saroor

Mannar Womens Development Federation and Womens Action

Network

Sudarshana Gunawardana
Executive Director at Rights Now Collective for Democrac
Posted by Thavam