Rights issues hinder Lankan bid for EU trade concessions - report

Human rights and governance issues appear to hinder Sri Lanka’s efforts to regain major trade concessions under the European Union’s General System of Preferences Plus (GSP Plus) scheme, which it lost in 2010 on grounds of human rights violations during and  after the war.

Although an EU delegation which came to Lanka in March this year was appreciative of the Maithripala Sirisena government’s efforts to restore human rights and establish good governance, it expressed concern over the slow pace of the restoration, reform and reconciliation process.

The draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) is still in the statute book despite oft repeated pledges to replace it with an anti-terrorism law in line with international best practices. Many Tamils are still in detention with their war-time cases stuck in courts. There are an estimated 16,000 to 20,000 missing persons yet to be accounted for.

Return of civilian lands seized by the armed forces during the conflict is tardy and lands returned are in bad shape.

Mechanisms for transitional justice, an independent judicial inquiry into charges of war crimes,  truth seeking and reparations are yet to be set up, despite promises made to the UN Human Rights Council ( UNHRC) in September 2015.

Lanka will have to show manifest progress in translating its promises into action by the September session of the UNHRC.

And on this also depends the restoration of the EU’s GSP Plus concessions, as one of the key requirements for getting the concessions (zero duty on a wide range of products) is compliance with international human rights and good governance conventions.

“While Lanka has good relations with major EU countries, nothing can be taken for granted as there are 28 member countries in all with different views.Lanka also has to contend with human rights lobbyists who will be working hard. We have to show manifest progress by July as that is when the EU trade commission will be meeting and we will be putting in our application,” a senior  Lankan official told Express.

While the intensely nationalistic Mahinda Rajapaksa government was dismissive about the withdrawal of the concessions in 2010 and had decided not to apply for them again, the pro-West successor regime of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is for getting them back.

This is because of the decline in exports and an increase in imports in 2015 causing a major balance of payments problem. The export of garments to the EU had declined by 13.8 percent. Garments are a top foreign exchange earner for Lanka and the EU is Lanka’s single largest export destination accounting for 36 percent of its exports, The New Indian Express reports.

-Agencies