A group of NGOs and individuals have called on the European Parliament to reject the EU Commission’s proposal to restore the GSP+ trade preference status to Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka was suspended from the preferential tariff in August 2010 in response to the deteriorating human rights situation in the country.
In a letter to the European Parliament, the organisations noted concern about a number of “factual inaccuracies and omissions with the EU Commission ‘Report on assessment of the application for GSP+ by Sri Lanka.’”
The letter outlined “Flawed factual analysis of Sri Lanka’s implementation of the Conventions,” “Violation of the EU’s own internal criteria for the restoration of GSP+,” and “Flawed assumptions about how to effectively support the accountability and reconciliation process in Sri Lanka mandated by UNHRC resolution 30/1.”
The organisations called on the EU to use monitoring of the recommendations from the recent Convention Against Torture report on Sri Lanka as benchmarks for progress in Sri Lanka.
See full statement here.
List of signatories below:
Richard Gowing (Campaign Director, Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice)
Mario Arulthas (Advocacy Director, PEARL)
Dr Alison Callaway (GP Lead, Meridian Practice for Refugees and Asylum Seekers)
Juliet Cohen (Independent Forensic Physician)
Charmian Goldwyn MB BS MRCG (Medico Legal Report Writer, Helen Bamber Foundation)
Ann Hannah (Interim Director of Policy and Advocacy, Freedom From Torture)
Frances Harrison (The International Truth and Justice Project; Support A Survivor of Torture)
Charu Lata Hogg (Director, All Survivors Project)
Prof Cornelius Katona MD FRCPsych (Medical Director, Helen Bamber Foundation)
