Sri Lanka responds to EU rights probe concerns

Sri Lanka delivered its formal response to a European Union probe that found it in breach of international human rights laws and said it was hopeful of retaining a lucrative trade concession with the bloc.

The EU had set Friday November 6 as a deadline for Sri Lanka to respond to its report.

The report said that Sri Lanka was in breach of full implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The failure could spell the end, at least temporarily, of the tariff concessions.

The concession, the Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) is a special incentive scheme for sustainable development and good governance, offering tariff cuts to support vulnerable developing countries in ratification and implementation of international conventions in these areas.

It is currently worth $116 million to the island nation.

"We will be setting out to clarify the points they have raised," Sri Lankan Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told the media.

"We are continuing the dialogue with the EU and we are hopeful that finally that GSP+ is granted."

Sri Lanka had earlier criticised the report as an attempt to undermine its administration.

Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama later handed his country’s response document to all EU member states represented in Colombo, the ministry said in a statement.

The Sri Lankan government submitted a 48- page document to the EU in Colombo on November 6, titled ‘Observations of the GOSL [Government of Sri Lanka] in Respect of the Report on the Findings of the Investigation with Respect to the Effective Implementation of Certain Human Rights Conventions in Sri Lanka’.

"Minister Bogollagama expressed confidence that the observations provided by Sri Lanka would be extensively examined by the European Commission and the findings reflected in its recommendation to the Council of the European Union," the ministry statement said.

The report challenged the findings of the EU report.

It said, "in this situation, of the very foundation of the (EU) Report being in question, it would be reasonable to keep action on the document in abeyance, while the authorities of the European Commission and the Government of Sri Lanka continue a constructive engagement concerning the issues at hand," reported ICP.

The government has maintained that while not cooperating with the EU investigation, its preferred mode of negotiation was through bilateral dialogue.

"The government of Sri Lanka is taking positive action (on the GSP Plus extension)," Bogollagama had said the day before he handed over the report. "We are in dialogue with the EU."

Export Development and International Trade Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris told the Sri Lankan parliament on November 5 that the government had prepared a comprehensive response to the EU report.

Immediately after the October EU report came out, Peiris said that the government would not change its stance and subject itself to any kind of EU investigation.

The government had rejected EU requests for an investigation in October 2008 and maintained that such an investigation from foreign powers would undermine the country’s sovereignty.

The EU's ambassador to Sri Lanka, Bernard Savage, told Reuters after receiving the report that he expected a decision from the European Commission later this month.

EU diplomats have said Sri Lanka could retain the concession, if it could address concerns raised, including rapid resettlement of more than 150,000 war displaced, release of an arrested journalist, ensuring media freedom and protecting human rights.

Sri Lanka, which had initially said it would not respond, appointed a four-member panel to analyse and reply to the EU report, which had alleged human rights violations and torture.

Human Rights Minister Samarasinghe, a member of the panel, said the country had taken steps to address the "problems and challenges" confronting it in the aftermath of the end of its 25-year civil war in May, reported Reuters.

He said more than 40 percent of the 288,000 people displaced by the war, known as internally displaced persons or IDPs, had been resettled, while a national action plan to address issues such as torture and extra-judicial killings was being finalised.

"Certainly on IDPs, that's something that they were interested in, now we have a successful position to communicate to them," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Samarasinghe added that Sri Lanka's president had appointed a five-member committee of local legal and academic experts to probe a U.S. State Department report of possible war crimes at the end of the conflict.

"We have already responded 99.9 percent of the allegations with clear answers. But, we are still ready to emphasise the Sri Lankan government stance, based on the recommendations through this independent committee report," he said.

Separately, Rajiva Wijesinha, secretary of the Sri Lankan disaster management and human rights ministry, told Al Jazeera his country had responded to some of the "specifics" raised by the EU.

He said Sri Lanka "refused to submit to what is called a general investigation. But any specific thing we have said we will look at and this we are doing".

However, Wijesinha also accused the EU of being dishonest in its dealings with Sri Lanka. "I think we have a situation where the EU is under a lot of pressure. We know that there are diaspora pressures; it's just that they are so dishonest about it," he said.

"The Americans, for instance, were much more honest in telling us that there was a report on certain things that was mandated by congress. I wish there was more honesty about these things."

Sri Lanka is one of 16 countries with GSP status.

In 2008, the European Union was Sri Lanka's largest export market, accounting for 36 percent of all exports, followed by the United States with 24 percent.

Suspending the tariffs would mean EU buyers would have to pay more for Sri Lankan exports.

Globally recognised brands like Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Next could take their business elsewhere, such as China, India and Vietnam.

The move would hit Sri Lanka's textile industry hard and thousands of job cuts as a result.