HRW urges EU to use GSP+ to pressure SL on human rights

BY SANATH NANAYAKKARE

Two senior officials from Human Rights Watch (HRW) have urged a review ofSri Lanka’s EU GSP+ facilities to pressure Colombo on human rights. Lotte Leicht,  EU Director of HRW and Meenakshi Ganguly, its South Asia Director, last week wrote to the EU expressing deep concern about “worsening human rights” here jeopardizing GSP+ facilities.They have urged the European Commission to state publicly that Sri Lanka’sgovernment is in breach of its human rights obligations under the GSP+ scheme, and to set clear, specific benchmarks for action, with short and transparent timelines for implementation, in order for Sri Lanka to keep its GSP+ benefits.They have said that GSP+ is a powerful EU tool to advance the respect for human rights as laid down in international law and to preserve civic space in Sri Lanka and urgedthem to make effective use of this tool at this ‘critical’ time.

They have alleged that the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government has harshly reversed the modest human rights improvements noted in the Commission’s previous report.While calling this an an ‘alarming’ situation, they have said UN HighCommissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has so assessed the situationseveral times and most recently in her update to the Human RightsCouncil on September 1.They have also called for imposing targeted sanctions on individuals implicated in grave violations in Sri Lanka as provided for by the EU’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime.

The European Union is in an unparalleled position to help avert this growing crisis and we stand ready to discuss this further with you at any time.” they have said.