EU sees progress in Sri Lanka’s quest for GSP+ but says more to do

By Chathuri Dissanayake

The European Union yesterday emphasised that the Sri Lankan Government needed to make more “demonstrable change” while having made steady progress in efforts to meet the requirements for the GSP plus application.

A four-member European Union (EU) parliamentary delegation said yesterday that more needed to be done to meet the criteria set out by the EU covering 27 international conventions for the country to be successful in their application to regain the GSP+ facility, the head of the EU parliamentary delegation, Jean Lambert, said.

“For a public that has voted on the basis of change, you have to make sure that the public understands that change which may not be in front of them at this point is happening,” she emphasised.  

Appreciating the Government’s engagement with civil society, Lambert highlighted the need for overall coherence of Government proposals.  

“There are many regarding land returns and the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) but the concern is how all these are being brought together. Who is in charge of making sure that all this happens, the time scales?”

The delegation, which arrived in Sri Lanka on Monday to assess the country’s progress in reconciliation along with the Government’s efforts to ensure gender equality and increase female representation in politics, held discussions with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Opposition leader R. Sampanthan, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and a number of other central government and regional ministers.  

“The trend is good but the message is more needs to be done,” said Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and Maldives Ambassador Tung-Lai Margue.

They highlighted the need for deeper and faster progress in areas such as the normalisation of life in the North and East and the replacement of the PTA with legislation that is in line with Sri Lanka’s international human rights commitments. 

“We have been looking at a couple of issues, the Prevention of Terrorism Act, if the proposed changes meet international standards, the code of criminal procedure, particularly in terms of issues around uncorroborated confessions being sufficient for criminal conviction and access to a lawyer,” she said, outlining the points discussed in their meetings with the political leadership of the country.

The OMP must be established to demonstrate the seriousness of the intent about moving forward, she said. Concerns over demilitarisation in the Northern Province, the release of land held by the military and safety and economic issues regarding female-headed households have been brought to the attention of the delegation, Lambert said.

Efforts in reconciliation, the demilitarisation process and the release of land need to be scaled up while methods of power sharing with regional power structures have to be revised, the delegation observed.

The EU will officially let their decision be known only on 12 May next year, although an indication will be given informally by 12 January, Margue said. Answering a question raised about the criteria for granting GSP+, Lambert explained that the assessment system itself has gone through review to ensure more transparency in the process. However, she emphasised the assessment criteria is the same for all countries.

The delegation also acknowledged the urgent need for empowerment of women at all levels in Sri Lankan society. The delegation welcomed the positive step taken by the Government recently to improve women’s political empowerment by amending the Local Authorities Act to reserve at least 25%o of political representation in local government for women.  The delegation acknowledged that more work was required to ensure women and girls were able to effectively participate in the formal economic, social and political system and to create a more inclusive environment for the fulfilment of women’s and girls’ rights.

In relation to the ongoing debate over the Government’s announcement that a committee to amend the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act was appointed to ensure compliance with the GSP+ criteria, Margue said: “If the Government really wants to get the GSP+ it needs to conform to all the elements of the 27 conventions,” he explained.