Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission requests President to issue Guidelines on Enforcement of Emergency Regulations

Friday, 10 May 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has requested the President Maithripala Sirisena to issue guidelines as applicable to the current Emergency Regulations imposed on 22 April, a day after the Easter Sunday bomb attacks.

The HRCSL said it does not dispute that emergency regulations are needed at a time like this in order to provide protection to the public and to restore normalcy, but believes that if these regulations are implemented by relevant officers in a manner that safeguards everyone’s rights and with cultural and religious sensitivity, security measures can be carried out successfully with the co-operation of every community.

Immediately after the State of Emergency was lifted in 2011, regulations were adopted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The HRCSL has presented the guidelines to the President by a letter on 18 May 2016 with a series of suggested guidelines to be followed when implementing those regulations.

The Commission said those guidelines issued by the President as Presidential Guidelines with some edits to the relevant security authorities, are directly applicable to the present Emergency Regulations as well, and therefore has requested the President to reissue the guidelines to further strengthen the security measures.