=Reassures Lanka GSP plus process would be fair

The two issues have been among six contentious issues raised by the EC during the recently concluded EC-Sri Lanka Joint Commission.

The TMVP contested the first election to the EPC on the government ticket.

The EC has told Sri Lanka that the concerns about the country’s human rights record were genuine and that the government needed to change its style.

The visiting delegation which had discussed political, economic, trade and cultural issues said, however, that the government needs to publicise the steps it took to improve its human rights track record.

"We are encouraged by some of the things the government of Sri Lanka told us they were doing when they gave us a very informative report on human rights issues of the country. The government needs to publicise them as they are not known so that people will know the efforts the government is taking," Joao Aguiar Machado, the EC Deputy Director General for Asia and Latin America told journalists.

He said that the EC delegation was not here to point fingers and pass judgement on Sri Lanka but to express the EC’s genuine concern on humanitarian issues and to understand the genuine reasons given by the government in reply to the EC.

"The discussions were open and frank," Machado said.

Although 27 international conventions on human rights and labour rights had been ratified by Sri Lanka the problem was in the implementation of these conventions.

"The abductions and violence against journalists are some of the things that have been reported and are taken seriously by the EC," Machado said.

He said the question of Sri Lanka’s human rights credibility could not be attributed to the EC’s single-mindedness.

"These are concerns shared by other countries outside the EU which include some of Sri Lanka’s neighbours."

Machado stressed that the relationship between the EC and Sri Lanka was important to the EC and that issues had to be discussed openly, as good friends would.

"We need to find ways in which to work together. In this regard, the joint commission meeting and several other meetings with government ministers were constructive and we are confident that it will lead to a better understanding of issues," Machado said.

"The government should find a way to address our concerns. If GSP+ is wanted Sri Lanka will first have to help us."

Machado pointed out that the lack of follow up on the abductions and the calls of the International Group of Eminent Persons and the UN on the government to deliver concrete results were serious concerns for the EC.

"The government should take their recommendations seriously by taking cases to court and ensure effective and independent human rights monitoring."

Some of the other issues taken up by the EC at the joint commission were,

* To stabilise the situation in the East by disarming all paramilitary groups.

* The continued work of the APRC and its second proposals, which the EC hoped will be ambitious and supported.

* The EC condemned the terrorist attacks of the LTTE in absolute and unreserved terms.

* Reassured the government that when the reassessment process for GSP+ commences the process would be fair and impartial and that the EC had not taken any decision in this regard.

* The increasing problems of delivering EC aid to its rightful place. The EC asked the government to unblock visas to ICRC, UN and NGO staff engaged in humanitarian work in conflict areas.

* That Sri Lanka needs to tackle the shortage and price distortions of the country’s bitumen monopoly that is threatening the completion of EC funded road projects.

Machado said that the government had already begun to address some of these issues such as the visa restrictions and had promised to find solutions to the other issues.