Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

The government is yet to make an official request from us about this. Once they do, we can consider the request. We take into account certain criteria in providing GSP + to countries. Suppression of individual freedoms, human rights violation records and media freedom are some of the areas we look at before awarding the preference. Once we analyse the situations in the countries, we will be able to make a decision as to who will be the most deserving, to receive the concessions, Wallstrom told Wickremesinghe.

He told them that hundreds and thousands of people were at risk of losing their jobs if these duty concessions were terminated. The EU team informed him that the Sri Lanka Government has so far not made such a request from the European Commission.

They also reminded him that, in deciding whether to continue with the concessions, the EU will study the country s human rights record and state of media freedom. They told him that Sri Lanka had been granted the GSP+ facility in 2002 because there was a peaceful atmosphere created by the ceasefire agreement. They pointed out that the situation today was dramatically different.

stars are not right they could end up with sanctions........

Government and its officials could be held liable for abuse under international criminal law and acting through paramilitary groups would not absolve them of the responsibility to uphold the law, Philip Alston the UN Special Rapporteur on extra judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said in a report released two weeks back.

The report is to be taken up for discussion in Geneva on June 2.

'The government should recognise that, regardless of the formal relationship between its security forces and these paramilitary groups, it cannot avoid international legal responsibility for their actions. Military commanders and other government officials should also recognise that acting through a paramilitary group will not suffice to prevent them from having individual criminal responsibility for extra judicial executions and other abuses,' the report said.

'The government has completely failed to comply with the recommendation made by the Special Rapporteur that it renounce all collaboration with the Karuna Group. Instead, the government has intensified its collaboration with a range of paramilitary groups,' the report added.

He said that the government relied heavily on paramilitary groups in the east and to a lesser extent in Jaffna. 'The government has relied extensively on paramilitary groups to maintain control in the east and, to a lesser extent, in Jaffna. There is evidence that these groups conduct operations with the government forces and are responsible for extrajudicial executions,' the Alston report also said.

The report was a follow-up to actions recommended by Alston after his visit to Sri Lanka between November 28 and December 6 2005.

In his latest report Alston said that the government and the Tigers both had failed to act on his recommendations and in certain areas the situation had deteriorated.

'By way of overview, the recommendations made in the Special Rapporteur's report on Sri Lanka have not been implemented. Recommendations directed to the Government have been all but completely disregarded, and in most areas there has been significant backward movement. The same is true of recommendations directed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).'

He said that war could be conducted without compromising basic rights and called on the UN Human Rights Council to take action on the Sri Lankan crisis.

'This failure to adopt measures necessary to ensure respect for human rights cannot be attributed simply to the outbreak of large-scale hostilities. Wars may be fought while respecting the provisions of international human rights and humanitarian law. The Government and the LTTE have, however, chosen to conduct this conflict in a manner that treats human rights and human rights defenders as obstacles to effective tactics. It is imperative that the Human Rights Council address this crisis,' the report adds

GOSL should not request anything.

Now i find AnuD looking at Sour grapes that is not within his reach.

Poor Guy !

GOSL should not request anything.

'The government has completely failed to comply with the recommendation made by the Special Rapporteur that it renounce all collaboration with the Karuna Group. Instead, the government has intensified its collaboration with a range of paramilitary groups,' the report added.