1. Inbound Tour Operators raise concerns with Tourism and Finance Ministries on the sudden imposition of VAT from 0% to 18% on Destination Management Companies; IMF said to be considering the request: many analysts have regularly pointed out that many fiscal and monetary decisions are now taken by the IMF, and not by the Finance Ministry or the Central Bank.
   
2. Public Security Minister Tiran Alles says Police have been tasked with completely eradicating the underworld and narcotic drugs in the country by 30th June’24: asserts the “Yukthiya” operation to do so will not be stopped under any circumstances.
   
3. ITAK leadership change expected to pose challenges for the polity in the South: also expected to raise concerns in the international community: greater bias towards Federalism anticipated.
   
4. SL film director Jagath Manuwarna wins award of Best Director in the Asian Competition Section of the 22nd Dhaka International Film Festival for his feature film “Rahas Kiyana Kandu”: the film premiered at the 2023 International Film Festival in Rotterdam where it won the NETPAC Awards for the best Asian feature film.
   
5. SL Navy seeks the assistance of the Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces engaged in counter-terrorism, to obtain the release of SL trawler ‘Lorenzo Putha 4’ with its 6 crew members hijacked by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea.
   
6. SL Railways “parcel” charges increased with effect from 1st February’24.
   
7. Passenger ferry service between India’s Nagapattinam and SL’s Kankesanthurai to be initiated on 15th February.
   
8. Nutritionist and Lifestyle Medicine Practitioner Dr Raaidah Wahab says the SL rice & curry is one of the most nutritious and balanced meals: warns however the quantities being consumed needs to change.
   
9. Finance State Minister Ranjith Siambalapitiya says the issue of Taxpayer Identification Numbers has not been interrupted or stopped, but necessary steps are being taken to prevent the obstacles and provide necessary facilities to the Inland Revenue Department.
   
10. International Cricket Council lifts ban imposed on SL with immediate effect.

January 29, Colombo (LNW): The Sri Lanka High Commission in Kenya has disclosed ongoing negotiations with the Somali Navy to secure the release of fishermen from the ‘Lorenzo Putha 04,’ who were abducted by Somali pirates.

Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Kenya V. Kananathan highlighted active collaboration with the Somali Navy Chief and efforts to inform the European Union Navy Joint Operations Centre.

The Sri Lankan and Somali authorities are working closely to ensure maritime security and the safe return of the abducted individuals.

Several Sri Lankan Ambassadors have appealed to Somali authorities for intervention, and the Sri Lanka Navy has notified the Combined Maritime Forces in Bahrain, seeking an investigation into the captured fishing vessel.

The ‘Lorenzo Putha 04’ was seized in the Arabian Sea, 1,160 nautical miles from land, with six Chilaw residents on board.

The governments of Sri Lanka and Somalia are committed to swiftly resolving the matter and ensuring the well-being of the abducted Sri Lankans.

January 29, Colombo (LNW): The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has issued a resolute directive, establishing a deadline for the submission of asset declarations from prominent figures, including the President, Prime Minister, public servants, and media leaders.

This directive aligns with the newly enacted Bribery or Corruption Allegations Act.

In accordance with the provisions of this legislation, approximately 150,000 individuals, spanning politicians, public servants, and media figures, are obligated to furnish detailed asset and liability statements to the CIABOC on an annual basis.

The ambit of this directive encompasses individuals from thirty-one distinct sectors.

The specified deadline for compliance with this mandatory disclosure has been set at March 31st each year, imparting a sense of urgency to the process.

This regulatory measure aims to enhance transparency and accountability within various sectors by ensuring comprehensive reporting of financial interests.

UN Human Rights Council Engagement Remains Vital to Ensure Justice for Atrocity Crimes

(Geneva, January 29, 2024) – The Sri Lankan government’s proposed law to create another body to investigate wartime abuses replicates previous failed efforts, ignores the needs of victims, and falls far short of meeting Sri Lanka’s international legal obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. Sri Lankan authorities continue to silence and repress families of victims and their communities 15 years after the armed conflict ended.

The Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka Bill was published on January 1, 2024, following limited consultations in 2023 and government pledges to investigate human rights violations and war crimes committed during the 1983-2009 civil war with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and in its aftermath. It excludes widespread abuses committed during the left-wing Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) uprising of 1988-1990. Instead of providing truth, justice and redress, the proposed law appears designed to deflect international pressure over the lack of accountability for atrocity crimes and to persuade the United Nations Human Rights Council to end its scrutiny of Sri Lanka.

“A credible truth and justice process is desperately needed in Sri Lanka, where wartime abuses resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and enforced disappearances,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “However, the government’s continuing repression of victim communities and its protection of alleged perpetrators shows a lack of will to deliver justice, ensuring that this commission will fare no better than previous ones.”

The bill states that the new commission would produce a “truthful record” of violations committed during the war, make recommendations on reparations, and propose measures to prevent a recurrence. While the commission would also be able “to refer matters to the relevant law enforcement or prosecuting authorities … for further investigation and necessary action,” those authorities are already supposed to take up such cases, but routinely fail to do so. Successive Sri Lankan governments have blocked investigations, stalled trials, and silenced victims, in violation of international legal obligations to prosecute or extradite people responsible for serious crimes.

Since the 1990s, the government has created at least 10 similar commissions, at leave five of which have concluded reports. Many victims say they have “commission fatigue” and see no use in testifying again, risking re-traumatization and possible threats from the security forces with no expectation of justice and redress.

In 2023, after the government announced its plans to establish a new commission, numerous organizations representing conflict victims and civil society groups—especially in the most conflict-affected Northern and Eastern provinces—joined four separate joint statements rejecting the government’s approach and instead said it should act upon the work of previous commissions, while “building confidence” by ending ongoing abuses.

The current government, like its predecessors, has a record of making human rights pledges to deflect international pressure while continuing abuses and blocking meaningful reform and accountability. Many victims see the proposed commission as an attempt to persuade UN Human Rights Council member countries to end the council’s scrutiny, a view supported by statements from President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office.

The proposed commission resembles the 2010-2011 Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. After this commission failed to achieve its stated objectives, the Human Rights Council in 2015 passed the first of a series of important resolutions to advance accountability for atrocity crimes committed in Sri Lanka.

From 2015 to 2020, when Wickremesinghe was prime minister, the Human Rights Council adopted resolutions with the endorsement of Sri Lanka that envisaged a “hybrid” justice mechanism including both foreign and Sri Lankan staff. In 2021, after a new Sri Lankan government repudiated this process, the council established an international evidence-gathering project to support possible future prosecutions abroad.

Meanwhile, the current government has continued to repress fundamental rights. In January 2024, the government presented two bills in parliament that threaten the right to freedom of expression. According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Anti-Terrorism Bill, to replace a law that has long been used to target minorities and perceived government opponents, “grants wide powers to the police – and to the military – to stop, question and search, and to arrest and detain people, with inadequate judicial oversight.”

The Online Safety Bill, adopted by parliament on January 24, “will give authorities unfettered discretion to label and restrict expressions they disagree with as ‘false statements,’” the high commissioner’s office said. New speech-related offenses carry lengthy prison terms.

The government has also continued to target those campaigning for truth and accountability. On January 5, the authorities arrested and detained Sivananthan Jenita and Meera Jasmine Charlesnise, who have campaigned for years seeking answers after the enforced disappearance of their relatives for protesting against President Wickremesinghe during his visit to the north. In December, nine ethnic Tamils were held under anti-terrorism legislation for commemorating war dead.

Government agencies continue to appropriate Hindu and Muslim religious sites and lands occupied by Tamil and Muslim communities on a variety of pretexts, in some cases to convert the sites into Buddhist temples or transfer them to members of the majority community. These actions violate the right to freedom of religion or belief and are in direct opposition to the government’s purported goals of promoting “reconciliation” and addressing the causes of conflict, Human Rights Watch said.

The new commission’s proposed mandate would overlap in ill-defined ways with existing but nonperforming agencies, including the Office of Reparations, established in 2018, and the Office of Missing Persons, established in 2017. On January 9, Sri Lanka’s parliament passed legislation to formalize yet another institution with an ostensibly similar purpose, the Office of National Unity and Reconciliation, which was created in 2015.

Concerned governments should decline to fund or endorse the new Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation, because it would not uphold Sri Lanka’s international obligations to address impunity or provide redress and does not have the support of victims and affected communities. Instead, they should work to ensure that the Human Rights Council mandate is renewed and enhanced to pursue accountability for past crimes and help end ongoing abuses.

“The actions of President Wickremesinghe’s government to silence dissent, protect and promote alleged rights abusers, and discriminate against minority communities give no grounds to believe that the latest ‘reconciliation’ plan will turn out differently from past commissions,” Ganguly said. “The government should start dealing with the past in good faith, by using the evidence already collected to advance accountability and stop persecuting victims and their families who demand justice.”

Human Rights Watch

The manner in which the Online Safety Bill was passed in parliament is a matter of grave concern.  The bill was passed without taking a vote at the third reading even though the opposition called for a vote.  In addition, the opposition has alleged that a number of amendments to the original bill required by the Supreme Court had not been included.

The National Peace Council calls on the government to heed the opposition which has called for the Online Safety bill not to be signed into law by the Speaker of Parliament due to these infirmities. The proroguing of parliament by the president provides an opportunity to ensure that all amendments are included in the law.

We welcome Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena’s announcement that the Attorney General’s Department will investigate whether all amendments inserted during the legislative process were properly implemented in accordance with the Supreme Court directives. The right to free expression is a fundamental democratic right that if vitiated would place the democratic process in jeopardy.

In this context, NPC wishes to address the Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation (CTUR) bill which was gazetted on January 1 this year.  We call on the government not to rush through with this bill in the manner of the Online Safety bill or the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) bill which was similarly pushed through parliament on January 9 this year without heeding the views of the opposition or civil society.

It is a matter for concern that the draft law with respect to the CTUR has been prepared and gazetted even before the submission of the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate the findings of preceding Commissions and Committees headed by Justice A H M D Nawaz.

In the synopsis of the Nawaz Commission report issued in February last year, the Commissioners referred to a Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Sri Lanka and stated that the contours of the commission would be set out in due course when the Final Report was submitted. The government’s urgency in rushing through with the law pertaining to the CTUR, without even waiting for the Nawaz Commission to submit its report, and with only minimal consultation with opposition political parties and civil society suggests a motivation that goes beyond reconciliation.

There seems to be a desire to obtain the support of the international community by producing the TURC law, even though it may not have the support from the aggrieved ethnic and religious minorities for whom it is meant.

Like ONUR, the purpose of the proposed truth commission (CTUR) is to strengthen the national reconciliation process.  Therefore, it needs to be based on consensus of the government and parties representing the opposition and ethnic and religious minorities rather than being steamrolled by a majority vote in parliament. NPC calls on the government to discuss the proposed CTUR law with the opposition and civil society and obtain their consensus before proceeding to pass it through a vote in parliament. 

National Peace Council of Sri Lanka