New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she has sought advice on dealing with the issue in Sri Lanka.

The Prime Minister says Sri Lanka is experiencing an incredibly tumultuous period as island-wide protests continue amid an economic crisis.

Economic blunders have been compounded by the pandemic, resulting in soaring inflation and a shortage of food, fuel, and medical supplies.

“In terms of the foreign policy implications for New Zealand that’s where I am looking to receive an additional briefing over the coming 24 hours from the ministry,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

The protests are calling for a change in the leadership of the Sri Lankan government, which stands accused of mismanaging public funds.

New Zealand Sri Lankans are signing a petition calling for the NZ Government to condemn the actions of the Sri Lankan leadership.

When asked if she condemned Sri Lanka’s leadership, Ardern stopped short but acknowledged the growing frustration of Sri Lankan people.

“It is a very tumultuous time politically and domestically in Sri Lanka,” she said. The President of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, imposed a 36-hour curfew and a social media blackout in response to the protests.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has also weight weighed in, saying: “New Zealand strongly upholds democratic values and institutions, including free speech and the right to peacefully protest.”

She said Aotearoa New Zealand was monitoring the unfolding economic, political, and security situation in Sri Lanka closely – and encouraged all parties to continue to work on a peaceful solution.

The protest is drawing attention from around the world with the diaspora also taking to the streets in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Sri Lanka’s  Colombo Port is gradually losing regular traffic due to  diversion of ships normally calling at the island nation’s harbor , the busiest transshipment port in the Indian ocean due to man-made  present political and economic crisis , international news agencies reported.          

More ships have been turning to Indian ports in recent months as a result of political and economic uncertainty in Sri Lanka, as well as congestion at the Colombo port, Maritime Gateway reported.

According to industry groups, roughly 5-10% of regular traffic from Colombo has been diverted to Indian ports in the last month, with Chennai, Ennore, Mundra, and Thoothukudi’s VO Chidambaranar Port benefiting the most.

Due to the situation in Sri Lanka, traffic at the Kochi International Container Transshipment Facility (ICTT) in Vallarpadam, India’s first transhipment terminal, increased by 62% to 13,609 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in March 2022, compared to 8,394 TEU in March 2021.

“In recent times, we have seen considerable diversion of transhipment traffic from Colombo to Kochi. There are vessels that are skipping Colombo cargo, because of the longer time taken for transhipment,” said Cochin Port Trust Chairperson M Beena.

“Kochi is a natural alternative to Colombo now,” she said. The transhipment container traffic in Kochi saw an increase from 36,183 TEU in 2019- 20 to 86,000 TEU in 2020-21 and 156,000 TEU in 2021-22. Chennai and Kamarajar (Ennore) ports jointly saw a 26 per cent hike in cargo traffic to 87.3 million metric tonnes in 2021-22, according to reports.

“The Colombo port is almost at a standstill. There are no trailers to evacuate containers and cargo from the port. 

In the last one month, we are seeing a considerable shift in normal traffic to the ports in Tamil Nadu — Thoothukudi and Chennai now, due to the congestion in Sri Lanka,” said S Narasimhan, president, India-Asean-Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

Narasimhan said he expects more traffic to get diverted to Kochi transshipment terminal and ports in Tamil Nadu in the coming months.

In the wake of the prevailing crisis of the country, the Sri Lankan LGBTIQ community has joined forces in demonstrating their objection to the President and the Government.

The Sri Lankan LGBTIQ Community today (08) staged a peaceful demonstration at the Lipton Circle, Union Place, Colombo starting from 3.30 pm.

The economic, social and political instability in the country has affected every citizen as well as the community of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, expressions and sex characteristics, the protesters pointed out.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (LGBTIQ) Community of Sri Lanka throughout the course of time has been subject to discrimination, harassment and violence on multiple platforms since the colonial interpretation of criminalisation driving those of diverse sexual identities into being criminals before law via the Penal Code and the Vagrants Ordinance. Despite a progressive social and political atmosphere being grown towards the visibility of these groups, there are ongoing reports on LGBTIQ individuals being subject to marginalisation on or off the state structure, including, but not limited to, arbitrary arrests, domestic violence, declining job opportunities, harassment in public places, challenges in access to services and etc. Simply put, these groups are challenged in enjoying their rights and privileges equally due to their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or sex characteristics.

Them being an intersection of society, the current crisis in the country has severely affected the LGBTIQ Community, thus the protest demonstrates that their struggle is not an isolated one, but a part of a larger human rights struggle.

Editor (LGBTIQ)

Photos: Nadeera Harshani Photography

The Government’s inaction in finding and implementing a constructive solution to the current crisis urgently risks the imposition of potentially heavy costs the country will continue to pay over the long-term, including access to global markets, The Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF), the apex body of Sri Lanka’s apparel industry claimed.

In a statement, the apparel industry has urged all stakeholders to put aside differences and work together to resolve the current crisis, which has imposed severe hardships on people and hampered the economy. 

If the current macroeconomic crisis continues for longer without taking urgent action to address it, the social and economic consequences imposed upon Sri Lanka’s people will be incalculable, the industry warns.

The country is still recovering from the adverse effects of the worst pandemic in decades that erased years of growth.  

Apparel is Sri Lanka’s single largest foreign income earner, contributing 6 per cent to the country’s overall GDP. The sector provides direct employment to 350,000 people and to another 700,000 indirectly.

“The current crisis has been brewing for several months, and the Government’s procrastination has created considerable hardship for ordinary people,” said a JAAF spokesperson. 

“Power and fuel outages have already led to the shut-down of many small establishments and escalated the cost of production for others.” Efforts to stifle peaceful protests have precipitated a political crisis, further complicating the situation, JAAF adds.

“Before the situation gets worse, we require immediate, decisive action to implement workable short and medium-term solutions to critical challenges,” the spokesperson emphasised. “Given the magnitude of the crisis, all stakeholders in the country’s welfare and the people’s well-being should work together in the larger interest of the people and the nation.”

JAAF fully supports the immediate appointment of financial and legal advisors to commence discussions with Sri Lanka’s creditors. 

This will allow debt servicing obligations to be paused, relieving the pressure on the system. Parallelly, Sri Lanka should engage with the IMF as a matter of urgency to seek bridging financing for essential imports – particularly for fuel, LPG and medicines. 

Seeking the assistance of the World Bank to reallocate unutilised funds from existing projects towards emergency relief programmes can also be an immediate safety net to those most affected by the crisis.

The crisis is hurting Sri Lanka’s international reputation as a reliable sourcing destination and exporter; buyers of the country’s merchandise exports (apparel is almost half of that), investors and business partners are getting worried.

“It will be a steep, uphill battle to retain buyer relationships, which have been built with great effort over decades,” the spokesperson said. “We simply cannot afford to lose even a single one of these relationships. 

The negative impact on the industry and the economy and the export sector will be almost catastrophic, and lead to loss of livelihoods and employment, and limit the country’s ability to fund essential imports, and badly damage its access to long-term external finances.”

Extended power cuts and inconsistent adherence to announced power interruption schedules have disrupted production planning and manufacturing, most severely impacting small and medium enterprises (SMEs). 

The mandatory conversion of foreign exchange is complicating raw material imports, as banks are unable to meet their commitments to apparel exporters.