The European Union Ambassador to Sri Lanka said Sri Lanka still has an “awful lot” to do to strengthen human rights on the island and warned that the underlying issues to the ethnic conflict need resolving.
In an interview to the Sunday Leader, EU Ambassador David Daly said “we have consistently urged SL to do a number of things of which firstly to strengthen the rule of law and the question of governance and respect human rights across Sri Lanka which we think is fundamental”.
“If you don’t tackle the underlying issues and if you leave issues festering then history has a horrible way of coming back to bite you, sometimes unexpectedly later on,” he added. “If the past reveals any violation of the humanitarian law or international human rights law, then there must be a proper judicial process that deals with the perpetrators of these violations so that these issues can be put to rest.”
Calling for a “genuine effort toward reconciliation”, Mr Daly welcomed pledges made by the Sri Lankan government, stating “we hope that this government has not only made commitments but have started to make concrete changes”. “There is always a challenge to transform commitments into actual reality on the ground,” he said, adding “the commitments made and the concrete measures already been taken while being duly recognised must be completed and we will encourage Sri Lanka on that area and are happy to work with Sri Lanka.”
In the wide ranging interview Mr Daly also said that though Sri Lanka needs to discuss and “work through” the 13th amendment, “normally speaking one would expect constitutions to be implemented”. “That is a rather basic condition of the rule of law,” he added.
On the issue of GSP+ Mr Daly acknowledged that discussions had started regarding its re-introduction, “but having said that there is a lot that has to be done on the Sri Lankan side”.
The envoy also said “I want to be very clear on the fact that there is no sympathy for the LTTE across the EU”, stating that there had been attempts to lift the ban on the organisation on procedural grounds.
See his full interview here.
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