The European Union said it was “impossible” to convene any formal dialogue with Sri Lanka regarding human rights, in its Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World.
The report, adopted by the Council on Monday, said “it proved impossible to convene any formalised dialogue with the Sri Lankan authorities, whilst concerns for the human rights and security situation grew”.
The report went on to note that,
“The EU issued several statements, inter alia on the attacks against the Muslim Community (20 June), the appointment of the UN investigation team for Sri Lanka (1 July), and restrictions on non-governmental organisations and on freedom of expression (23 July), in a context of worrying developments such as increased harassment and detention of human rights defenders under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, restrictions on the activities of non-governmental organisations, attacks against religious minorities, electoral violence, gender-based and sexual violence, as well as the detention and deportation of refugees and asylum-seekers”.
“Like other international partners, the EU called upon the government to fully cooperate with the investigation and to address accountability issues as an important step for fostering genuine reconciliation,” said the report.
The report comes as Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe claimed Sri Lanka will regain the EU’s GSP+ trade concessions after the UN Human Rights Council session in September.
See our earlier posts:
EU trade concessions will be regained after HRC session in Sept – Ranil (22 June 2015)
Sri Lanka confident in restoring GSP+ trade concessions (03 June 2015)
‘An awful lot remains to be done’ on human rights in Sri Lanka says EU envoy (10 May 2015)
Rights issues crucial to granting GSP+ in Sri Lanka, says EU Ambassador (31 March 2015)
Sri Lanka seeks to regain GSP+ (28 March 2015)
EU parliament's 'Friends of Sri Lanka' in visit to help remove fishing ban (08 March 2015)
EU suspends fish imports from Sri Lanka (16 January 2015)
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
