{"id":177459,"date":"2017-05-16T14:36:07","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T09:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=177459"},"modified":"2017-05-17T14:50:01","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T09:20:01","slug":"eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Grants GSP Plus Despite Conditions Not Being Met"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The EU has announced today that Sri Lanka will receive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=GSP+Plus\">GSP Plus<\/a> from 19<\/span><span class=\"s2\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span><span class=\"s1\"> May, 2017<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">This is despite the Government not conforming to two conditions that the EU had earlier said, should be demonstrated before the suspension of GSP Plus was lifted. These two conditions related to the public releasing of an internationally compliant draft Counter-Terrorism Act (CTA) and a draft Amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, both of which had to be tabled before Parliament.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-168867 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"466\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg 639w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook-300x160.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px\" \/><\/a><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">In both these cases, the leaked versions of the drafts revealed significant problems with their contents. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/lies-and-deception-in-the-cabinet-approved-counter-terror-draft\/\">the case of the draft CTA<\/a>, the leaked version by <i>the Sunday Times<\/i>\u00a0recently indicated that the offence of espionage had been surreptitiously slipped in while omitting the term \u2018espionage.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The draft CTA terrorizes the \u2018gathering of confidential information\u2019 if it adversely affects public security and contradicts the Right to Information Act of 2016. Sri Lanka\u2019s RTI Act, hailed as the third best in the world, has several restrictions on giving of information including national security but leaves out \u2018public security\u2019 as a ground on which a denial can be based due to the unclear meaning of that term.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>In addition the CTA terrorizes any person who writes or speaks in a way that harms \u2018unity\u2019 despite this term also being unclear as legal experts have pointed out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Where the CCP amendment is concerned, this still leaves discretion in the hands of the police to refuse immediate legal counsel to suspects.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Former Secretary to the Ministry of Justice Nihal Jayawickrama called the draft \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sundayobserver.lk\/2017\/05\/07\/news\/counter-terrorism-act-needs-be-more-hr-compliant-prof-nihal-jayawickrama\">horrendous<\/a>\u2019 saying that he felt sick after reading it. He professed doubt that this draft could have had the involvement of Sri Lankan experts. Prominent legal analyst and a member of Sri Lanka\u2019s Right to Information Commission Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sundaytimes.lk\/170514\/columns\/the-menacing-promise-of-the-cta-gift-wrapped-for-the-future-240251.html\">fiercely critiqued<\/a> the Cabinet approved CTA to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), pointing out that this proposed a \u2018cure that was far worse than the disease.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">The CTA\u2019s clauses that give the power to issue detention orders to \u2018common or garden path Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGs) advised by the Officer-in-Charge (OIC)\u2019 was pointed to be a clear incentive to torture of detainees. Blisteringly critical of \u2018blinkered negotiations\u2019 so far,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Pinto-Jayawardena asked as to how any faith could be placed in effective \u2018monitoring\u2019 to ensure revisions to the draft even though this had been promised by the EU through a Working Committee after the additional tariff preference was granted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">GSP Plus was suspended in 2010 under the Rajapaksa Presidency after an <a href=\"http:\/\/trade.ec.europa.eu\/doclib\/docs\/2009\/october\/tradoc_145153.pdf\">Experts Report<\/a> castigated Sri Lanka\u2019s Rule of Law record. For example, the report found that though a domestic law prohibiting torture was enacted in 1994, this has had little impact due to bad investigations, lackadaisical prosecutions and a legal system plagued with delays and other failures. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">It was also concluded that the judicial and administrative infrastructure was neither adequate nor effective in regard to providing a remedy for violations of rights.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>The suspension had adverse consequences as the EU had been Sri Lanka\u2019s biggest export market accounting for nearly one-third of the country\u2019s global exports with apparel being key. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Announcing the lifting of the suspension today, the EU stated in a press release that \u2018this is also a vote of confidence from the European Union that the Sri Lankan Government will maintain the progress it has made in implementing the international conventions. At the same time, no one is pretending that the situation is perfect. The process of replacing the Prevention of Terrorism Act still needs to be completed.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Meanwhile the Government has come under severe criticism by the public for its \u2018cutting and pasting\u2019 laws from other countries without adequate local vetting and public consultations. However, local civil interest groups, including the Friday Forum and Colombo non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been noticeably silent. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has stated that it had not been consulted on the CTA despite the consultation being required by the HRCSL law.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Related posts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"entry-title eltd-post-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/lies-and-deception-in-the-cabinet-approved-counter-terror-draft\/\"><strong>\u2018Lies And Deception\u2019 In The Cabinet Approved Counter-Terror Draft<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"entry-title eltd-post-title\"><strong><a class=\"eltd-pt-title-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/counter-terror-draft-we-are-shocked-tna\/\" target=\"_self\">Counter-Terror Draft: We Are Shocked \u2013 TNA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":168867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EU Grants GSP Plus Despite Conditions Not Being Met - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EU Grants GSP Plus Despite Conditions Not Being Met - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-16T09:06:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-17T09:20:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"639\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"341\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/\",\"name\":\"EU Grants GSP Plus Despite Conditions Not Being Met - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-16T09:06:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-17T09:20:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg\",\"width\":639,\"height\":341},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EU Grants GSP Plus Despite Conditions Not Being Met\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EU Grants GSP Plus Despite Conditions Not Being Met - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"EU Grants GSP Plus Despite Conditions Not Being Met - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2017-05-16T09:06:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-05-17T09:20:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":639,"height":341,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/","name":"EU Grants GSP Plus Despite Conditions Not Being Met - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg","datePublished":"2017-05-16T09:06:07+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-17T09:20:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg","width":639,"height":341},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/eu-grants-gsp-plus-despite-conditions-not-being-met\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"EU Grants GSP Plus Despite Conditions Not Being Met"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Maithri-Ranil-Wijeyadasa-pic-via-Wijeyadasa-Rajapaksa-facebook.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177459"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177464,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177459\/revisions\/177464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}