“Guaranteeing ESC rights in the constitution is no longer an option…people want it.”

DINUSHIKA DISSANAYAKEEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE LAW & SOCIETY TRUST

Dinushika Dissanayake, the Executive Director of the Law and Society Trust stressed that both the PRC report and the Subcommittee report showed how people across Sri Lanka –from the North, South, East and West - wanted economic, social and cultural rights guaranteed. “Guaranteeing ESC rights in the constitution is no longer an option. This is a false debate we are having. People want it. They very clearly ask for it,’ she said.

Elaborating further she referred to the life experience of a boy from Giradurukotte who had spoken at the launch of a briefing paper on CKDU by the Law and Society Trust the previous day. “He was a beneficiary of public education and entered the university. His father was a farmer and contracted CKDU. They couldn’t pay for his boarding in Colombo and his mother now works for a mono cropped plantation in the area done by a multinational company. His mother is also exposed to different types of chemicals. For me, this raised all types of complex issues about socio economic rights and where we place it.”

She pointed out that ESC rights could be included not only in the Bill of rights but also in other parts of the constitution, including the sharing of sovereignty and decision making over natural and national resources. “Sri Lanka has a rich history of provisioning for human rights and especially for economic and social rights since the 1940s, be it education or health. This has led to where we are today, in terms of the indexes and life expectancy,’ she said.

“Sri Lanka is also a democratic, socialist republic and this is not by accident. The thinking of the leftist government of 1972 and the fact that it was not removed in 1978 says a lot about the political ideology about our people and the country,” she added.

Speaking about the dangers of providing these rights without guaranteeing them, as is the case currently, Dissanayake pointed out that the systematic nature of these rights could be taken away at anytime. “LST and many other organizations were part of drafting a joint civil society shadow report. Some of the discussion around this was about how budget cuts on education and healthcare affects people. This is a lived reality of our people. In the 2017 budget Rs. 100 billion has been cut from education. Rs. 13 million has been cut from health. The Defence budget has gone up,” she said.

“When rights are only guaranteed through provisioning there are also disparities in how resources are allocated. For example, the National Education commissions report in 2014 tells us that 16% of primary schools in Sri Lanka didn’t have access to water. It also says that in terms of unsanitary facilities only 0.5% of schools did not have sanitation. But when you look deeper it shows that Colombo didn’t have 0.5%. while Mullaithivu did not have 37%.” Speaking about shared sovereignty she once again referred to the boy from Girandurukotte. “The land in that area has been given to a mono cropping Plantation Company. Some of these plantation companies leave without notice. Sometimes people are not paid salaries. This is frightening in terms of poverty indicators. What happens to women who are exposed to large doses of chemicals without any of the covering facilities that should be used when using these chemicals? What happens to them when they fall ill? We do have public health care. But how far does it go when you keep cutting the budget on health care?”

She added, “If you talk about absolute poverty in Sri Lanka it has reduced. In 2012 it was 6.7%. The joint shadow report discusses what is meant by absolute poverty. Is it Rs.135 per person a day? Can you live on Rs. 135? In 2016 the World Bank told us that 40% of Sri Lankans live on less than Rs. 225 a day. So when it comes to human dignity, our commitments on zero hunger and zero poverty where do we stand when the day of reckoning comes after years in terms of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

“The women in Mullikulam, Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi are sitting on the streets with children sleeping on their laps asking for economic justice. And many of us are only concerned with certain parts of transitional justice,” she said.

“An independent judiciary that is capable of finding and directing on civil and political rights is also perfectly capable of finding and directing on economic, social and cultural rights. We have seen how restraint, independent judiciaries in South Africa, India and other places have not overburdened the state,” she said.

“Constitutions around the world have already moved on, have already guaranteed these rights. So why do we need to talk about this is also inexplicable. ESC rights cannot be compromised despite the popular theory that it can be compromised. Human dignity means just like the right not to be tortured we have the right to live,” she stressed.

Constitutions around the world have already moved on, have already guaranteed these rights. So why we need to talk about this is also inexplicable. ESC rights cannot be compromised despite the popular theory that it can be compromised. Human dignity means just like the right not to be tortured we have the right to live When rights are only guaranteed through provisioning there are also disparities in how resources are allocated