DPL immunity for international org. staff; Parliament to be notified

The Government will present to Parliament an Order made under the Diplomatic Privileges Act of 1996, in relation to several UN Organisations as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) among others, to correct a procedural fault that has resulted in them being hauled up before courts, even in instances where diplomatic immunity is due to them.

The relevant Gazette was issued this week by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera, and will be presented to Parliament later this month, a Ministry official said.

A similar Gazette was issued in 1997 under the Act, but it was not presented to Parliament as is the stipulated procedure, which has resulted in several expatriate employees of these organisations having to face legal hassles in relation to various cases.

One such case was filed by Dr Gunadasa Amarasekara in September last year, in the District Court of Colombo, against the UN, over its attempts to initiate a 'War Crimes' probe against the country, citing the UN’s then resident coordinator for Sri Lanka, Subinay Nandy as defendant.

The District Court dismissed the case after Mr Nandy's lawyers argued he was entitled to diplomatic immunity under Act No. 9 of 1996, and no civil action can be pursued against him, even though Counsel for Dr Amarasekera argued that Section 4(1) of Act No. 9 of 1996, which extends immunity to international organisations, has to be accompanied by a Gazette notification.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs submitted the relevant Gazette issued in 1997 to Court but, as this Order had not been presented to Parliament for due approval, a fresh Gazette notification was made this week, to avoid such issues in the future.

While the two Gazette notifications are almost the same, a new inclusion in the 2016 Gazette is the Addendum to the 1990 agreement signed between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the ICRC, which exempts current as well as former employees of the Organisation, regardless of where they are based, from being called as a witness or, required to give evidence, in respect of all acts performed by them in their official capacity. This exemption will apply in all types of legal proceedings.

The Gazette notification will apply to the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Colombo Plan Bureau, the ICRC, World Conservation Union (IUCNInternational Conservation of Nature & Natural Resources), Commission of European Communities and the Economic Development Cooperation Fund.

The Ministry official said that, under the agreements that the GoSL has signed with these organisations, they are entitled to diplomatic immunity and privileges on par with those accorded under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

He said that this re-Gazette is to correct the procedural error that took place earlier, and would regularise the process by which diplomatic immunity is extended to employees of these organisations.