Highlights of Magna Carta for human, socio-economic and political rights

The Government’s National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP), a ‘Magna Carta’ of sorts to the European Union, says it seeks to “strengthen existing legal and institutional mechanisms.”

Approved by the Cabinet of Ministers last Tuesday, it adds that the purpose is to ensure they “comply with international standards and best practices with respect to protection and promotion of civil and political rights.” Acting Minister Harsha de Silva told his ministerial colleagues that a copy will now be sent to the European Union Headquarters in Brussels. This is ahead of adopting measures to restore the General Scheme of Preferences (GSP plus) tariff concessions to Sri Lanka.

The 261-page revised report deals with measures the Government will adopt in respect of ten different matters. It even calls for Constitutional amendments to make English an official language. Here are some of the more significant among them:

CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

Review and consider the definition and scope of the right to privacy with a view to amending the Constitution. Following such a review, amend the Constitution to include the right to privacy in the Fundamental Rights Chapter.

Train and appoint Information Officers to all public authorities covered under the Right to Information Act, No. 12 of 2016. Conduct a comprehensive review of the implementation of the RTI Act, publish the findings of such a review, and implement the recommendations that emerge from the review.

Review, and based on such review, amend the Presidential, General, Provincial and Local Government Elections Acts with corresponding amendments to the Assets and Liabilities Declarations Law so as to stipulate the submission of an assets and liabilities declaration as a prerequisite to the submission of nominations and the resubmission at the end of the term as a pre-condition for re-election.

Investigate, prosecute and upon conviction punish, perpetrators of religious violence under appropriate laws including the ICCPR Act No 56 of 2007.

PREVENTION OF TORTURE

Draft and promulgate appropriate law to strengthen an independent unit consisting of Police officers responsible for accepting and investigating complaints relating to torture.

Empower the unit to work in collaboration with the Attorney General’s Department to initiate and secure prosecutions of torture. Establish a special unit within the National Police Commission to record, investigate, take disciplinary action and refer for prosecution complaints of torture.

RIGHTS OF WOMEN

Establish the National Commission on Women under Constitutional provisions as an independent commission.

Undertake reforms to give equal rights to economic resources.

Criminalise marital rape without any exceptions, including where spouses are judicially separated.

Establish a special unit in the Attorney General’s Department to expedite handling cases of sexual violence.

To appoint one third of women to Boards and Corporations.

RIGHTS OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS AND RETURNING REFUGEES

Allocate land under joint ownership except in cases where original sole ownership can be established. Establish a monitoring mechanism to ensure non-discriminatory land allocation and implement head of household concept.

Identify root causes for displacement and take steps to address areas that may result in future displacement and threaten durable solutions.

RIGHTS OF MIGRANT WORKERS

Revise and update the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) Act of 1985 in line with the updated policy and the ratified Conventions related to Labour migration.

Ensure the effective implementation of the Code of Ethical Conduct (CoEC) for LFEA (Licensed Foreign Employment Agents) in Sri Lanka.

Ensure the operational manual for diplomatic missions are used as a guideline to ensure consistency across Sri Lanka Missions in their service delivery to Migrant Workers.

Give suggestions to Election Commission for the implementation of the right to vote for Sri Lankan migrant workers residing abroad.

RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Legislate reservation for persons with disabilities of three per cent of approved vacancies with respect to all public sector jobs.

Prioritise persons with disabilities and their families in all land distribution schemes.

Fifty percent of schools within each education zone shall be staffed and equipped to enable children with disabilities to receive a quality education/skills in an inclusive setting.

ECONOMIC SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

Introduce legislation to specifically deal with sexual harassment in the workplace in both public and private sector including requirement to establish internal grievance handling mechanisms.

Prevent sanctions (compulsory labour and disciplinary action) being imposed on employees (except those in essential services) engaged in peaceful strikes. Anti-Union discrimination cases to be taken up directly before Courts.

Prevent interference in the management and operation of trade unions in the EPZs.

Ensure private sector participation in Higher Education.

Translate and publish major literary works from Tamil into Sinhala and Sinhala into Tamil and disseminate them among school children and youth.

Conduct a socio-economic survey of indigenous people including the Veddah community and their current needs/grievances to identify priorities to formulate necessary policies and laws.

Promote respect for the official language policy among private institutions and associations.

Review and consider the need to declare English as an Official Language under the Constitution.

RIGHTS OF CHILDREN

Include/Secure child protection as a reserved list subject under the Constitution. Form a common definition of child protection with all relevant stakeholders in the three areas of thematic project based approaches including disaster risk reduction (DDR); prevention and protection.

Strengthen legal protection of all children taken into public care.

LABOUR RIGHTS

To continue review of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), study reports and make necessary arrangements to adjust for the country’s requirements.

ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS

Formulate a policy for conservation and sustainable utilisation of ecosystems in Sri Lanka including mangroves, rain forests, montane forest, wetlands and water sheds.

Develop and establish a national multi-stakeholder platform for formulation and co-ordination of all air quality improvement and management programmes.

Establishment of new vehicular emission standards consistent with international standards and introduction of regulations for their enforcement.

Introduce regulations to make it mandatory for large industries and thermal power plants to monitor emissions as required in standards and make the data available to Central Environmental Authority (CEA) officers.

Strengthen the wayside random verification of vehicular emissions using portable instrumentation.

Bring all State owned vehicles including the SLTB, the Armed Forces and the Sri Lanka Police under the VET (Vehicle Emission Testing) programme.

Introduce regulations to the air conditioning and refrigeration service centres. This is for the introduction of recovery, recycling and reclaiming techniques to this sector.

Control the abstraction of ground water for commercial purposes including agriculture through appropriate legislation.

Effective monitoring of industries to ensure compliance with national environmental standards.

Make it mandatory for industries generating hazardous effluents to monitor the quality of ground water around the site.

Conducting pilot coastal water quality monitoring programme at six selected tourist areas in Sri Lanka.

Suspend the environment protection licence issued to industries and power plants on violation of emission standards.