Organisations: Human rights violations in Sri Lanka threaten EU trade benefits

Pressure from Human Rights Watch on the European Union over the deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka has prompted the government to pledge reforms in recent weeks, that is after the human rights organization called for the union, to set a clear time frame for Sri Lanka to comply with the commitment in human rights, and to link that file with commercial benefits and fees on Sri Lanka. The human rights organization stressed the need to evaluate and review Sri Lankan reforms periodically, to reach their implementation on the ground. Jurists said that a committee was recently formed to review the country’s prevention of terrorism law. It is reported that the law was first used in Sri Lanka in 1988, which the Minister of Defense can without any kind of justification issue arrest warrants and bring people into his detention indefinitely.