European Union should strengthen Sri Lanka's civil society

On Monday, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) in Göttingen demanded EU High Representative Catherine Ashton to condemn the restrictive laws against non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Sri Lanka. "Silencing the Sri Lankan NGOs will limit the country's chances for democratization and reconciliation after decades of civil war," said Ulrich Delius, the STP's Asia-consultant. In July 2014, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence issued several decrees to restrict the NGO's work. Thus, the 1421 officially registered and recognized NGOs received an official letter explaining that they are not allowed to issue press releases or organize conferences, seminars or public campaigns.

The Society for Threatened Peoples also calls on the EU to express their concern about a proposed new law on NGOs. "For the sake of sustainable peace, Sri Lanka is dependent on an active civil society, to advocate for good governance. The proposed NGO law will stifle any citizen participation and undermine democratic rights," criticized Delius. In future, the Ministry of Defence is supposed to have even more power to control the civil society and will also be responsible for the registration and monitoring of NGOs. "This is like setting a fox to keep the geese, as the Ministry of Defence and the army have been trying to avoid independent investigations and a punishment of those who were responsible for the crimes against humanity committed during the civil war – until today."

During the civil war, the authorities had already restricted the work of NGOs in the conflict areas significantly. Even the "International Committee of the Red Cross", which is world-renowned for its neutrality, was not able to provide help without restrictions. In April 2010, after the end of the fighting in 2009, the government decided that the Ministry of Defence should be responsible for monitoring the NGOs. Thus, the military intelligence services started to observe all NGOs and to suppress most of the Tamil organizations by accusing them of supporting the armed Tamil resistance. Since 2011, more than 600 NGOs were forced to discontinue their work, due to orders of the Ministry.

The new measures of control and massive intervention had caused protests among the NGOs during the past two weeks. Last Thursday, for example, dozens of NGO representatives met in the capital Colombo to burn the new instructions that were sent to them by the Ministry of Defence.

Ulrich Delius, head of STP's Asia department, is available for further questions: Tel. 0551 49906 27 or asien@gfbv.de.