A delegation from the European Parliament's international trade committee is to visit Sri Lanka from 4 to 6 April to monitor the country's proper implementation of its commitments on human rights and good governance made in exchange for the trade preferences granted by the EU on 19 May 2017 under the special GSP+ system.
Led by Jan Zahradil (ECR, Czech Republic), the delegation will comprise six MEPs including the European Parliament's permanent rapporteur for South Asia Sajjad Karim (ECR, UK) and, together with representatives from the Sri Lankan parliament, business world, civil society, unions and international organisations (the ILO and UN), will assess progress made by Colombo on the rule of law and the respect of workers' rights.
The MEPs will also assess the impact of the trade preferences on the development of trade and investment relations between the EU and Sri Lanka.
The reestablishment of the EU's trade preferences to Sri Lanka led to the total removal of customs duties on 66% of the EU's tariff lines covering Sri Lankan exports for a wide range of textiles and fisheries products. In return, the Sri Lankan government committed to ratifying and implementing 27 international conventions on human rights, sustainable development and good governance (see EUROPE 11790).
However, the EU requires further efforts to ensure the full conformity of Sri Lankan counter-terrorism legislation with international conventions on human rights and the end of the use of torture by the security forces and the impunity linked to this.
Colombo must also ensure that on the political and legislative level, women's rights and children's rights are improved – for example on discrimination, domestic violence, the minimum age for marriage, sexual exploitation and eliminating the harassment of unions.
While they hailed the reestablishment of preferences to Sri Lanka to reward the political changes and reforms in operation in the country since 2015, the MEPs demanded, during a plenary debate on 31 May 2017, a rigorous monitoring of the commitments made by the country's authorities (see EUROPE 11800).
The EU is the top market for Sri Lanka's exports, absorbing a third of them. In 2016, bilateral trade reached €4 billion, including €2.6 billion in exports for Sri Lanka, comprising textiles, rubber articles and machinery in particular. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)