Category: News

The apparel exports from Sri Lanka continued their downward trend, with October exports declining 20 percent year-on-year (YoY) to US $ 330.95 million, the data compiled by industry body Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) showed.

Since September 2022, apparel export earnings have been on a downward trend on a YoY basis, primarily due to the economic slowdown in major Western markets.

According to the JAAF data, exports to all major markets fell during October, amid the slowdown in orders. Exports to Sri Lanka’s biggest apparel market, the United States, fell 16.81 percent YoY to US $ 128.22 million while exports to the EU, excluding the UK, declined 24.79 percent YoY to US $ 110 million.

Exports to the UK experienced a YoY decline of 14.56 percent, amounting to US $ 43.66 million, whereas exports to other markets saw a more significant decrease of 21.69 percent, totalling US $ 49.07 million. The cumulative exports for the January-October 2023 period fell 20.5 percent YoY to US $ 3,748.72 million.

Apparel is Sri Lanka’s largest industrial export and earned US $ 5.95 billion in 2022. The country’s apparel sector has about 300,000 employees, most of whom are women.

The JAAF anticipates a decrease of approximately one billion dollars in this year’s apparel and textile export earnings compared to last year.

Amid the rising inflation and interest rates, consumer demand in Sri Lanka’s key apparel export markets has faltered. In addition, Sri Lanka has become expensive for apparel sourcing, due to the higher production cost, stemming from the sharp rise in electricity tariffs and other input costs.

Sri Lanka’s apparel industry has called for government support to expand the country’s apparel export markets, through bilateral and other types of trade agreements.

Particularly, the apparel manufacturers have called to fast-track the efforts to improve the market access to India,

specifically by increasing the duty-free quota on garments. Negotiations in this regard are currently underway, under the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. .

International human rights lawyer and Executive Director of the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) Yasmin Sooka has expressed her resentment regarding the refusal of the Sri Lankan government to allow remembering the war dead in Sri Lanka Police has made several unsuccessful attempts to persuade courts to ban Tamil preparations to commemorate their loved ones on November 27.

In her open letter in the Jaffna based Tamil Newspaper ‘Uthayan’, Sooka has expressed her anguish and deep concern over the failure to rectify and bring about true justice for the families of the disappeared and for those tortured and displaced during the brutal civil war which came to a bloody end in May 2009.

The English translation of her article is found below:

Impunity in Sri Lanka has deepened, given the Government of Sri Lanka’s failure to ensure any kind of accountability for those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed at the end of the civil war in May 2009.

While the war may have ended, the persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka and abroad continues. The violence that continues to be inflicted by the security forces impacts not only on individuals and their families, but also destroys the social fabric on which coexistence, tradition and trust are built.

The Government of Sri Lanka continues to violate the legitimate rights of Tamil families to mourn on 27 November and remember those who lost their lives in the Tamil struggle for liberation.

Year after year, since 2014, my organisation has documented the testimony of torture survivors who flee abroad.

The Sri Lankan intelligence agencies photograph them after they attend remembrance events in the north east, visiting them later and threatening them

One man we interviewed, who made a speech on 27 November 2022 at a cemetery in the north said he thought it was safe to do so, as the new President had allowed the events to go ahead.

Days later, and in violation of his right to freedom of expression and freedom of movement, he was picked up and tortured; he fled, leaving behind his new-born baby and thriving business.

In interrogations the security forces ask ‘who funds these commemorations’ which misses the point.

Organising and attending commemorations are not just acts of resistance but also expressions of a very deep personal grief felt by all survivors of this terrible war. Families of victims of state sponsored violence are also themselves victims; in addition to the suffering caused by the disappearance, torture or death of their loved ones, they face the overwhelming barrier of impunity, and guilt for having survived.

In their struggle for truth and justice, the survivors consider it their moral and social responsibility to continue to remember the dead and the disappeared. It’s not just those who mourn their family and friends on 27 November but the whole community that remembers the sacrifice and the collective suffering.

Over the years we’ve seen groups of Tamil survivors abroad reclaim their right to remember the dead in private and in public spaces.

In the process they struggle with what it means to survive, and to bear witness.

They find new ways to articulate not only their individual suffering but also that of their communities in order to keep the memory alive for future generations.

No amount of repression is going to stamp out the human need to mourn, especially if it’s for your child or parent. A torture survivor described that even while detained in Boosa after the war, he and his cellmates rose early to light a candle on 27 November, knowing full well the guards would exact revenge.

Nevertheless it was the last scrap of dignity they had left and for them it was worth the cost.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaks of establishing a Truth Commission; in a context where survivors of the war are unable to exercise their right to mourn and deal with their pain when they attend commemoration events, it is unlikely that survivors will participate and provide testimony to such a body.

If a Truth Commission is to be successful and credible, the President will need to guarantee state-sponsored violence will end, and that there will be no further surveillance of events by the security forces on 27 November and there will be no reprisals against those who organise or take part in them.

The diplomatic community should not remain silent in the face of this repression and should send international observers to ensure that officers in plain clothes are not taking photos.

The proposed Online Safety Act by the Sri Lanka Government will limit the people’s right to expression, and search for the truth, said His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo.

He called for such efforts that would carry the country towards a dictatorship to be defeated.

“What this country needs is a change in vision. This country needs a legal transformation where all religions and communities will be treated equally,” he said while speaking at an event in Colombo.

His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith called for the creation of a new country where all of Sri Lanka’s resources will be protected while breaking from any foreign allegiances, thus making the country self-sufficient with an economy that will provide benefits to all the people.

“The time is now to reject the traditional way of politics that had governed this country thus far,” he said, noting that nepotism must be eliminated from the country.

His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith also stressed that the time is now to do away with the oppressive political leadership, and install a leadership that loves the country.

“There are some newspapers, television stations, and radio stations, that are somewhat connected or loyal to certain political groups, and have worked to mislead the masses,” he added.

The Archbishop of Colombo went on to note that given the situation, the people mainly use social media to express their views, and the government, citing social media regulation, is trying to limit the people’s right to expression, and their right to search for the truth.

Sri Lanka has approved China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC) to establish a new Petroleum Refinery in the island nation’s deep Southern Hambantota port, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said.

“Cabinet approval was granted today to award the contract to China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC) of China, to enter into an agreement to establish a new Petroleum Refinery & Associated Product Processing center in Hambantota,” Wijesekera said in his X (formerly Twitter) platform.

The Minister on Saturday said the government expects at least $4.5 billion investment in the new refinery which will cater into exports as well as local markets. Sinopec has already started fuel retailing in Sri Lanka, competing with Sri Lanka’s state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (Ceypetco) and Lanka IOC, a fully owned subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation.

Though Sinopec and Vitol Asia based in Singapore were the two firms shortlisted out of seven companies that responded to an expression of interest early this year, Vitol withdrew its bid, government officials have said.

The move will strengthen China’s position in Sri Lanka where India and other developed countries are trying to win projects and have influence in the South Asian Island nation which is facing an unprecedented economic crisis.

Beijing already has a massive port in Hambantota on a 99-year lease and expects to establish an investment zone in 15,000 acre land.

Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations have expressed concerns over the proposed Online Safety Act and Broadcasting Regulatory Commission Act.

UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, and Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, Ana Brian Nougrères, expressed their concerns via a statement to the Sri Lankan government.

They note that the Online Safety Act and Broadcasting Regulatory Commission Act do not meet the requirements of international law and standards.

They noted that there are potential violations of the rights to privacy, freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of peaceful assembly and of association as protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), acceded to by Sri Lanka.

In terms of the Online Safety Act, they said that many provisions appear vague and overly broad and may therefore fail to meet the requirements of the ICCPR.

The statement added that the proposed law may severely limit the scope of online expression and may pose major barriers and threats to any individuals, especially journalists, human rights defenders and civil society organisations who may be critical of the government.

They added that the bill seems to be directed at people living in Sri Lanka and at the diaspora, with severe adverse effects on the freedom of expression of a very wide range of individuals.

On the proposed Broadcasting Regulatory Commission Act , the Special Rapporteurs said that Commission’s appointment process, if implemented in its current form, may thus give the executive the ability to punish, and/or deny licenses to media outlets that do not have a favourable view of the Government.

They stressed that it is essential that the oversight mechanism be an autonomous body, independent from any pressure or political ties.

The statement added that to protect freedom of expression, international standards require States to respect the freedom of the media.

It added that States have an obligation to refrain from engaging in indirect forms of censorship, such as the abuse of controls over newsprint, radio frequencies or infrastructure used to disseminate media content and ensure the independence of bodies which exercise regulatory powers over the media.

The Special Rapporteurs encourage the withdrawal, public consultation and substantial review of key aspects of both the proposed Online Safety Act and the Broadcasting Regulatory Commission Act.