The British Tamils Forum (BTF), Swedish Tamils Forum (STF) and United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) called on the European Union to seek a briefing from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights before deciding on whether to reinstate trade concessions for Sri Lanka.

In a statement released on Wednesday the diaspora organisations said the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament must take the full four months provided to thoroughly evaluate Sri Lanka’s GSP+ application, after it was withdrawn in 2010 in response to persistent human rights abuses.

Dr Karunyan Arulanantham, president of the USTPAC, said four months was needed to “give the EU time to seek a briefing from the High Commissioner and obtain his in-depth knowledge of Sri Lanka’s adherence to and shortcomings with the human rights conventions required under GSP+”. “The full four months will also provide the time needed to review the High Commissioner’s report,” he added.

The statement comes after the European Commission recommended the reinstatement of the trade concession earlier this month. “We respectfully disagree with the European Commission’s recommendation to reinstate GSP+,” said Ravi Kumar, General Secretary of BTF.  “Recent reports from UN treaty monitoring bodies and UN Experts demonstrate that the government of Sri Lanka has not done enough to address serious human rights abuses.” He went on refer to a recent UN report on torture in Sri Lanka, which found it remained a “common practice”. “This indicates a serious failure to implement the Convention Against Torture,” he added. 

The European Union in a statement reiterated that the only criteria by which Sri Lanka will be assessed to rejoin the GSP+ trade concessions are its ratification and implementation of 27 international conventions it has signed in the past.