The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Bill will be taken up in Parliament later as it has to be further studied and discussed, Ports and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said.
The Minister said that President Maithripala Sirisena has pointed out at the Government Parliamentarians Group Meeting that the Act should be further studied prior to being presented in Parliament.
Therefore, with the consent of both the Prime Minister and the President, the Act was not taken up in Parliament as scheduled on Tuesday.
The Minister made these remarks while addressing the SLFP weekly media briefing at the SLFP headquarters yesterday.
He said that 93 countries have signed International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Bill todate but the most powerful countries are yet to sign it. Of the 93 countries, only 53 countries have ratified it. Of the South Asian countries, only Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives have signed this convention with only Sri Lanka ratifying it.
Asked when the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Bill was signed and ratified by Sri Lanka, the minister said that it was signed on December 10, 2015 and ratified by the national unity Government on May 25, 2016.
“Most countries including several powerful nations have not signed this convention yet.Considering this situation, President Sirisena pointed out that this should be further studied and discussed before being presented in Parliament”
He said that Sri Lanka has accepted 27 conditions of the European Union for receiving GSP Plus concessions, which were accepted by the country during the former regime.
However, generally those international conventions will come into effect with the legislative measures taken by the Parliament of the particular country.
Asked whether the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Bill is going to be brought forward aiming to harass Security Forces personnel, the Minister said that there is no truth in that as the Government has mentioned that no one will be allowed to harass the Security Forces personnel.
Minister Samarasinghe added that it can be observed that the country had entered in to international conventions in the past without clearly studying them.
Speaking on the SAITM issue, he said that President Maithripala Sirisena has had many official and non-official discussions with the GMOA and the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) aiming to bring an acceptable solution to all sectors.