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IMF should oppose restrictions on freedom of expression, Civil Society Groups join

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should urge Sri Lanka’s government to abandoned draft legislation that would severely curtail civil society and jeopardise the IMF’s program in the country, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the IMF that was released today.

The proposed Non-Governmental Organisations (Registration and Supervision)  Act is among several recent and planned measures that would curtail fundamental freedoms, despite the critical role of public scrutiny in promoting good governance and combining corruption.

The IMF’s US$ 3 billion bailout of Sri Lanka- which is linked to government commitments to reform- helped stem the immediate economic crisis after the country defaulted on its foreign debt in 2022, but further progress is threatened by the adoption of laws by President Ranil Wickramesinghe’s administration that would severely restrict basic rights. The Online Safety Act, enacted in January, creates vague and broad speech-related offenses punishment with lengthy prison terms. The Anti-Terrorism Bill, currently before parliament, contains sweeping new speech-related offenses and arbitrary power of arrest. And the draft law to regulate nongovernmental organisations could make independent civil society activity all but impossible in Sri Lanka.

“As the economy collapsed in 2022, Sri Lankans demanded good governance and end to corruption, but instead now face draconian laws and policies that threaten human rights and undermine reforms,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The protests helped bring President Wickramesinghe to power, but instead of listening to calls for change, he’s clamping down on peaceful dissent.”

A 2023 IMF study of Sri Lanka known as  the Governance Diagnostic Assessment stated that “[a]nticorruption efforts are unlikely to achieve their objectives unless they also encompass initiatives designed and led by groups outside of government who are committed to rule-based inclusive economic and social progress.” However, the study found that civil society’s participation in oversight and monitoring of government actions has been “restricted by limited transparency, the lack of platforms for inclusive and participatory governance, and by broad application of counter – terrorism rules.” As a result,,” opportunities for public participation and oversight of official behaviour, including by civil society, are increasingly restricted.”

The government on January 30 2024, provided the draft NGO law to selected members of civil society, who were given three weeks to respond. The bill does not address any evident need, but instead seeks to subject civil society organisations to invasive government scrutiny and interference, and threatens civil society members with prison if they don’t comply with cumbersome administrative procedures.

The National Collective of CSOs and NGOs, a collection of Sri Lankan civil society organisations, wrote to the government on February 28 that the proposed law would “violate the fundamental rights to freedom of association and expression,” while damaging the delivery of services by civil society organisations, including to “ the many families who are struggling to make ends meet in the midst of severe economic hardships.”

The United Nations High commissioner of Human Rights, Volcker Türk , in his March 1 update to the UN Human Rights Council on the crises in Sri Lanka, said he was “concerned by introduction of new or proposed laws with potentially far-reaching impact on fundamental rights and freedoms … which variously strengthen the executive, grant broad of powers to the security forces, and severely restrict rights to freedom of assembly, association and expression, impacting not only on civic space but businesses environment.”

The IMF should protect the credibility and efficacy of its program in Sri Lanka by publicly calling upon the government to abandon the proposed NGO law, impose a moratorium on use of the Online Safety Act, and amend the Anti-Terrorism Bill to ensure that it respects human  rights standards, Human Rights Watch said.

“The IMF and other international partners supporting Sri Lanka’s economic recovery recognizer that this crisis has its root in misgovernance and corruption,” Ganguly said. “ if their efforts are to be successful, they need to stand firm against the government’s attempts to curtail fund civil and political rights.”( HRW)