24 June 2022 08:35 am
By Sunil Jayasiri
Britain said that the current ‘very challenging economic situation’ in Sri Lanka should not distract efforts to improve human rights there.
UK’s Parliamentary Under-Secretary Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Vicky Ford informed the UK Parliament on Tuesday that although the articles of the IMF do allow for conditionality linked to economic policy or to tackle the balance of payments, there is no provision to impose political-linked or human rights-linked conditionality in the IMF process.
Therefore, “we will work with fellow members of international debt forums on a solution to the country’s debt problem, as well as continuing to lobby the Sri Lankan Government and working in other international forums on human rights,” she said in a written response to a question.