Economic melt-down, HR violations, and elections - EDITORIAL

In early 2022, Sri Lankans started experiencing 12-hour rolling power cuts and shortages of basics such as food, fuel, cooking gas and medicines to name a few. Desperate fathers and mothers searched hither and thither for infant food. Even vegetables grown in our fields were scarce.  

The rate of inflation rose to 50% a year. Soaring prices, shortages of essential goods and crippling international debts sparked nationwide protests which caused the president to flee the country.  

Since then, the economy of the country -thanks to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout, a line of credit extended by our neighbour India and strict austerity measures- helped the present president drag the country out of the political turmoil and economic morass we were engulfed in. This does not however mean we are out of the woods. A huge and growing foreign debt still needs to be repaid. 

The country has as yet, not been able to attract the much-needed foreign investment and new sources of revenue needed to repay our external debt.  

Since the meltdown, prices of essentials more than tripled. But income levels remained static. At the same time, large sections of the working people who lost their employment during the Covid-19 epidemic also lost their sources of income. The government has also increased taxes and imposed Value Added Taxation on goods and services. 

Today while there has been some sort of stabilisation of the economy, large sections of the community are on the brink of starvation. According to UNICEF 2.3 million children in our country do not have enough to eat. They could face acute malnutrition.  

An FAO/WFP Mission in May 2023 revealed that 3.9 million people were moderately food insecure with over 10,000 households facing severe food insecurity. 

Left with few options those who could afford to, are leaving the country in droves. Many of those unable to leave the country and feed their families have taken to crime. 

Police records show since the economic meltdown in 2022, there was a notable surge in burglary and property theft incidents totalling 7,882 up to 30 November, compared to the entire year of 2021, which recorded 6,840 cases. Incidents of robbery also increased, rising to 2,741 in 2022 from 2,276 during the entire year of 2021. 

While most people in our country have been literally fighting to keep body and soul together; largely unnoticed, another grievous crime has been growing  without our noticing it. 

In his latest report on Sri Lanka the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights warns that Sri Lanka is facing renewed threats to fundamental freedoms. It finds that authorities have sought new repressive laws and engaged in intimidation and violence.

The report finds that “ill-treatment by police and security forces remain prevalent.” Between January 2023 and March 2024, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka recorded 26 deaths in custody and 1,342 arbitrary arrests and detentions. We also witnessed 21 alleged extrajudicial killings. 

The UN also examined recent allegations of “abduction, arbitrary detention, torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence perpetrated against individuals of Tamil ethnicity by Sri Lankan security forces.” 

The report adds families of victims of enforced disappearance face reprisals for engaging with the UN or foreign diplomats. Authorities have also detained 121,957 people in a brutal anti-drugs campaign, sending thousands to military-run “rehabilitation” centres. 

One of the normal excuses for excesses, has been to point out incidents in developed ‘democracies. The ‘China daily’ reports in the US around 43,000 people were killed by gun violence in 2023, averaging 117 deaths per day. Police brutality persists and at least 1,247 deaths were attributed to police violence, marking a new high since 2013, yet the law enforcement accountability system remains virtually nonexistent. 

Police excesses being ignored in the US however, is no excuse for our ignoring ongoing violations at home. Human life is important. So is human dignity. It is our duty to ensure the right to life and the well being of all people. 

We need to draw attention of the presidential candidates toward loss of human rights and require them to make a firm commitment on how they intend eradicating it from our body politic.