HRW urges Sri Lankan government to “urgently” address economic crisis

Aug. 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The NGO Human Right Watch (HRW) on Tuesday urged the Government of Sri Lanka to commit to its citizens to deal with the economic crisis plaguing the country.

“Sri Lankans face desperate food insecurity and other hardships, but the new government is focused on cracking down on peaceful protesters and social activists,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at HRW.

In this sense, Ganguly has emphasized that “the Government should engage with the public and international financial institutions to address the huge economic crisis in Sri Lanka.”

The NGO has pointed out that this economic crisis is pushing millions of people into poverty, in such a way that basic rights such as access to health, education or an adequate standard of living are being endangered.

For this reason, HRW has suggested to the Executive to accelerate relations with financial institutions and partners to establish a social protection system that allows adopting measures that, in addition, allow addressing political corruption.

“The Sri Lankan government, together with the IMF and foreign creditors, must act urgently to reverse the tide that is driving millions of people into poverty,” he said.

Among the measures proposed by the NGO, a reform of the social protection program aimed at households with less income stands out because it is “poorly focused, poorly designed and politicized”; as well as the modification of taxes, since tax rates are “extremely low with exemptions that mainly benefit foreign investors.”

Also important are the implementation of corruption controls –which are to blame for the current economic crisis– and the equitable restructuring of the debt.