• HR activists measure rights & freedoms in the context of the quality of life, safety from the State, & empowerment   

When it comes to issues affecting the Sri Lankans’ ability to enjoy various rights and freedoms pertaining to a quality life, safety from the State, and empowerment, although available to varying degrees, the available information suggests that people in general have become one of the key at risk groups. In addition, various marginalised groups and social activists are at severe risk of facing rights related violations with regard to the same rights and freedoms.

These observations were made during the launch of the findings of the Human Rights Measurement Initiative’s (HRMI) human rights activists survey for Sri Lanka which took place this week in Colombo. The data is published on a website called HRMI Rights Tracker, and it identified several key areas of concern pertaining to rights and freedoms that Sri Lankans are entitled to. This analysis was based on inputs provided by human rights experts from Sri Lanka and processing indicators on economic and social rights available in international databases.

During the launch, activists pointed out the importance of obtaining inputs from activists representing various specific at risk groups. In addition, the discussion on Sri Lanka paid attention to improving the quality and quantity of survey inputs in the future. The discussion was led by activists Damith Chandimal, Ruki Fernando, and Melani Gunathilaka.

Quality of life

The Rights Tracker analysed the quality of life of Sri Lankans based on the economic and social rights-related situation in 2021 (as per the indicators on economic and social rights available in international databases) and survey responses obtained from local human rights activists this year (in 2024). It focused on how well Sri Lanka is doing compared to what is possible at its level of income. It showed that according to the data, access to education was in a ‘very bad’ state, while access to food and housing was in a ‘bad’ state. However, the situation concerning health and work were in a ‘fair’ state. 

Quality of life rights (or economic and social rights) included the rights to food, health, education, housing, and work, and the HRMI gave two scores, measuring against two different benchmarks. “Sri Lanka scores 81.6% on the quality of life when scored against the 'income adjusted' benchmark. This score takes into account Sri Lanka's resources and how well it is using them to make sure that its people's quality of life related rights are fulfilled. This score tells us that Sri Lanka is only doing 81.6% of what should be possible right now with the resources that it has. Since anything less than 100% indicates that a country is not meeting its current duty under international human rights law, our assessment is that Sri Lanka has a long way to go to meet its immediate economic and social rights related duties. When measured against the global best benchmark, comparing Sri Lanka to the best performing countries in the world, Sri Lanka's score is 80.4%, indicating that it has a long way to go to meet current global best standards for ensuring that all people have adequate food, education, healthcare, housing and work,” the Rights Tracker said.

It noted that compared with the other countries in South Asia, Sri Lanka is performing better than average on quality of life-related rights (this comparison is calculated using the 'income adjusted' benchmark).

Safety from the State 

Based on the civil and political rights situation recorded last year (in 2023), the Rights Tracker analysed how well Sri Lanka's Government respects the below-mentioned rights.

The available data showed that in Sri Lanka, the right to freedom from arbitrary arrest as well as torture and ill-treatment was in a ‘bad’ state. The right to freedom from forced disappearance and extrajudicial execution was in a ‘fair’ state, while the right to freedom from the death penalty was in a ‘good’ state.

The Rights Tracker said that Sri Lanka's safety from the State score of 5.4 out of 10 suggests that many people are not safe from one or more of the relevant aspects including arbitrary arrest, torture and ill-treatment, forced disappearance, execution, or extrajudicial killing. Adding that there was no sufficient data on civil and political rights across South Asian countries to allow for a regional comparison, the Rights Tracker said that when compared to the other countries in the sample used, Sri Lanka is performing lower than average on the right to be safe from the State.

Empowerment

Based on the civil and political rights situation in 2023, the report analysed how well Sri Lanka's Government respects the below-mentioned rights which contribute to the empowerment of the people.

The data showed that the rights to assembly and association, opinion and expression, and participation in Government were in a ‘bad’ state, while the freedom of religion and belief was in a ‘fair’ state.

Based on the findings, the Rights Tracker explained: “Sri Lanka's empowerment score of 3.4 out of 10 suggests that many people are not enjoying their civil liberties and political freedoms (freedoms of speech, assembly and association, democratic rights, and religion and belief ). For civil and political rights, we do not have sufficient data across South Asian countries to allow for a regional comparison. However, when compared to the other countries in our sample, Sri Lanka is performing lower than average on empowerment related rights.”

Groups at risk

The Rights Tracker further discussed the groups that are at risk of violations of the above-mentioned rights and freedoms.

In the case of economic and social rights, the Rights Tracker noted that the human rights activists from Sri Lanka who took the 2024 survey most commonly identified several groups to be at risk across these rights. They are, among others, street children or homeless youth, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and questioning, asexual and other related persons (LGBTIQA), homeless people, sex workers, people with disabilities, and people from particular cultural backgrounds and castes.

Explaining the qualitative responses from the respondents, the Rights Tracker said: “In relation to the right to food, it was said that almost everyone suffers due to low wages, high inflation rates, high interest bank rates, and recently introduced tax systems. Specific challenges are faced by poor urban workers, Malaiyaha Tamils, plantation workers, residents of former war affected Provinces, people living in remote areas or dry zones, and women, especially daughters of single mothers who migrate to find work. In relation to the right to housing, it was also said that everyone suffers due to low wages, high inflation rates, high interest bank rates, and recently introduced tax systems. Malaiyaha Tamils, people living in remote areas or dry zones, plantation workers, residents of former war-affected Provinces, women, LGBTIQA persons, asylum seekers, and poor urban workers are more vulnerable of being violated of this right.”

Among the groups that the human rights activists from Sri Lanka had identified as particularly vulnerable under the ‘safety from the State’ category were human rights advocates, protestors, people of particular ethnicities, people with particular religious beliefs and practices, journalists, trade union members and workers’ rights advocates, students, detainees, and LGBTIQA persons, among others.

Regarding the groups at risk of violations of empowerment-related rights, the Rights Tracker explained that activists and practitioners from Sri Lanka had identified human rights advocates, protestors, trade union members and workers’ rights advocates, journalists, people of particular ethnicities and religious beliefs, LGBTIQA persons, and detainees, among others.

In addition, a large number of other groups had been identified as being at risk of rights-related violations under various sub-categories. Among them were people in the North and East including former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadres who are suspected of terrorist activity, journalists who criticise the Government, expose corruption, investigate human rights violations and illegal activity, whistleblowers, people who are linked to the aragalaya (a public movement that sought the ouster of the previous Government led by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa) protest movement and associated activists, people protesting against the cost-of-living crisis, inadequate relief measures and International Monetary Fund austerity programmes, people suspected of terrorism or political violence, State university students and leaders, particularly activists, alleged drug users (because of the Yukthiya [Justice] anti-drug and anti-organised crime operation), people lacking legal identity due to insufficient documentation, especially transgender people, and sex workers working collectively.