A group of civil society individuals, organisations and collectives called on the Government to withdraw the Online Safety Bill (OSB) and the Anti-Terror Bill (ATB) and engage in a public conversation with qualified persons and citizens on public policy in these important areas while urging all Parliamentarians to fulfil the constitutional mandate by voting against these repressive laws.
The Government included the OSB and the ATB in the Parliamentary Order Paper dated 3 October.
“Both Bills have sweeping provisions to seriously curtail and even violate the freedoms of expression, speech, the right to information, assembly, and association. Both present fatal threats to democracy and fundamental rights,” a statement issued in this regard by them read.
“The OSB proposes to create an Online Safety Commission appointed by the President and dismissed at his will and pleasure, which is given sweeping powers to determine if a statement is a ‘false statement’ and take measures to ‘prohibit’ it from circulation. The Commission has powers to issue directives to persons and online service providers to remove or block content, sites, and locations. If its directives are not complied with, penal sanctions including prison sentences and fines can be imposed. The OSB will embed a culture of State harassment against online journalists and activists, artists, scholars, writers, trade unions, civil society organisations, including women’s groups, human rights defenders, professional organisations, and any citizen who dares to criticise the Government and disagree with its policies and governance. Not only the Fundamental Rights (FR) of speech, expression, and access to information, but the right to claim them through the connected rights of the freedoms of protest and association will be curtailed and destroyed by the State. The inevitable self censorship of citizens and communities that will follow will embed authoritarian and dictatorial governance that has no respect for the sovereignty of the people that is a foundational value in our Constitution. The lack of accountability, and the corruption in governance that we see today will become a permanent aspect of governance. The impact on the life of a citizen and another generation will be far reaching and hard to reverse. This will complete Sri Lanka’s transformation into a complete Orwellian State (a reference to British writer George Orwell’s novel 1984) where what the ‘truth’ is will be determined and imposed exclusively by the State”.
“The ATB will be a reinvention of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA), which it claims to repeal. Under the ATB, the definition of what comprises ‘terrorism’ is so vast and vague that any act can become an act of terror if the State deems it so. Any protest or strike can become an act of terror. Any instance of free speech can be deemed as inciting ‘terrorism’. Any organisation can be proscribed as a ‘terrorist’ association. Any publication can be deemed a ‘terrorist’ publication. Anyone associated with ‘terrorist’ suspects, by virtue of association and knowledge, can be punished. Detentions will be made through Executive orders and the military has been given powers to arrest and detain, powers which it did not have even under the PTA. The ATB will create a permanent state of emergency where Sri Lanka will effectively become a military State, functioning under the exclusive dictate of the Executive. Repealing the PTA has been a promise made to the nation and the global community of nations represented at the United Nations. What this Bill does however is to increase the power of the State to repress citizens and deny the constitutionally guaranteed FR of the people.”
“The proposed laws are a clear indication that the Government fears that its indifference to the grave hardships of the people in this economic crisis will not be tolerated, and will be resisted. The citizens are not responsible for this man-made crisis. Instead of taking responsibility for the crisis, the Government is making use of debt restructuring to make laws that encourage governance that is not accountable to the people and is trying to legalise the misuse of State power. Under the guise of domestic debt restructuring, the savings of the working people are being stolen. Under the guise of labour law reforms, proposals are being pushed to bring an end to the right to unionise, and exploit women’s labour. Women’s groups and activists have made an important contribution to ensuring that our laws and policies on women’s work conform to the International Labour Organisation and other standards, and our Constitution. The proposed labour laws target women disproportionately, and will eliminate all these gains, embedding and encouraging the exploitation of their labour. Even the criticism of the transformation will be prevented by these repressive laws”.
“We are still suffering the impact of repressive laws of the past, enacted in the name of national defence, stability, economic growth, and development. What the Government needs to do is to learn from the past and engage in enlightened law making. That agenda must repeal repressive laws and respond to embedded corruption, foster national unity and equitable economic growth that benefit all citizens in our plural society. The Government’s intention in passing laws that violate the basic values of democratic governance in our Constitution shows that they want to change course, and establish a political dictatorship. The pretext is debt restructuring and economic recovery from bankruptcy”.
“Therefore, women’s groups and other civil society groups and concerned citizens call upon the Government to withdraw these Bills from the Parliament. The Government must engage in a process of consultative law making. MPs, whether or not they are unelected by the people, and come to the Parliament from a national list, take an oath of office that must respect the responsibilities of the office under the basic law of our country, the Constitution. According to the Preamble to that document, their duty is: ‘to humbly acknowledge their obligation to ratify the immutable republican principle of representative democracy, assuring to all people freedom, equality, justice, Fundamental human Rights, and the independence of the Judiciary’,” the statement concluded.