The support that countries and international organisations have offered Sri Lanka to overcome needs caused by the severe economic crisis is insufficient.
According to Amnesty International only 24.7% of the funding that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates is needed to respond to the crisis has been committed so far.
In its latest report which was published earlier this week, Amnesty points out the impact on social and economic rights of the people from serious shortages in food, fuel, medicines, and other essential items. As of June 2022, an estimated 11% of households reported their income had stopped and 62% of households said their income reduced. Food inflation reached 90.9% on a yearly basis by July.
The report highlights how low foreign exchange reserves and fuel shortages led to serious shortages in essential and life-saving drugs and equipment and threatened peoples’ right to health.
In one testimonial a paediatric surgeon said she had seen shortages in intravenous potassium chloride, intravenous antibiotics, and insulin, and shortages in equipment such as intravenous lines, canulae, and syringes in paediatric sizes. “We even had a shortage of gauze”, she said. “We didn’t have catheters and endotracheal tubes in smaller sizes, so we were asked to re-use them”. In other instances, people were asked to purchase medicines or equipment from private pharmacies, because government hospitals did not have stocks. “But not everyone could afford it. Those who couldn’t, just went home and came back worse”, a doctor said
Alarmingly high food inflation is putting peoples’ right to food at risk. Over 6.2 million people which is 28% of the population are estimated to be moderately acute food insecure, 66,000 people are estimated to be severely acute food insecure, and 8.7 million people which is 39.1% of the population are not consuming an adequate diet. The report explains that the steep increase in food prices, combined with reductions in household income and loss of livelihood mean that people are either unable to afford sufficient and nutritious food, or must spend a much larger proportion of their income on food-related expenses, often at the cost of other essential services like healthcare, housing and education.
The human rights watchdog warns of the risk to human rights when governments embark on austerity programmes to mitigate economic crises by increasing its revenue and reducing expenditure. It reminds the government of its human rights obligations in such situations. ‘There is concern that with time, the Sri Lankan government may take such measures. Among other obligations, international human rights standards stipulate that governments and international financial institutions should conduct human rights impact assessments before economic reform programmes are implemented’. It explains that austerity measures are consistent with states’ human rights obligations only after less harmful alternatives to reduce the deficit have been carefully considered. ‘Therefore, before the government of Sri Lanka introduces potentially regressive policies, it must explore other, less rights limiting, options and address taxation in a manner that equitably increases revenue without disproportionately burdening people on lower incomes’.
Amnesty underscores the centrality of human rights in Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring discussions with the International Monetary Fund, bilateral and multilateral creditors. It reminds all stakeholders of their human rights responsibilities and the significant impact that the outcome of their discussions will have on them.
Among the key recommendations the organisation makes for the cognizance of all relevant actors are that the Sri Lankan government should reform existing social assistance programmes to offer comprehensive social protection coverage without targeting any particular group, increase expenditure on social assistance programmes to respond to the growing need for support while ensuring allocations are sufficient for an adequate standard of living and that the government should avoid harmful austerity measures that are inconsistent with human rights. It elaborates that future loan agreements, in particular those involving conditions linked to economic, social and fiscal policy reforms, are transparent and available for public scrutiny. The recommendations it makes to the country’s multilateral, bilateral, and private creditors are that they should act in accordance with their human rights responsibilities while negotiating with the country’s debt restructure, ensure debt relief, and consider all options for debt relief including debt cancellation. It also recommends that they support Sri Lanka with all possible financial and technical assistance in a manner that allows the government to strengthen human rights protections for people in the country.
Amnesty’s report is based on interviews with daily wage earners, people who have precarious jobs, people working in the tea plantation sector from the Malaiyaha Tamil community, public health workers, staff members of civil society groups, international organizations, and humanitarian organizations, and individual experts on issues relevant to the report. It also relied on secondary data, including relevant statistics around Sri Lanka’s debt obligations, published by the Sri Lankan Central Bank and international organizations, needs assessments by civil society groups and international and humanitarian organizations in the context of the ongoing economic crisis; and studies of Sri Lanka’s health, tax and social security systems. Amnesty International sent letters containing a detailed list of questions to relevant government ministries and any responses are reflected in its report.
