Implementation of ICCPR in Sri Lanka : Impediments and Prospects

Abstract

After Second World War the nations were convinced of the necessity to establish firm international organizations to protect human rights. As a result, international human rights conventions came into force. This paper focuses on the international human rights conventions and their implementation in the Sri Lankan legal system. In particular, this article discusses the issues pertaining to implementation of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in the Sri Lankan context. The study is doctrinal in the form of research and is based on relevant Conventions, Additional Protocols, Documents/Agreements prepared by the state and non-state armed groups, National policy papers and Codifications of Customary International Law and International Norms as primary sources and books, articles, institutional working papers, discussion papers and relevant internet sources as secondary sources. The paper discusses ICCPR and its protocol, how Sri Lanka signed and ratified this covenant and its protocol and implementation of these instruments in the ensuing period. Moreover, the article discusses the political interference occasioned internationally and domestically in the process of implementation of the provisions of ICCPR and its Protocol in Sri Lanka. The article concludes that the implementation of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is unsatisfactory and identify several impediments in its implementation in the domestic level.