States of Emergency - Centre for Policy Alternatives

issues from comparative experience that must inform a discussion
of Sri Lankan states of emergency. Likewise, there is a regulatory
framework for states of emergency and derogations from
international obligations as set out in the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Sri Lanka is a
signatory; and the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR which
mandates individual communications to the Human Rights
Committee, in relation to which the status of Sri Lanka is in doubt
following the Supreme Court decision in the Singarasa
 Case
 in
2006. In addition to these are the norms of general international
human rights law. The ICCPR and other provisions of human rights
and humanitarian law are peremptory norms of international law
by which the Sri Lankan State is bound as a member of the
international community of States.
The book then reviews the Sri Lankan constitutional and
legislative framework (i.e., Chapter XVIII of the constitution, the
Public Security Ordinance, and the Prevention of Terrorism Act)
relating to states of emergency (including an overview of
Emergency Regulations currently in force), as well as the
constitutional bill of rights and its provisions for the restriction of
fundamental rights during emergencies. The frame of reference
for critique and assessment will be the models set out at the
outset and the applicable international standards and comparative
experiences.
There is a body of Sri Lankan literature comprising scholarly
articles, journalistic commentary, policy briefs, analytical studies,
and chapters in legal textbooks concerning states of emergency,
many of which have been useful. In particular, J. A. L. Cooray’s
Constitutional
and
Administrative
Law
of
Sri
Lanka (1995) and
Jayampathy Wickremaratne’s recently updated and expanded
25