Kandy Association for Community Protection through Animal Welfare

6th July 2023 —
An Open Letter Hon. Mr. Udaya Gammanpila,
MP Dear Sir

Draft Animal Welfare Act of 2022 – We seek an Urgent Meeting with You

1. We write this letter of protest objecting to the arbitrary manner in which you have proceeded to select and interact with a set of Animal Welfarists/Rights Groups and People, (except for one who was nominated by HE the President), which are not at all representative of the wider Animal Rights/Animal Welfare movement of Sri Lanka, in the course of activation of the recently formed Parliamentary Caucus on Animal Welfare.

2. We understand that you have had meetings on the 7th of June and the 4th of July with the above group based on a WhatsApp Chat despite the absence of a formal/legal basis for the formation of such a group.

3. In our view, this formation is based and made by random choice or personal whim rather than any reason or system.

4. We perceive this misuse of power as tantamount to unrestrained and autocratic use of parliamentary authority.

5. You have effectively excluded all major contributory Groups and People of Animal Welfarists (AW)/Animal Rights (AR) background, including Mr. Senaka Weeraratna, Attorney-at-Law, who drafted the Animal Welfare Bill (AWB) on the invitation of Justice A.R.B. Amerasinghe, then Chairman of the Law Commission of Sri Lanka.

6. The process of drafting the AWB commenced in February 2000. NOTE 1: Please refer to Annex 1 – History and Current Status of the AW Act.

7. Excluding Mr. Senaka Weeraratna from contributing any further to reforming the 2022 draft AW Act in the best interest of animals even at this penultimate stage is, metaphorically speaking, like separating a mother after having carried the fetus in her womb for nine months and given birth to it, being excluded from critical decisions affecting the child.

8. If anyone wants this Act passed it must be none other than Mr. Senaka Weeraratna, the pioneer of the Animal Welfare Bill and the one who drafted it for the consideration of the Law Commissioners. If the Animal Welfare Bill did not come into existence, largely because of his acceptance of an honorary post offered by the Law Commission to be a Consultant to the Law Commission on Animal Welfare legislation and subsequent work by him and his team, there would not be any AWB to talk of.

9 We are of the opinion that the Draft Animal Act of 2022 needs further consultation and review by us and a wider set of stakeholders as our recent investigations have shown that this Bill if passed in the current state of serious weakening of indispensable provisions, will make it fall short of even the minimum standards set for this enlightened and compassionate piece of legislation.

10. Our calls to have a wider group in discussions and committees have unfortunately fallen on deaf ears and we are therefore constrained to form the view that you, Hon. Mr. Udaya Gammanpila, MP, have been misled on wrong advice to deny the active participation of other stakeholders in the closing phases of the enactment of the Animal Welfare Bill.

11. It must be remembered that we too have a public duty and social consciousness as active AWs and, some as key contributors to the making of this Act, to ensure that the Act keeps true to its Objects and Mission.

NOTE 2. We are releasing this letter to the public exercising our Social Consciousness as Public Defenders of Animals and as responsible AWs/ARs declaring publicly that we wish to disassociate ourselves from the current manipulative processes of an aggressive and dominant group of AWs/ARs and to publicly state that it is our bounden duty to ensure that this Act’s passage indeed prevents Cruelties against Animals in Sri Lanka and not enable a new legal framework to be created for fresh cruelties to be committed on our innocent animals.

NOTE 3. The purpose of the Joint Face Book alert made on 27/6/2023 @ https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0qfpgXVrQ7N7wCprHGdXZ49ZukDShc8Royf65nFajKMuDAUDbxhmHYi3AVPLkMEeYl&id=1745757207&mibextid=Nif5oz

and now this open letter is to raise public awareness on the draft Animal Welfare Act of 2022 as we noted that it is a seriously weakened Act vis-a-vis its original Bill prepared by the Law Commission in 2006, bringing in the room for possible committing of fresh Animal Cruelties. At the Meetings of the Parliamentary Caucus for Animal Welfare now in place, further amendments are being envisaged for the further weakening of this Bill.

12. Hence, as per our observations referred to in Note 3, as responsible Animal Welfare and Rights espousers with a social conscience, excluded till now from all activities concerning this Bill after 2006, we decided to study the two versions of the Bill and present it to the public on a comparative basis, highlighting the strengths and the weaknesses of the 2022 version, and calling for a wider involvement of Stakeholders to look at these concerns closely before its enactment.

13. In conclusion, we like to add that the moral challenge for the people of this country is to give effect to the voice of the voiceless animals long suppressed via an effective piece of Animal Welfare legislation or accommodate the demands of those who see animals as fit only for abuse and exploitation for profit and thereby trying hard to negate and seriously weaken the noble purpose of the Animal Welfare Bill.

14. It is our belief that wider participation of diverse groups will eventually help all reach unity and consensus. Dear Sir, we the undersigned request an URGENT MEETING with you to elaborate on our findings on the draft 2022 Act and, we believe that as a person who values democratic processes and natural justice, you would consider this request favourably, taking into fair consideration all that we have presented here. Thank you.
15. Yours faithfully
16. We the undersigned: Kandy Association for Community Protection through Animal Welfare (KACPAW) Jeran Jegatheesan – Animal Rights Activist Sri Lanka Avihinsavadee Maha Sangamaya Dominic Jaliya Perera – Animal Rights Activist Thanuja Navaratne – Animal Rights Activist/ Attorney-at-Law Sathwa Mithra Justice for Animals and Nature (JAN) Centre for Eco-cultural Studies (CES) Animal SoS Sri Lanka Anagarika Dharmapala Humanitarian Foundation Animal Rights Protection Force (ARPF) Dharmavijaya Foundation Sri Bodhiraja Foundation Sri Lanka Vegetarian Society Samahitha Nature Foundation Manusath Abhayadana Sanvidhanaya Thamara Herath – Animal Rights Activist/ Attorney-at-Law