{"id":108673,"date":"2020-11-14T16:20:32","date_gmt":"2020-11-14T23:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=108673"},"modified":"2020-11-14T16:20:32","modified_gmt":"2020-11-14T23:20:32","slug":"the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-part-2-c8g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/11\/14\/the-pohottuwa-government-of-sri-lanka-part-2-c8g\/","title":{"rendered":"THE POHOTTUWA GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA Part 2 C8g"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

TREATY\nOBLIGATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sri Lankan intelligentsia wanted clarification about these US Agreements.\nThis was the first time that the Sri Lanka public had even thought about such\nmatters.  Until now the intelligentsia\nhad shown no interest in any Agreements that the government was signing.   They trusted the government .This time it\nwas different.   The intelligentsia were concerned as to what\nmess Yahapalana government was getting them into.  They made inquiries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three US Agreements under discussion are treaties between two sovereign\nstates, <\/strong>they were told. A treaty is\ndifferent from a contract. A treaty is governed by international law and in the\ncase of a dispute they have to go before an international court. A contract is\ngoverned by domestic law and is enforced in the domestic courts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A treaty can be labeled under different names, \u2018compact\u2019, \u2018convention\u2019,\n\u2018agreement\u2019, \u2018covenant,\u2019 \u2018accord,\u2019 \u2018protocol,\u2019 etc .What is important is\nwhether the agreement is intended to create international legal rights and\nobligations. Laws relating to treaties between states are governed by the\nVienna Convention of 1969. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These bilateral agreements are legally binding, Palitha Kohona\ntold a concerned audience at a well attended OPA seminar on Treaties. Treaties\nare binding at international law. Once you enter into an agreement you are\nbound by it.  International law also requires\nthat the treaty must be implemented faithfully by the parties. Failure to comply with the provisions of a\ntreaty could result in sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once concluded, a party cannot simply walk away from a treaty. It\nremains binding. Thus it would not be possible for Sri Lanka to walk away from\nthe MCC or any other treaty, once it is signed. Therefore a country must not enter\ninto a treaty if it has any doubts. You can get out of a treaty only on the\ntreaty\u2019s own conditions. With superpowers there is no easy way out of it, Kohona\nsaid. In Sri Lanka we sign these things and only realize the implications\nlater.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law relating to treaties says that the Head of state, the Head\nof government and the Minister for Foreign affairs can sign on behalf of the\ncountry.   In USA these officials cannot\nsign a treaty until US Senate had approved it. Sri Lanka has no such safeguards,\nKohona observed.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a treaty is signed there are treaty obligations.\u201d One school\nof thought says treaty obligations must be respected regardless of the\ncircumstances under which they are signed. Another school of thought thinks\nthat the legitimacy of agreements\/treaties depends on circumstances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article 46 (1)  of the\nVienna Convention stated that  once a\ntreaty is signed,  a country can back\nout  saying that it was against their\nlaws, only if  that law was one of\nfundamental importance”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ladduwahetty said that in his opinion, an “internal law of\nfundamental importance\u201d is violatedin\nSri Lankawhen agreements\/treaties\nare concluded by the Head of State without consulting Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In Sri Lanka they should sign\nonly when the treaty has got the consent of two-thirds of members of Parliament\nand the consent of the Executive. Any agreement\/treaty signed in the name of\nthe people by the Sri Lanka\u2018s Head of state, Prime Minister or Foreign minister\nwithout the consent of Parliament amounts to a violation of the sovereignty of\nthe people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ladduwahetty said that the Supreme Court must rule, once and for\nall, on the procedures that should be followed when agreeing to bi-lateral\ntreaties. The procedures must be in accordance with the Constitution.  This ruling should be a common ruling that it\nwould apply to all agreements\/treaties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamara\nKunanayagam added her observation. There may be an International law of\nTreaties but this cannot go against the UN Charter. We are entitled to protect\nour resources, our land. There is a right to permanent sovereignty, said\nTamara Kunanayagam.\u201d Future governments\nmust say it will not recognize the treaties signed by Yahapalana government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alarmed\nintelligentsia were reminded that ACSA was already signed. The next in line was\nMCC. MCC is a treaty, the intelligentsia were told. Further, the MCC is a state\norganization. its Board of Governors consist of Secretary of state, Secretary\nof the Treasury, US Trade Representative, Administrator of USAID and four\nprivate sector members appointed by the US President with the advice and\nconsent of the US Senate. The CEO is appointed by the US President. The MCC is\ntherefore   a part of the US foreign policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nintelligentsia were not prepared to give in. They debated   on how to get out of these treaties, when\nthe next President is appointed in November 2019.  Military\ntreaties will bring in troops. If the Americans come, how to get rid of them,\npondered the intelligentsia. Land\ngrabbing is a violation of international law but it may be difficult to throw\nthem out, if US leases our land. The best way, the intelligentsia decided was to\nkeep them out at the start itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STOP USA\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new\norganization named STOP USA was started in Colombo in June 2019  to highlight the danger   of these Agreements. The objective was to\nprevent the three USA treaties.\u201d  <\/em>At its inaugural meeting, speakers\nincluding MP Wimal Weerawansa, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader MP Udaya\nGammanpila, MP Vasudeva Nanayakkara and former lawmakers A.L.M. Athaulla,\nMohammed Muzammil and Sarath Weerasekera. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The speakers\nsaid that the US   had commenced work on\nthese agreements in 1995, soon after Chandrika Kumaratunga\u2019s election as\nPresident. US then gradually expanded its military-to-military relations. ACSA\nand SOFA were meant to allow the US to set up base here.  The various US military units that would be\nallowed access were listed in the agreements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nAgreements were the biggest threat Sri Lanka has faced since it gained\nIndependence.  It would affect Sri\nLanka\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Today, the US plan has received the\nbacking of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Finance Minister Mangala\nSamaraweera, these speakers said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\norganization was joined by many lawyers, politicians and artists.The\norganization seems to be going strong.<\/em>\nIn August there was a Stop USA\u201d meeting at Gampaha, reported the media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mangala Samaraweera spoke up on behalf of the Agreements. He\ndefended SOFA and ACSA. These were military to military\u201d agreements, he said. They\nwere harmless\u201d and was not a danger.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samaraweera alleged that those opposed to such agreements were\nbent on undermining bilateral relations with the US, a country that always\nstood by Sri Lanka. He cautioned that Sri Lanka would lose its exports to the\nUS and also new employment opportunities if these Agreements were not accepted. He drew attention to Sri Lanka\u2019s dependence\non exports to the US, particularly garments. (continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS TREATY OBLIGATIONS The Sri Lankan intelligentsia wanted clarification about these US Agreements. This was the first time that the Sri Lanka public had even thought about such matters.  Until now the intelligentsia had shown no interest in any Agreements that the government was signing.   They trusted the government .This time it was different.  […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}