HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF SRI LANKA, Annual Report 2018
active discouragement of her continuing her education displayed by
certain members of the academic staff which resulted in the student
leaving the Institute having suffered acute depression. The
recommendation found violations of Articles 11 and 12(1) of the
Constitution and recommended compensation to the victim while
emphasizing the obligation of the state to ensure equal access to
education for all without discrimination. (Please see 3.2.4 for more
information on this recommendation)
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Follow-up on recommendations of HRCSL not implemented
by public authorities
Another remarkable development in 2018 is the increasingly proactive
role of the Non-implementation unit of the I&I division of the HRCSL
established to monitor the compliance of public authorities comply with
the recommendations issued by the Commission. Notably, as a result of
this Unit following up on a recommendation issued against the Sri Lanka
Army in case No. HRC/13/93/O9, despite an appeal by the respondents
challenging the HRCSL recommendation in the Court of Appeal, the
respondents established a fresh “Court of Preliminary Inquiry” and
awarded compensation to the petitioner (Please see chapter 4.3. for
more information on the work of the Non-implementation unit).
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Contributions to the monitoring mechanism on the
implementation of the National Action Plan for the
Protection and Promotion of Human Rights 2017 - 2021
(NHRAP)
The HRCSL was invited as an observer for the meetings of the
monitoring mechanism on the implementation of the NHRAP convened
by the Prime Minister’s Office and also sectoral monitoring mechanisms
convened by various line Ministries. Representatives of the Commission
attended these meetings regularly and actively contributed to the
discussions. During these meetings in 2018, the Commission took the
initiative to propose a reporting format for Judicial Medical Officers
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