Convention. Sri Lanka is a party to all of the Conventions relating to Terrorism except the Nuclear Material Convention and the Protocol to the Maritime Navigation Convention. The Sri Lankan Constitution provides for various rights and freedoms and procedural safeguards. It also provides for derogations from those rights. Relevant legislation is: • Public Security Ordinance 1947 • Prevention of Terrorism Act No. 48 of 1979 The Public Security Ordinance of 1947 was passed to enable the President (under the 1978 Constitution) to make regulations, where there is a state of emergency, in the interests of public security and the preservation of public order. Proclamations declaring a state of emergency have been regularly made, and the regulations thereunder have expanded the powers of arrest for emergency offences, enlarged the powers of detention in police custody and restricted the right of judicial review. It also provided for preventive detention for an undefined period and without judicial review. Arrest and detention have been successfully challenged in fundamental rights applications before the Supreme Court. As a result relief has been obtained by detainees and changes made to the wide powers given by the regulations for arbitrary state action. The state of emergency which was periodically extended over a long period of time lapsed in July 2001 when it was not submitted to Parliament for approval. There are no emergency regulations currently in force. The Prevention of Terrorism Act No. 48 of 1979 is a special law to deal with acts of terrorism and affirms that “men and institutions remain free only when freedom is founded upon respect for the Rule of Law and that grievances should be redressed by Constitutional means”. Regulations have been made under the Act after the emergency regulations ceased to be in operation but they refer only to proscribed organisations and are no way similar to emergency regulations. The Prevention of Terrorism Act No.48 of 1979 addresses offences relating to terrorism ranging from murder, abduction and firearms offences to theft of government property and interfering with public signs. 122