HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF SRI LANKA, Annual Report 2018 ▪ Disability Access Audit of HRCSL As part of the nation-wide disability access audit conducted by the Commission, an accessibility audit of the HRCSL(Head Office and Regional Offices) was also conducted during 2018. The audit identified certain improvements necessary to enhance accessibility to the premises of the HRCSL. The commission is in the process of finalizing a comprehensive report of the audit to be made available in 2019. 2.2. Recommendations to the Government During 2018, the HRCSL made recommendations to the Government on human rights issues of concern, which the Commission viewed as requiring its intervention. ▪ Concerns in relation to the proposal to re-implement capital punishment The HRCSL conveyed its deep concern by letter dated 13 July 2018 addressed to His Excellency the President regarding the proposal to reimplement capital punishment. The President had announced that capital punishment will be re-implemented against convicted drug traffickers under sentence of death and those who continue to engage in trafficking drugs while in prison. Drawing attention to the detailed recommendation of the Commission on abolishing the death penalty forwarded to His Excellency by letter dated 01 January 2016, the Commission reiterated the cruel and inhuman nature of the punishment and the need to abolish capital punishment as it is an ineffective, extreme, and irreversible form of punishment that does not help reduce crime. The Commission agreed that drug trafficking gives rise to several social problems such as drug addiction of the younger generation. However, the Commission noted that drug trafficking can be curbed not by re-implementing capital punishment but by bringing drug dealers before the law in an effective manner and imposing other forms of commensurate punishment based on the serious nature of the crimes. 31