Thousands of Sri Lankan’s living in Italy urged the EU officials to reconsider its decision taken to remove the GSP + trade concession from Sri Lanka.

Writing a letter to the European Union, Sri Lankan expatriates appealed to the EU officials to restore the GSP + duty concession which is expected to be ceased from the 15th of August this year.

The letter handed over to the Chairman of the European parliament goes onto say Sri Lanka was plagued with terrorism for more than 30 years which eventually killed tens of thousands of innocent unarmed men, women, children etc.

It says the EU officials also should understand that Sri Lankan forces eliminated the terrorists and liberated more than 300,000 civilians who had been kept as a human-shield by the LTTE.

The Sri Lankan’s in Italy says the EU officials should look at the actions taken by the Sri Lankan government after the end of the conflict to bring normalcy to the country.

They cite actions have been taken to resettle the IDPs and a “Lessons learnt and Reconciliation Commission” has been appointed to look into the concerns of the affected parties during conflict.

The letter also points out that all child combatants are been handed over to parents and the other combatants has been reformed and absorbed into the civil society.

The Lankan’s in Italy say hundreds of former LTTE cadres are being provided with jobs and a mass wedding ceremony was held for male and female combatants who desired to get married.

These married couples were also given jobs in the garment industry.

The Sri Lankan’s in Italy questions the EU “is there any state in the world which has shown such a level of magnanimity to surrendered terrorists”.

They say it is in this context the EU should take a decision on whether to continue with the GSP plus or not.

It adds the removal of the GSP plus trade benefit from Sri Lanka will also result in thousands of female workers in the garment industry loosing their jobs.

The EU has already taken a decision to withdraw the GSP plus status from Sri Lanka starting from 15th August this year citing violations of human rights in the country.

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