During his speech yesterday (24) in the parliament, President Ranil Wickramasinghe condemned human rights and said they earn foreign funds for their survival.
Below text gives the extract of his speech refereeing to the above.
I want to say something. I also want to protect human rights. Anarchy and violence cannot be allowed to encroach on human rights. Human rights cannot be used to create violence and anarchy. Those who cause violence in the name of human rights cannot be protected.
Article 14 of the Constitution outlines our fundamental rights. They can be implemented especially to ensure state security, within the limits prescribed by law, for public safety, including clauses on the protection of the Constitution. All these are in articles 15/1, and 15/2. These limits cannot be exceeded.
Some claim today that they are the human rights defenders. What are these defenders? Land rover defender? What have they defended? At least we have done these in practice. We have established independent commissions. Before that, the government had brought the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (IPPCR) Act.
What do these defenders do? We pump diesel to our defenders and run! These defenders too pump diesel that is tagged “human rights from overseas’ and pump money, and they thrive on that. This is the reality! Can anybody stand up and tell me they didn’t? I know about these people. I have worked with them. I protected them. They are shouting at me today. We cannot allow chaos in the country in this way