He said the European Union is not working on a 58 point check list to grant GSP plus to Sri Lanka.

“The 58 points touch on wider human rights and good governance and while some of them are important for the GSP Plus, others are not,” Daley said at an event to unveil human rights projects the EU is currently funding in Sri Lanka at the Taj Samudra yesterday.

He stressed that it was the process that was important and not the checklist.

“The EU does not force any country to live up to any standards. These are part of the conventions the country itself signed up for. The mechanism of GSP plus is to encourage further improvements, it is not a reward for having created a perfect country where every single human right is protected," he said.

"We are looking to see that a country is reaching its satisfactory level of compliance, that it has created a momentum towards further improvements and that it makes commitments for further improvements. On that basis we are prepared to grant the GSP plus also once the GSP plus is granted, there is a process of constant monitoring,” said Daley.

The EU at present is channeling approximately Rs. 700 million towards building stronger civil society groups and has pledged Rs 1 billion as grants to civil society organizations and local authorities between 2016 and 2017. (CDN)