A/HRC/44/50/Add.1 B. Democratic advances 16. Despite a lack of progress in implementing some of the commitments in Council resolution 30/1, some key achievements with regard to democratization, good governance, post-conflict reconciliation and transitional justice must be acknowledged and safeguarded. Among those achievements was the entering into force of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was passed on 15 May 2015. 17. The Amendment provided for a number of reforms, including placing limitations on the Executive Presidency. Article 3 of the Amendment reduced the presidential term, while article 4 reintroduced the two-term limit, which had been abolished under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. According to article 9, the President can no longer remove the Prime Minister at his own discretion, and must act on the Prime Minister’s advice when appointing or removing any Cabinet Minister, non-Cabinet Minister or Deputy Minister. Furthermore, article 17 places limits on the President’s ability to dissolve Parliament. 18. The Amendment also established a number of independent commissions, and reintroduced the Constitutional Council, which had been abolished by the Eighteenth Amendment in 2010. The Constitutional Council has a number of important powers, especially with regard to the appointment or removal of members of a number of important independent commissions that carry out vital work, including the Election Commission, the National Police Commission and the Human Rights Commission, which was accredited with “A” status in 2018 under the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles). The members and Chairpersons of these commissions can only be appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the Council. 19. Another significant element of the Nineteenth Amendment was the specific inclusion, in its article 2, of the right of access to information, as provided for by law, which was incorporated into article 14 (a) of the Constitution. This right was supplemented by the Right to Information Act No. 12 of 2016, which also established the Right to Information Commission. Since its introduction, this law has been hailed as one of the best examples of right to information laws globally and has made a significant impact with regard to the transparency, democracy and accountability of institutions. Laws such as this provide civil society actors with access to valuable information that they can use for a number of purposes, including advocacy, accountability and human rights education. Indeed, during his visit, a large number of relevant interlocutors mentioned their satisfaction with the Act; however, concerns were raised on a number of occasions, with regard to the understanding of this right by right-to-information officers on provincial councils. 20. The Office on Missing Persons was established in 2016 in accordance with the Constitution and in line with the country’s commitments under Council resolution 30/1. The Office has the objective of tracing and finding missing people, and documenting the circumstances of their disappearance. At the time of the visit, the Office had three regional offices, with one more yet to be opened. While the Office has the potential to make a difference, and although some members of the Office have strong human rights backgrounds, it suffers from a lack of trust from victim communities. Among other challenges, the Special Rapporteur has heard repeatedly that victims in the north and east of the country are distrustful of the Office, which they see as being Government-aligned. At the same time, victims in the south feel that the Office is only concentrating its efforts on the north and east. 21. The Office for Reparations was established by Office for Reparations Act No. 34 of 2018, passed in Parliament on 10 October 2018, with members being appointed on 1 April 2019. The Office’s first action was to compensate the victims of the Easter Sunday bombings, which it completed at the end of July 2019. While the Special Rapporteur acknowledges the swift action of this Office to compensate these victims, he recalls that compensation to the victims of the armed conflict, in line with the country’s transitional justice obligations, is still overdue. 4