Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-11-14

Drafting of a Bill to legalize the Bureau of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation

- The Bureau of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation was established in the year 2006 by a Gazette (Extraordinary) Notification under the Public Security Ordinance for the rehabilitation of the LTTE ex-combatants who were taken into custody during the period of the conflict and misguided persons who surrendered willingly. Taking into consideration the success achieved by the Bureau in executing its mandate to rehabilitate the misguided combatants, the responsibility of rehabilitating the persons addicted to drugs has also been vested with the Bureau and presently 1,774 drug addicts have been rehabilitated and socially re-integrated.

As such, the proposal made by Hon. D.M. Swaminathan, the Minister of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs, to formally establish the Bureau of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation by an Act of Parliament, making provision to rehabilitate and socially re-integrate the misguided combatants referred for rehabilitation on Judicial Orders, extremists or those who have engaged in destructive activities and addicts of Drugs and Poisonous Drugs and to carry out follow-up action in respect of the above persons, was approved by the Cabinet.