SL urges UNHRC to focus on deliverable reconciliation measures

Responding to views expressed by the UNHRC’s Core Group on Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan Government yesterday urged all parties to appreciate the country’s approach of focusing on deliverable measures of reconciliation and to recognise the ground realities.   

Sri Lanka was responding to views expressed by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Core Group on Sri Lanka at the 44th Session of the Human Rights Council on Tuesday.   

The United Kingdom’s International Ambassador for Human Rights, Rita French delivered the statement on behalf of the Core Group which includes the UK, Canada, Germany, North Macedonia and Montenegro.   

The Core Group expressed its disappointment over Sri Lanka’s position that it no longer supported resolution 30/1, which Sri Lanka had co-sponsored in partnership with the international community to address the harmful legacies of war and build a sustainable peace in the country.   

In response, Sri Lankan Foreign Relations Ministry in a statement said the country remains committed to achieve reconciliation, accountability and human rights within the framework of the Sri Lankan Constitution.   

However, the Government noted that this would be achieved through a domestically designed and executed process in line with the Government’s policy framework, even though it chose to withdraw from co-sponsorship of Resolution 30/1.   

“This approach is backed by a people’s mandate and is in the interest of Sri Lanka and its people, instead of opting to continue with a framework driven externally that has failed to deliver genuine reconciliation for over four and half years,” it said.   

The government concluded that it continues its engagement with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Human Rights mechanisms and ensured that it would work in close cooperation with the international community through capacity building and technical assistance in mutually agreed areas, in keeping with domestic priorities and policies.