Sri Lanka seeks to opt out of vote on UNHRC resolution

*Seeks conciliatory approach though opposed to external mechanism in principle

*Remains ready to accept technical support from international community if needed

Colombo, Sep 09 (Daily Mirror) - Sri Lanka has decided not to seek a vote when the core group of countries led by the United Kingdom (UK) presents its proposed resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) later this month, seeking a mechanism to pursue accountability, human rights issues here, Daily Mirror learns.

Canada, Malawi, Montenegro and North Macedonia are the other members in the core group.

Sri Lanka is facing a fresh resolution this year. On behalf of the government, Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath made a statement to the UNHRC yesterday, asserting that Sri Lanka would pursue issues at hand through a domestic mechanism.

Before his departure for Geneva, where the UNHRC sessions are now in progress, he, along with other key stakeholders, deliberated on the matters.

An informed source told Daily Mirror that though Sri Lanka, as a country, is opposed to any external mechanism, it will remain ready to accept technical assistance from the international community in dealing with the human rights, accountability issues in case it requires. Such assistance might be required in the conduct of investigations in pursuing investigations regarding skeletal remains discovered at the Chemmani mass grave site in Jaffna, according to the source.

The draft of the proposed resolution has not yet been circulated in Geneva. Ahead of presentation of the resolution, Sri Lanka is planning to engage the countries that are traditionally friendly to it and request them to make speeches supportive of the government’s steps taken in the direction of reconciliation.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is likely to be handicapped in securing sufficient funds for any external investigative mechanism for Sri Lanka since the United States, which was in the core group, has now left the UNHRC under the Trump administration.