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 

By Kelum Bandara 

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.