Sri Lanka rejects new UNHRC resolution

SRI Lanka yesterday rejected the latest United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on the country as an unprecedented and ad hoc expansion of the Council's mandate, asserting that the Government's own reconciliation and human rights processes should take precedence over external mechanisms.

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Speaking at the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Himalee Arunatilaka, said Colombo participated in discussions on draft resolution A/HRC/60/L.1/Rev.1 - Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka "in a spirit of open and constructive engagement" but could not agree to key provisions. "We appreciate the core group's engagement on language amendments proposed by Sri Lanka.

We however regret that we couldn't find agreement on certain key concerns for us," she said.

The resolution, adopted in Geneva on Monday without a vote, extends the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' (OHCHR) mandate on Sri Lanka for another two years.

Sri Lanka's principal objection is to the continued reference to UNHRC Resolution 51/1 of 2022, which created an external evidence-gathering mechanism within the OHCHR. "In our view, this is an unprecedented and ad hoc expansion of the Council's mandate," Ambassador Arunatilaka said. "Sri Lanka does not accept the external evidence-gathering mechanism set up by the OHCHR, which it has labelled as the Sri Lanka Accountability Project." She said the initiative undermines Sri Lanka's domestic reconciliation and accountability efforts, which include strengthening the Offices on Missing Persons and Reparations, the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation, and operationalising a Truth and Reconciliation Commission and an independent Public Prosecutor's Office.