Sri Lanka at Human Rights Council: “Engage to Disengage”

TIME is ticking off. And it is ticking off on Sri Lanka's human rights and accountability front. In Geneva.

- By A.L.A. Azeez

In less than a month from today, the question of promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka will come up for consideration at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The 60th session of the Council, that is to convene from 8 September to 8 October 2025, would discuss the question under Item 2 of its agenda: Reports of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk is due to present the OHCHR report on Sri Lanka at that session - a report enriched with insights gained during his country visit in June this year on the invitation of the Government. The interactive dialogue on the report is slated for 8 September 2025, and consideration of any action on Sri Lanka, depending on how the core group would want to proceed (they are sure to have made up their mind by now), is likely to be taken up on 7 October 2025. The report has been released by OHCHR and is accessible at https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/08/sri-lanka-has-opportunity-break-past-t.

Consensus resolution

In October 2024, the Council adopted a consensus resolution on Sri Lanka - Res. 57/1. With only four paragraphs (two preambular and two operative), the resolution came up with what I would consider a 'smart mandate', rolling into one all the different recommendations that the Council has adopted over many years concerning Sri Lanka. The resolution welcomed the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in its operative para 1, and went on to set out in its operative para 2, its mandate in an all-embracing language.