The Human Rights Council’s resolution on Sri Lanka is important for efforts to uphold fundamental rights in the country and to seek justice for past atrocities, Deputy Director for United Nations at Human Rights Watch’s office in Geneva, Lucy McKernan said.
Issuing a statement, Lucy McKernan said international action is needed in Sri Lanka so long as victims and their families are denied justice.
“The new government of President Dissanayake should reveal what happened to thousands of victims of enforced disappearance, end security agencies’ harassment of victims and human rights defenders seeking justice, and open credible investigations into alleged crimes that were blocked by previous governments” Lucy McKernan added.
The UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday (Oct 09), adopted by consensus a resolution on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, which on September 21 elected a new president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The resolution renews for another year the mandate of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to report on ongoing violations and to collect evidence of past and current rights violations and crimes under international law committed in Sri Lanka for use in future prosecutions, including those committed in the 1983-2009 civil war.
The resolution was presented by a core group consisting of Canada, Malawi, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. (Newswire)