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UN Human Rights chief to present oral update on Lanka tomrrow
View(s):- Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath outlines before UNHRC, govt. plans for domestic accountability process
By Chandani Kirinde
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will present an oral update to the UNHRC tomrrow in Geneva on the promotion of reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.
This is in keeping with the request of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to present an oral update to the Council at its ongoing 58th session.
Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath addressed the high level segment of the HRC on Tuesday
At the 57th session of the UNHRC in October last year, the Council decided to extend the mandate of OHCHR and to strengthen its capacity in relation to advancing accountability for gross violations of human rights and serious violations of humanitarian law and related crimes committed by all parties in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka has previously opposed HRC resolutions under which an external evidence gathering mechanism was established within the OHCHR and this stance will be reiterated when Sri Lanka responds to the oral update to the Council tomorrow.
Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath who addressed the high level segment of the HRC on Tuesday outlined government plans for a credible and sound domestic process to address accountability issues in the country.
“We will ensure that the domestic mechanisms and processes established to address challenges emanating from the conflict will continue their work in an independent and credible manner within the Constitutional framework. Domestic institutions such as the Office on Missing Persons (OMP), Office for Reparations, and Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) will be strengthened,” the Minister told the HRC.
He said the contours of a truth and reconciliation framework, will be discussed with the broadest possible cross section of stakeholders to ensure a process that has the trust of all Sri Lankans. “Our aim is to make the domestic mechanisms credible and sound within the constitutional framework. This will include strengthening the work towards a truth and reconciliation commission empowered to investigate acts of violence caused by racism and religious extremism that give rise to tensions within Sri Lankan society,’ he said.
Mr. Herath also pledged to work in a constructive spirit of dialogue and cooperation with the members of the United Nations including this Council within the country’s national legal framework.
Sri Lanka previously rejected the setting up of an external evidence gathering mechanism within the OHCHR calling it an unprecedented and ad hoc expansion of the Council’s mandate which contradicts its founding principles of impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity.
‘No sovereign state can accept the superimposition of an external mechanism that runs contrary to its Constitution and which pre-judges the commitment of its domestic legal processes,” Sri Lanka told the HRC in response to the Comprehensive report of the OHCHR presented to the Council last October.
The UNHRC in its last report on Sri Lanka has called on the Government to consider using other international legal options to advance accountability in Sri Lanka and to cooperate in investigating and prosecuting alleged perpetrators of international crimes committed by any party to the conflict in Sri Lanka through judicial proceedings before national jurisdictions, including under accepted principles of extra territorial or universal jurisdiction, through relevant international networks and mutual legal assistance processes and in cooperation with survivors, families and their representatives.
| OHCHR Sri Lanka accountability project likely casualty The OHCHR Sri Lanka accountability project is likely to be among UNHRC projects to be affected by further liquidity issues after the decision by the United States to reduce funding to the United Nations and leave the UNHRC. ‘The United States will not participate in the UNHRC and will not seek election to that body. The Secretary shall terminate the office of United States Representative to the UNHRC and any positions primarily dedicated to supporting the United States Representative to the UNHRC,” the White House said in a statement recently. The US also said it will not fund the UNHRC any longer. The OHCHR admitted last October that the team and work of its Sri Lanka accountability project have been affected over the past year by the liquidity situation in relation to the regular budget of the United Nations. The OHCHR says that as at July 5, 2024, the repository established within the framework of the OHCHR project comprises 96,215 items and contains information from over 470 different sources (over 220 witnesses and 250 organisations), including international and multilateral organisations. | |
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