New resolution on SL to extend mandate of OHCHR

 new resolution to extend the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner and all work requested of it by the Human Rights Council in its resolution on Sri Lanka has been presented to the Council.

The main sponsors of the resolution are the U.K, Canada, Montenegro, Malawi and north Macedonia. 

The draft resolution welcomes the  ongoing efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka to address the impacts of the severe economic crisis, and underscoring the importance of addressing the underlying governance factors and root causes that contributed to that crisis, including militarization, corruption, lack of accountability in governance and impunity for human rights violations and abuses.

It calls  upon the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure the prompt, thorough and impartial investigation and, if warranted, prosecution of all alleged crimes relating to human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law, including for long-standing emblematic cases, with the full participation of victims and their representatives. 

It also calls  for an end to all forms ofharassment of and reprisals against representatives of civil society, human rights defenders, journalists, victims, survivors and their families, especially women and stresses  the importance of releasing lands still occupied and used economically by the military and other state actors, and of resolving land disputes involving archaeological, religious and conservation issues in ways that are transparent, consultative, impartial and non-discriminatory manner.