OHCHR update does not reflect actual ground situation - SL

Sri Lanka has rejected the written update given by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the situation in Sri Lanka, insisting that the content of the written update "does not reflect the actual ground situation in Sri Lanka."

The economic, social and financial stabilization that Sri Lanka has achieved in the past year has been appreciated and acknowledged domestically and externally, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Himalee Arunatilaka told the 54th Session of the UN Human Rights Council yesterday (11). Those who are mandated and has the expertise to deal with economic and financial reforms remain confident in the country’s prospects, she added. 

Ms. Arunatilaka said that t is regrettable that the OHCHR has also "chosen to ignore the democratic resilience of the country and its institutions demonstrated in the past year."

She said that Sri Lanka remains deeply concerned regarding the ever-increasing mandate of the OHCHR in making "sweeping and intrusive comments on all aspects of economic, financial, electoral, political, domestic, budgetary and development policies," adding that the country strongly objects to the written update "pronouncing on policy matters that are essentially domestic for any sovereign country and outside the framework of this Council, which is unhelpful."

Ms Arunatilaka argued that the OHCHR's "Symplistic analysis" refers to the challenges Sri Lanka is currently facing in the food, health and nutrition and education sectors as if it is an isolated phenomenon affecting Sri Lanka alone.

"We have provided our observations in detail with regard to this written update, which intends to cover grave distortions in the written update of the OHCHR and its misrepresentation of the current ground situation in Sri Lanka. We request that this response be given equal visibility as the OHCHR report," she noted. 

"Sri Lanka rejects all Conclusions and Recommendations including references to targeted sanctions as they are based on incorrect and unsubstantiated sources contravening the principles of natural justice and the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity," said the Permanent Representative. 

Speaking on United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolutions 46/1 and 51/1 that led to the setting up of the so-called ‘Accountability Project,’ Ms. Arunatilaka reiterated that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has consistently rejected both resolutions. Sri Lanka also rejects the written update, its conclusions and recommendations, she further said. 

"We recall that the majority of the Member States either opposed or abstained from voting on these Resolutions, in fundamental disagreement with its unacceptable content in particular the so-called evidence gathering mechanism, the establishment of which is unprecedented," stated the diplomat. 

Describing the Resolutions as "intrusive and polarising," she alleged that they are upheld only by a handful of countries "for reasons unrelated to human rights, and based on their vote bank domestic politics."

Many countries have already raised serious concerns on the budgetary implications of this Resolution given its dubious mandate, she told the Council. Meanwhile Sri Lanka has repeatedly pointed out that it is an unproductive and unhelpful drain on the resources of the Council and its Members. She stressed that Sri Lanka will not cooperate with it.

Ms Arunatilaka however, assued that Sri Lanka will continue to engage constructively with other mechanisms of the Council that have been productive and beneficial to Sri Lanka's people such as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process.