Resolution on Sri Lanka passed by consensus at UNHRC

By Easwaran Rutnam

A resolution on Sri Lanka was passed by consensus at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Wednesday.

The resolution was passed without a vote after multiple countries, including Sri Lanka, made comments on the text.

China said it will not be part of the consensus as it opposes country specific resolutions.

A vote, however, was not sought on the resolution and it was passed by consensus.

The resolution titled ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka’ extends the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner and all work requested of it by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 51/1, by one year.

The resolution requests the Office to present an oral update to the Council at its fifty-eighth session and a comprehensive report on progress in reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka at its sixtieth session, to be discussed in an interactive dialogue.

Sri Lanka noted that it rejects the resolution but will continue to work with the UN Human Rights Council.

The Sri Lankan delegation in Geneva said that Sri Lanka has opposed HRC resolution 51/1 and the preceding HRC resolution 46/1 under which an external evidence gathering mechanism has been established within the OHCHR.

“We also disassociated from the Report of the High Commissioner, for the reasons outlined in our detailed response to this Council contained in document A/HRC/57/G/1.?Resolution 51/1 was tabled without Sri Lanka?s consent as the country concerned, and was adopted by a divided vote. As such, any subsequent decision extending mandates established by this resolution lack consensus in the Council,” the Sri Lankan delegation said.

Sri Lanka noted that setting up of an external evidence gathering mechanism within the OHCHR is an unprecedented and ad hoc expansion of the Council?s mandate, and 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. Furthermore, many countries have already raised serious concerns on the budgetary implications of this mechanism given its ever-expanding mandate,” Sri Lanka said.

As a result, Sri Lanka rejected the draft resolution tabled before the Council seeking to extend the mandate of Resolution 51/1. (Colombo Gazette)