A draft resolution calling on Sri Lanka to “implement fully” a previously co-sponsored UN resolution from 2015 has been tabled at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week, granting the government an extended period of a further two years to do so if passed.
The new resolution, tabled by Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America, welcomed “steps taken by the Government of Sri Lanka” to implement the original agreed upon resolution which was passed in October 2015.
However, it also acknowledged that there was a “need for further significant progress” and goes on to call for strengthened “advice and technical assistance” from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and other special procedure mandate holders. The High Commissioner’s report had labelled progress in Sri Lanka “worryingly slow” and called for a range of measures, including a “full-fledged country presence” of his office.
Those measures were not included in the resolution though, which is set to be passed next week and will likely be co-sponsored by Sri Lanka. Instead the High Commissioner will be required to provide a written update next year and a further “comprehensive report” the year after.
Sri Lanka will have until March 2019 to comply.
Read the full text of the resolution here.
