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UNHCHR report sent to Presidential Secretariat

22 Jan 2021

By Pamodi Waravita   An advanced copy of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) report on Sri Lanka, which is expected to be tabled at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland this March, has been handed over to the Presidential Secretariat which is currently studying it with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Speaking to The Morning yesterday (21), State Minister of Regional Co-operation Media Secretary Deshan Gonawela said that the Presidential Secretariat has received the said report and is currently considering the formal stance that the Government of Sri Lanka should take regarding the matter. Gonawela added that a reply to the report could be expected as soon as possible. The upcoming 44th UNHRC session which is due to be held in March will commence under UNHCHR Michelle Bachelet, who in her update to the UNHRC on 14 September 2020, had noted a “negative trend” in Sri Lanka with regard to human rights. The commitments to reconciliation, accountability, and human rights which were made by the Resolution 30/1 which the former United National Front-led Government co-sponsored with the UNHRC in 2015 were renewed in 2017 and 2019 in two further UNHRC Resolutions. With the change of the regime in 2019, the new Government voiced its intentions to withdraw from the co-sponsorship which it then proceeded to do in February 2020.


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