Foreign Minister Prof G. L. Peiris, who is leading the Sri Lankan delegation to the 49th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), will be addressing a high-level panel discussion in Geneva tomorrow afternoon Sri Lankan time.
The 49th UNHRC Session will begin today, and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet are scheduled to address the Opening Session of the high-level segment.
The theme of the high-level panel discussion on human rights mainstreaming is “The contribution of universal participation to the mainstreaming of human rights throughout the United Nations system on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund to Support the Participation of Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States in the Work of the Human Rights Council’.
Prof. Peiris will join this high-level panel discussion tomorrow.
Minister Prof. Peiris will again address the Council on March 3 when it takes up an interactive dialogue on the situation in Sri Lanka. The Council will take up the report of the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Sri Lanka, of which an advanced copy was released on Friday, during the said interactive dialogue. Sri Lanka has officially sent its written response to the report. The written update of the OHCHR on Sri Lanka was based on the UNHRC Resolution ‘46/2’ passed in March last year.
Noting that “the High Commissioner remains concerned about the lack of accountability for past human rights violations and recognition of victims’ rights”, the OHCHR has given 18 recommendations in its latest report.
The latest Report has referred to the investigations related to the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks as well as the hand grenade found in All Saints’ Church in Borella. “The victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and religious leaders continue to call urgently for truth, justice, reparation for victims and a full account of the circumstances that permitted those attacks, in particular the role of the security establishment… The church community was recently disturbed by a serious incident on January 11, 2022 at St Anthony’s Church, Borella when an unexploded hand grenade was discovered in the church, days before an interfaith event was due to be held as part of the campaign for justice. The police made initial arrests of some people present at the church, but the investigation to date has been criticised as ineffectual and incomprehensive,” the Report has stated.
The Report has also stated that the OHCHR “has developed an information and evidence repository using e-discovery software and has identified a large number of individual information items already held by the UN. The team will further analyse this information from a criminal justice perspective with a view to identifying gaps and priorities for further information collection, incorporating a victim-centred approach. The information held and gathered relates to alleged violations and abuses by both State and non-State actors”.
The Report has, however, acknowledged that “Sri Lanka has taken steps towards legal, institutional and security sector reforms”, while also pressing for more action.
Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva that the OHCHR recognizes that the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) Amendment Bill, presented to Parliament earlier this month, is an important initial step.
“The High Commissioner welcomes the proposed increase of magistrates’ powers to visit places of detention, the speeding up of trials and the repeal of section 14, which imposes serious limitations on publications,” she added.
However, Shamdasani said that other proposed amendments do not comply fully with Sri Lanka’s international human rights obligations, leaving some of the most “problematic” provisions of the PTA intact.
Since June, more than 80 suspects detained under the PTA have been released. OHCHR has welcomed this development, while urging the authorities to impose a moratorium on continued use of the law.
However she said, “The High Commissioner highlights particularly the continuing precarious situation of the families of the disappeared – the majority of whom are represented by women”.
“Sri Lanka will only achieve sustainable development and peace and lasting reconciliation if it ensures civic space, independent and inclusive institutions, and puts an end to systemic impunity,” Shamdasani said according to UN News.
