Today (06), it was reported that the UN Human Rights Council adopted resolution 60-L 01 on Sri Lanka without a vote.
The Human Rights Council has officially announced that the resolution was adopted without a vote as no member state requested a vote when asked whether a vote was required on the resolution.
The updated draft of this resolution was tabled on October 01, and five countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Malawi, are acting as its main co-sponsors. The resolution primarily focuses on the promotion of human rights, accountability, and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.
However, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to Geneva, Himali Arunathilaka, addressing the conference, clarified Sri Lanka’s position and stated that Sri Lanka rejects the relevant resolution 60-L 01. In particular, she expressed her concern over the inability to reach full agreement on some key issues included in the resolution.
In addition, she stressed that Sri Lanka is not prepared to accept coercive international measures and completely rejects the proposed external mechanism for accountability.
The Sri Lankan representative further noted that the government has taken significant and decisive steps in the areas of reconciliation and human rights in a short period of time, and that it is more reasonable for Sri Lanka to allow the rights of the people to be advanced through domestic processes. However, despite Sri Lanka’s opposition, the Human Rights Council adopted the resolution.
Resolution 60-L 01 extends the proceedings initiated by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in relation to Sri Lanka for a further two years.
The main sponsors of the resolution include the United Kingdom, Canada, Malawi, Montenegro and North Macedonia, with most of the other additional sponsors being European States.