PRESS RELEASE : HRC 51 – UK statement for the Interactive Dialogue on the report of the OHCHR on Sri Lanka [September 2022]

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 20 September 2022, relating to a meeting in Geneva on 12 September 2022.

UK Human Rights Ambassador, Rita French, delivered a statement on the worsening situation in Sri Lanka.

Thank you Mr President,

The United Kingdom welcomes the High Commissioner’s comprehensive report.

We recognise the economic challenges facing Sri Lanka, and the hardships these have caused.

In coming together to protest about the economic situation, Sri Lanka’s people exercised their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association and freedom of expression. We are dismayed that in response, violence was used against protesters. We are deeply concerned about the arrest and ongoing detention of protestors under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and continue to call for reform of the Act.

We are also concerned about reports of continued militarisation and intimidation impacting on communities in the north and east, including on families of the disappeared. We regret the limited progress made on accountability and justice as requested in HRC resolution 46/1. The domestic reconciliation and accountability process promised in 2020 has not emerged. For these reasons, OHCHR’s work collecting and preserving evidence must continue.

We welcome Sri Lanka’s recent commitments on respect for the rights of those from all religious and ethnic groups, including through political inclusion and constitutional reform. We stand ready to continue dialogue and support Sri Lanka with this and with the promised approaches to accountability, justice and reconciliation.

Thank You.