UNHRC sessions in March:

Lanka to present detailed HR report at UPR - Minister Samarasinghe

Rasika Somarathna

The government has begun preparing the country report, to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for its Universal Periodic Review (UPR), next year.

“It will be a comprehensive report which would reflect the progress of actions we have taken since 2008 (last four years), for the promotion and protection of human rights,” Plantation Industries Minister and Government’s Special Envoy on Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

According to the minister, Sri Lanka has to submit the report by March 2012. It would be taken up for discussion in October 2012.

The government recently appointed Minister Samarasinghe to be in charge of preparing the report. The process reviews a country’s human rights record every four years. The last UPR for Sri Lanka was in 2008.

According to the minister, Sri Lanka will also show the progress the country has made in the process of implementing the national action plan on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

The action plan was voluntarily prepared by the government in response to a pledge made at the UPR in 2008.

Minister Samarasinghe observed that the bulk of the recommendations made by countries which participated in Sri Lanka’s last UPR and the voluntary pledges it made to the UNHRC, were included in the national action plan.

Referring to the recently released final report by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, the minister said that the report has been made public by the government showing transparency and willingness to move towards a comprehensive reconciliation.

He said that the government was closely studying its content at present.

The minister while stressing that action taken by the government at promotion and protection of human rights during the last four years has paid rich dividends, identified the UPR as a good occasion to make the international community aware of the country’s commitment towards progressing further.