Govt. gets Pillay’s draft report

• UN Human Rights Commissioner’s report to be made public late next week
• Sri Lanka likely to be taken up at UNHRC in late March
• US sees progress since 2012, but “gaping chasms” on accountability front
• US resolution will not be punitive: Source

By Dharisha Bastians

The Government of Sri Lanka is studying a draft of UN Human Rights Commissioner Navinetham Pillay’s report on Sri Lanka to be submitted to the 22nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, authoritative sources said yesterday.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will submit a report on Advice and Technical Assistance to the Government

UN Human Rights Commissioner Navinetham Pillay

of Sri Lanka on promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka when the UNHRC’s 22nd Session opens on 25 February.

Diplomatic sources said that the High Commissioner’s report would be made publicly available late next week. The report has analysed Sri Lanka’s progress in the aftermath of the 2012 US-backed resolution in Geneva and may point to deficiencies with regard to implementing reconciliation and accountability recommendations as urged by the resolution, the Daily FT learns.

An advance team from High Commissioner Pillay’s office visited Sri Lanka on a fact-finding mission late last year, but Pillay herself did not undertake a visit, despite an official invitation from the Government.

The report comes even as the US mission to the UN in Geneva is busy liaising with other world capitals and New Delhi in order to decide on the wording of the ‘procedural’ resolution that is to be moved on Sri Lanka during the HRC sessions this year.

The Daily FT learns that US Ambassador Michele Sison informed External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris that a second resolution would be moved on Sri Lanka in Geneva on 2 January. The Ministry has denied knowledge of the move.

An authoritative diplomatic source told the Daily FT that the term ‘procedural’ resolution only meant that the 2013 resolution by the US would not be a punitive one, inclusive of ultimatums or deadlines. “The second resolution is a way for the US to tell the world community that Sri Lanka is staying on the agenda,” the source said.

The US acknowledges some progress on reconciliation, but continues to see “gaping chasms” on accountability concerns that have remained unaddressed since the 2012 resolution was adopted, the diplomatic source told the Daily FT.

“As a friend of Sri Lanka, the US will say honestly that there are problems, namely with the protection of human rights and civil society,” the source said, adding that the Human Rights Council was the appropriate forum to address these concerns.

The Daily FT learns that the US resolution currently being drafted by the US Delegation in Geneva will build on last year’s version. “It will study the progress, acknowledge work done, and then deal with what more needs to be done, especially in areas that have gone untouched,” diplomatic sources said.