India in UNHCR troika appointed for Sri Lanka UPR review

India is one of the countries in the troika appointed for the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 14th session of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process on Sri Lanka.

Benin and Spain are the other two countries in the troika appointed for the review of Sri Lanka scheduled for 1 November 2012. Adoption of the report on Sri Lanka is scheduled for 5 November.

All three countries in the troika have voted in support of the UN resolution on Sri Lanka, sponsored by the United States and adapted by the UN Human Rights Council at the 19th sessions of UNHRC in Geneva on 22 March.

The resolution requests the Sri Lankan Government to present, as expeditiously as possible, a comprehensive action plan detailing the steps that the Government has taken and will take to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years. The last UPR for Sri Lanka was held in 2008.

The UPR provides an opportunity for each state to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfill their human rights obligations.  The Sri Lankan Government has prepared a comprehensive report that includes the work carried out by the country with regard to human rights between the period of 2008 and March 2012.  The Government has assigned Plantation Industries Minister and the Special Envoy of the President on Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe to undertake initial work for Sri Lanka’s participation in the UPR process.