Sri Lanka to send the Universal Periodic Review to UNHRC

Sri Lanka plans to send the report to be presented at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on human rights at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva today.

The deadline to send the report is Monday and Plantation Industries Minister and the Special Envoy of the President on Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe says the President is expected to sign the report tomorrow.

It will be e-mailed to the Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission in Geneva which will hand over the report to the UNHCR High Commissioner.

The Government has assigned Minister Samarasinghe to undertake initial work for Sri Lanka’s participation in the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review which begins in October 2012.

The 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 Minister has said.

Sri Lanka’s review will be held on 1 November. Adoption of the report on Sri Lanka is scheduled for 5 November.

The UNHRC has appointed India, Benin and Spain to the troika that is scheduled to review Sri Lanka. All three countries 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 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.