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British shadow foreign secretary calls on UK to lead action on Sri Lanka

The Labour party's shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry on Thursday called on the UK government to take a “strong stance at the UNHRC” and “to take further steps to hold Sri Lanka to account by pushing for a follow-up to Resolution 30/1” at the UN Human Rights Council this month. 

In a letter to the current foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, Ms Thornberry criticised the government of Sri Lanka on its failure to “to establish a mechanism for investigating, prosecuting, and punishing allegations of war crimes”, as well on its failure to “uphold some of the most basic standards of human rights.” 

She called on any new resolution regarding Sri Lanka to include “clear timescales for implementing all outstanding measures set out in Resolution 30/1”, pointing in particular to the establishment of a judicial process for dealing with past abuses, repealing the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act and on resolving issues on land ownership, political participation and military involvement on civilian life.

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