The parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth (FCO) Affairs, Mark Simmonds, outlined today, that the FCO was already working to gain the necessary majority at the United Nations Human Rights Council to pass a resolution calling for an international investigation into war crimes committed in Sri Lanka.
Responding to questions regarding the UK position on Sri Lanka’s lack of progress in working towards a credible investigation, Simmonds said,
“I want to ensure that the House understands that if a credible domestic process has not properly begun by March 2014, we will use our position on the UN Human Rights Council to work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and call for an international investigation. We will play an active role in building international support ahead of the March meeting..I assure him (Mike Gapes) that the FCO network is already hard at work with the resolution’s main sponsor, the United States, to mobilise opinion and the necessary majority, and that our campaign at the Human Rights Council will be led at ministerial level.”
The parliamentary discussion on the quarterly FCO human rights report saw further questions regarding the UK stance on ongoing human rights abuses and torture of asylum seekers deported by the UK in Sri Lanka.
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