The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights highlighted her office’s work on transitional justice and enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka as part of an update delivered to the UN General Assembly earlier this week.
Presenting her report to the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, Michelle Bachelet highlighted her Office’s activities “related to transitional justice, including for enforced disappearances and missing persons in Sri Lanka, Mexico and Lebanon”.
Her full report also spoke of resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council on Sri Lanka, which she stated had an “accountability-related mandate”.
The update comes after a UN resolution passed in Geneva earlier this year, established a new mechanism to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence of international crimes committed in Sri Lanka for use in future prosecutions. The Sri Lankan government vehemently opposed the resolution.
Bachelet’s report also highlighted her office’s contribution to the “strengthening of the implementation of the human rights due diligence policy on United Nations support to non-United Nations security forces” in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan troops however continue to be involved in UN peacekeeping missions, despite their human rights record and calls for all Sri Lankan involvement to be halted.
Sri Lanka continues to feature heavily in the work of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which will present a report to the UN Human Rights Council on Sri Lanka next year.