Sri Lanka includes National Action Plan on LLRC recommendations in UPR report

Sri Lanka’s report for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva this November has been amended to include the latest developments in the country’s human rights front and the implementation of the post-war reconciliation commission’s recommendations.

A senior Government official said the initially prepared UPR report was amended to include the latest statistics in the rehabilitation, resettlement and de-mining fronts.

“The report was also amended to include the progress made in the implementation of the recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC),” He said.

He added that a link to the recently launched National Action Plan on the implementation of the LLRC recommendations was also included in the UPR report.

“The UNHRC could easily access the LLRC Action Plan, which has now been made public,” the official pointed out.  Sri Lanka’s Cabinet of Ministers at last month approved the National Action Plan forwarded by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Action Plan has named implementation of recommendations according to activity, key responsible agency, key performance indicator and a timeframe for each task.  The initial 23 July deadline to submit the UPR report to the UNHRC has been postponed to 9 August at the request of the Sri Lankan mission in Geneva to include the latest developments.

Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga has forwarded the updated the 15-page UPR report to the Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ravinatha Aryasinha to be handed over to the UNHRC.

The report will be translated into UN approved languages and posted on the official UN website.

Sri Lanka’s review is to be taken up on 1 November at the 14th session of the second cycle of UPR to be held from October22 to 5 November in Geneva. 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.