Loss of seat on UN HR Council Sri Lanka has only itself to blame - HRW

Human Rights Watch yesterday said the Sri Lankan government had only itself to blame for not getting re-elected to the UN’s most important human rights body the UNHRC on Wednesday.

The United Nations General Assembly yesterday rejected Sri Lanka’s candidacy for the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. Sri Lanka’s 101 votes were fewer than those received by four other countries running for the four open seats for Asia:  Japan (155 votes), Bahrain (142), South Korea (139) and Pakistan (114). 

"The Human Rights Council vote should be a wake-up call for the Sri Lankan government," HRW’s Asia director Brad Adams said. "President Mahinda Rajapaksa hopefully will get the General Assembly’s message and start taking real action to end human rights abuses in Sri Lanka."

Human Rights Watch urged the Sri Lankan government to reassess its human rights policies and practices, including its rejection of an international human rights monitoring mission. Under the auspices of the UN, the mission would investigate and report on rights abuses by government forces and non-state armed groups, including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.