GENEVA: The U.N. rights body on Thursday renewed the mandate of a U.N. office to collect and preserve evidence of alleged war-time human rights crimes in Sri Lanka, despite opposition from the government and allies including China.
The resolution brought by Britain, Canada, the United States and others passed with 20 votes in favour and seven against at the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. China and several other countries supported Sri Lanka’s view that the monitoring amounted to meddling. “Sri Lanka categorically rejects the resolution presented without our consent, despite our efforts to engage with the main sponsors,” Foreign minister Ali Sabry said, rejecting it as “rambling” and a “drain on resources”. China, a close ally of Sri Lanka, voted against the resolution, which it called an example of “politicisation” of human rights issues. Pakistan called the resolution “intrusive”. Sri Lanka’s neighbour India, which has extended the most financial support during the island’s financial crisis this year, abstained. The resolution renews the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to observe Sri Lanka’s progress towards establishing a credible investigation into alleged war crimes during the civil war that ended in 2009 and promote demilitarisation of its north and eastern regions. –Agencies
