The Sri Lanka delegation to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meeting for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in late October will be headed by the country’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva and not by a minister, a senior official said yesterday. External Affairs Ministry Secretary Karunatillake Amunugama said the delegation headed by Permanent Representative Ravinatha Aryasinha would include representatives from the Attorney General’s Department.
Mr. Amunugama said it was usually during the sessions in March that a Ministerial delegation represented the country.
The pre-sessions to the UPR underway in Geneva, Sri Lanka’s human rights situation came under discussion on August 31. The Pre sessions are held two months prior to their review by the Working Group.
The pre-sessions are held to enable civil society organizations to meet delegations from countries which are under review while these meetings offer an opportunity for the delegations to be briefed by the civil society organizations about the human rights situation in the state under review.
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was a new mechanism of the UN. It started in April 2008 and consists of the review of the human rights practices of all states in the world, once every four years.
ST