The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva has adopted a consensus resolution on accountability for the alleged human rights violations during the Sri Lankan civil war. Sponsored by the U.S., the U.K. and other countries, including Sri Lanka, the resolution called upon Colombo to establish a credible judicial process, with the participation of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers and authorised prosecutors and investigators, to go into the alleged rights abuses.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will continue to assess the progress in the implementation of its recommendations and other processes related to reconciliation, accountability and human rights.

The resolution has also recognised the need for accountability and reconciliation process for the violations and abuses committed by the LTTE as highlighted in the recently released OISL (OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka) report.

UNHRC

• UNHRC is a United Nations System inter-governmental body whose 47 member states are responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world.
• The UNHRC is the successor to the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR, herein CHR), and is a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly.
• The seats are distributed among the UN’s regional groups as follows: 13 for Africa, 13 for Asia, six for Eastern Europe, eight for Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), and seven for the Western European and Others Group (WEOG).