Sri Lanka withdrew from its co-sponsorship during last year’s UNHRC session, promising to conduct the necessary inquiries within the country. The mandate given to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was very clear; he was to defend our sovereignty and Constitution, and to work within the Constitution. Last February, on that mandate, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, I went to Geneva and placed before the Human Rights Commission, the key arguments of this matter, and said that we are withdrawing from the co-sponsorship, as we cannot violate our Constitution. What progress has the commission recently appointed to fact-find into grave human rights violations made over the past weeks? It is an important human right that the world body has to consider and all its subsidiary agencies should consider.

Source: The Nation February 14, 2021 00:00 UTC