24 February 2021
AFTERNOON
The Human Rights Council this afternoon held an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea and started an interactive dialogue with the High Commissioner for Human Rights on her report on on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.
Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, presenting his oral update, said he had seen no concrete evidence of progress or actual improvement in the human rights situation in Eritrea. He welcomed the release of a large group of Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses in Eritrea, but noted that there had been no progress on the issue of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
Posted on February 22nd, 2021
By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Mirror Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, February 23: In its observations on the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) communicated to the 46 th.,session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the Sri Lankan government has drawn attention to the progress made in addressing issues related to human rights and ethnic reconciliation and emphatically refuted the charges and contentions in the OHCHR’s report.
In the point-by-point refutation, the government’s overall thrust is that the OHCHR’s contentions are baseless, biased and unsubstantiated. Some comments and prescriptions amount to violation of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and meddling in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs which is outside the UNHRC’s mandate.
Posted on February 22nd, 2021
Colombo says there is progress in reconciliation efforts and accuses OHCHR of motivated misrepresentation
In its observations on the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) communicated to the 46 th.,session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the Sri Lankan government has drawn attention to the progress made in addressing issues related to human rights and ethnic reconciliation and emphatically refuted the charges and contentions in the OHCHR’s report.
In the point-by-point refutation, the government’s overall thrust is that the OHCHR’s contentions are baseless, biased and unsubstantiated. Some comments and prescriptions amount to violation of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and meddling in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs which is outside the UNHRC’s mandate.
Authoritarian & Hypocritical Recommendations Of The UN High Commissioner For Human Rights On Sri Lanka!
Dr. Laksiri Fernando
I can be very clear and blunt. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is going in the authoritarian and dictatorial direction preaching others to be democratic and justiciable. This is very clear from the Report on the “Promotion [of] Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka” (A/HRC/46/20). In February 2009, Castro called her part of the ‘fascist and vengeful Chilean oligarchy.’
The time allocated for the discussion of this politically biased Report is from 3.00 to 6.00pm on 24 February 2021, just three hours. It is still not clear whether some of the UNHRC sessions starting on 22 February would be online (virtual) or with actual participation of the members. It would be grossly undemocratic if the Higher Commissioner intends to get a resolution passed on Sri Lanka without giving adequate time to the country o