Resolution on Sri Lanka passed

• 22 for, 11 against, 14 abstentions  
• China slams HRC and demands vote  

By Easwaran Rutnam  

A resolution on Sri Lanka tabled at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva was passed yesterday with 22 voting for, 11 against it and 14 abstentions.  

Resolution A/HRC/46/L.1 was presented to the Council by Julian Braithwaite, the UK representative to Geneva, on behalf of the Core Group on Sri Lanka comprising the UK, Canada, Germany, Malawi, Montenegro and North Macedonia.  

Braithwaite noted that between 2015 and 2019 Sri Lanka had supported resolutions at the UNHRC.  

However, he said Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from the co-sponsored resolution of 2915 was regrettable.  He said the intention of the resolution was to ensure human rights violations like that which occurred in the past are not repeated.   Braithwaite also expressed regret that the Core Group and Sri Lanka could not reach an understanding during informal discussions before the vote.  Several member States later expressed their views on the resolution during which China called for a vote.  China slammed the resolution on Sri Lanka and demanded a vote on the document.   The vote was later taken online through Zoom as the coronavirus pandemic prevented the 47 members of the Council from attending in person.

Apart from the Core Group members and the EU, others who had voted for the resolution included Korea and Mexico.  The United States, which withdrew from the UNHRC when Donald Trump was President, verbally backed the resolution ahead of today’s vote.  

China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Russia, Somalia, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela are among the countries that voted against the resolution.  India, Japan, Indonesia, Libya, Bahrain, Cameroon and Nepal were among the countries that abstained.  Heavy lobbying took place ahead of the vote with Sri Lanka seeking support against the document while the Core Group called on several countries to support it.     

• Resolution A/HRC/46/L.1 was presented to the Council by Julian Braithwaite, the UK representative to Geneva, on behalf of the Core Group on Sri Lanka comprising the UK, Canada, Germany, Malawi, Montenegro and North Macedonia
• The vote was later taken online through Zoom as the coronavirus pandemic prevented the 47 members of the Council from attending in pers