Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Sri Lanka: Human Rights

Tuesday 15 June 2021 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Elliot Colburn asked about steps being taken to address human rights violations in Sri Lanka, including accountability for war crimes during the civil war.
  • The UK successfully led a new resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in March, which enhances the UN's monitoring role and requests that it collect evidence of human rights violations.
  • The UK has led international efforts for many years to promote accountability, reconciliation, and human rights in Sri Lanka, including through the recently adopted UK-led resolution at the Human Rights Council.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Elliot Colburn
Foreign Affairs
Context

The MP is concerned about the ongoing human rights issues in Sri Lanka, particularly following recent events and the need for international action.

Question

What steps he is taking to address human rights violations in Sri Lanka. This includes concerns over accountability for war crimes committed during the civil war and the need for international monitoring of the situation.

Answer from Nigel Adams

At the UN Human Rights Council in March, we successfully led a new resolution which expresses deep concern about the situation in Sri Lanka and enhances the UN's monitoring role. For the first time, it requests that the UN collect evidence of human rights violations, for use in future accountability processes.

Answered
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Q2 Elliot Colburn
Foreign Affairs
Context

The MP acknowledges the FCDO's efforts but is concerned about ensuring that evidence collected meets standards necessary to impose sanctions on officials accused of overseeing atrocities.

Question

What actions can my hon. Friend take to ensure that evidence collected satisfies conditions for sanctions against current Sri Lankan officials who are credibly accused of overseeing the enforced disappearance and sexual assault of thousands of Sri Lankan civilians during the conflict?

Answer from Nigel Adams

As my hon. Friend will know, this Government have led international efforts over many years to promote accountability, reconciliation and human rights in Sri Lanka, including at the UN Human Rights Council. The new UK-led resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council in March included, for the first time, a request for the UN to collect, consolidate, analyse and preserve information and evidence of human rights abuses and violations so that this can be used to support future accountability processes.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The MP asked about conditions for sanctions but the answer did not address these specific measures.

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