The final draft of the resolution on Sri Lanka sponsored by the United States, the United Kingdom and three other countries was submitted to the 25th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva this morning .


The sponsors submitted the revisions and amendments to the resolution HRC25 "Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka" before today's deadline. The Council will vote on the resolution Wednesday, March 26.

The draft of the revised resolution, which specified a time period to investigate the alleged human rights violations, was circulated among the member states of the UNHRC Monday.

The revised version requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to undertake a comprehensive independent investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka, during the period covered by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), and establish the facts and circumstances of such alleged violations and of the crimes perpetrated with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring accountability, with assistance from relevant experts and special procedures.

The revised draft limits the time period for the OHCHR to conduct the investigations to the period covered by the LLRC which investigated the incidents from February, 2002 to May, 2009.

The more recent time period specified by the resolution means the numerous suicide bombings, massacres and other atrocities committed by the Tamil Tiger terrorist organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) before 2002 during the three-decade long war, as well as the violations by the Indian Peace keeping Force (IPKF) in the late 80s will not be investigated.

The Sri Lankan government has stressed that it is grossly unfair to investigate only the last phase of the war and constantly called for a comprehensive investigation during the whole three decades of war if an international inquiry were to be conducted.

However, the text of the final version of the resolution formulated with the help of India effectively eliminates any probe on India's complicity in Sri Lanka's terrorist war.