Sri Lanka to seek Chinese support at UN Human Rights Council

        The Sri Lankan government said yesterday (20)  it will seek the support of several countries including China against a U.S. sponsored resolution against the island nation which is to be submitted before the UN Human Rights Council next month.

The Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry said that the government will first want to see the resolution which is to be submitted before the Council, after that, the respective governments will be approached in order to discuss the kind of support that Sri Lanka will require.

“It is obvious that we will want all countries to support us including China who have maintained strong ties with us. However we will first await and see what the resolution states,” an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said.

In January, the U.S. announced that a second resolution on Sri Lanka would be presented at the UN Human Rights Council sessions that is expected to begin from February 25, saying the Sri Lankan government had failed to implement key reconciliation and human rights measures since the end of the war in 2009.

However, the Sri Lankan government has vehemently denied the claim, insisting that they had addressed many of the demining, resettlement and rehabilitation work that could be achieved in the past four years.

Meanwhile Russia too will back Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva next month, the Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alexander Karavaev said. He gave this assurance when he met Prime Minister D.M Jayaratne at the Prime Minister’s office.

The Ambassador said that Russia will object to any pressure being exerted on Sri Lanka by other countries on human rights related issues.