Sri Lanka to implement National Human Rights Action Plan

Dec 15, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has decided to implement the National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) that was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in September 2011.

The Plan was voluntarily prepared by the government in response to a pledge made at the Universal Periodic Review meeting before UN Human Rights Council in 2008.

The Government said today that it considered implementing the NHRAP is important to enable the government to successfully engage with several international human rights organizations, especially the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The Cabinet has approved a proposal made by Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Plantation Industries and the Special envoy of the President on Human Rights to convene an Inter-ministerial committee under his chairmanship to monitor the implementation of the Action Plan and undertake initial work for Sri Lanka's participation in the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review in October 2012.

The five-year action plan will be implemented under eight sections including civil and political rights, social economic and cultural rights, rights of abstinence from torture, women and children rights.

The Plan will be implemented by different ministries and institutions while the inter-ministerial committee will monitor the progress.

The government has earlier said that key performance indicators and a specific time frame within which each activity should be implemented has been earmarked in the Plan.

Through the implementation of the Plan, the government expects to strengthen civil liberties and ensure better human rights compliance.

Sri Lankan government is under increasing pressure from Western governments and human rights organizations to improve its abysmal human rights record amid the allegations of war crimes committed during the final stages of the 30-year long bloody battle with the Tamil Tiger terrorists.


(2011-12-15/ColomboPage)