HR Minister pleased with progress of Ministries

by Manjula FERNANDO

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Special Envoy for Human Rights, Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said he was pleased with the progress the implementing ministries have made within the past five years.

A total of 35 ministries have submitted progress reports to the special envoy to prepare the country report, which is now being finalised.

“We have started writing the country report. The progress notes received from specific ministries are very comprehensive,” he told the Sunday Observer yesterday from Italy where he is making an official tour as the Plantations Minister.

“I am quite encouraged by the clear progress shown in implementing those voluntary pledges and recommendations that we have taken on board in 2008,” he added.

Among the stakeholder ministries are Defence, Women and Children, Justice, External Affairs, Disaster Relief and Disaster Management, Social Services, Economic Development and National Integration.

“By the first week of next month, I will call a meeting with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and civil society groups to get their inputs before the report is finalised,” the Minister said.

Sri Lanka’s report to the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) will be handed over to the office of the High Commissioner Navaneetham Pillai on July 23, three months ahead of the November review.

The report will outline the progress the country has made so far with regard to the voluntary pledges, commitments and specific targets taken on board in the first UPR in 2008, in the area of promotion and protection of human rights.

The Sri Lankan UPR, where the country’s status will be reviewed by its peers in the Human Rights Council, will be held on November 1. The report along with its voluntary pledges and additional recommendations made at the peer review will be adopted on November 5. Sri Lanka is one of the first countries facing the second cycle of the UPR, with the first cycle, spanning five years, having ended a few months ago.

One of the key pledges of Sri Lanka in 2008 was the drafting and implementing of a National Action Plan on Human Rights, which has been fulfilled by the Government.