Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka fails to secure seat on UN Human Rights Council

Article published on the 2008-05-22 Latest update 2008-05-23 05:53 TU

(Photo : UN)

Sri Lanka on Wednesday failed to secure one of the coveted seats on the UN's Human Rights Council for a second term. In the Asian group, three countries retained their seats - Japan, Pakistan and South Korea - while Sri Lanka lost its seat to Bahrain.

The result was welcomed by human rights organisations. Human Rights Watch said the vote should be "a wake-up call" for the Sri Lankan government.

The Asian Human Rights Commission said it was not a surprise that "the country with the largest number of disappearances and widespread lawlessness has not been given a place in the leading body on human rights within the UN system."

The Sri Lankan government, however, rejected the possibility of foreign monitoring of its country's human rights record. It also blamed international rights groups for its exclusion from the council.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Rohitha Bogollagama, said the country had "the necessary laws and procedures in place to monitor cases of human rights."

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter have spoken out against the record of Sri Lanka whose government is fighting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The situation, according to human rights groups, is said to have deteriorated since the collapse in January of a Norway-sponsored truce.

The election of Pakistan, however, was criticised by the group UN Watch which said that the UN was "electing the worst violaters to the Human Rights Council".

France and the UK beat Spain to retain their seats on the council for a further three-year term.