By The Pulseline News Desk
Sri Lanka has stepped up its challenge to open-ended country-specific mandates at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), calling for such mechanisms to be regularly reviewed and eventually phased out when measurable progress is achieved.
Addressing the 63rd Session of the UNHRC in Geneva during the General Debate under Agenda Item 2, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Sumith Dassanayake, has told UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk that no Council mandate should be regarded as indefinite.
Dassanayake has argued that the Council must carefully consider how it uses its resources at a time when the international community is facing serious and immediate human rights challenges, including armed conflicts, mass displacement and humanitarian crises.
Against this backdrop, he has stressed that all mandates, particularly those relating to individual countries, should be subjected to periodic reviews based on clearly defined objectives and measurable outcomes.
Sri Lanka has also called for sunset clauses and phase-out provisions to be explicitly incorporated into country-specific resolutions where appropriate.
Dassanayake has further emphasised that when a country demonstrates progress through national processes, dialogue, cooperation and technical assistance, the Council should provide a credible pathway towards concluding the relevant mandate.
The intervention came on the same day that the Council was presented with a written update on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, with High Commissioner Türk attending the General Debate.
Colombo’s position reflects its broader argument that international human rights engagement should increasingly focus on cooperation and technical assistance rather than prolonged country-specific scrutiny.
The call for a defined exit mechanism could also become an important part of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic strategy as it seeks to demonstrate that domestic reforms and national processes should be given greater space in addressing outstanding human rights concerns.
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