Responding to the UN resolution, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office Minister of State for the Middle East, South Asia and the United Nations Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon said:
We welcome the result of today’s vote on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR). This resolution will support progress on human rights, justice, and accountability. It has renewed the mandate of the Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to report on Sri Lanka and to protect and preserve evidence of past human rights abuses to use in future accountability processes. This is integral to establish truth and achieve lasting justice and reconciliation, as well as to improve human rights in the country.
Our focus should now turn to our collective and renewed ability to work with the new Government of Sri Lanka to take forward their commitments to the Council. We call on UNHRC members to support this effort, and to work together to address the economic challenges faced by the people of Sri Lanka.
