US Sponsored Resolution Calling for International Probe on Alleged War Crimes in Sri Lanka passed at UNHRC with 23 Countries Supporting,12 Opposing and 12 Abstaining.

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The United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted a resolution on Sri Lanka calling for an international war crimes probe, with 23 countries voting for the US-backed resolution 12 countries voting against and 12 abstaining.

While 12 countries including Pakistan, Maldives, Cuba,Venezuela, China, Russia voted against, 12 member-states abstained from voting, including India, Indonesia and Japan.

In terms of the resolution, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will be entrusted to undertake an international probe while Sri Lankan government is also required to initiate an inquiry to investigate alleged violations of human rights and humanitarian laws.

The resolution, pushed notably by the United States and European nations, noted that UN rights chief Navi Pillay had herself demanded an “international inquiry mechanism in the absence of a credible national process with tangible results”.

Pillay’s office will now be tasked with investigating events between 2002 and 2009, the year Sri Lanka crushed a decades-old insurgency by separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.

The US embassy in Colombo in a twitter message welcomed the passage of the resolution, noting that over 40 other countries have also co-sponsored resolution thus far. The resolution was sponsored by the United States, Montenegro, the United Kingdom and Mauritius

Earlier Pakistan proposed the removal of a key paragraph of the resolution which details the role of the OHCHR, but the council voted against the removal. A vote was taken to ascertain whether the US backed resolution against Sri Lanka should be taken up at the UN Human Rights Council or postponed. The vote was taken after Pakistan said that funding was not available for the proposals were available.

The Pakistani proposal was defeated with 23 members voting against, 14 supporting and 10 abstaining. Thereafter the main proposal co-sponsored by 41 UN member states was taken up for voting and passed with 23 for,12against and 12 abstaining.

Ravinatha Ariyasinghe, Sri Lanka’s UN envoy, “categorically and reservedly” rejected the resolution in a strongly worded statement, which did not address any of the allegations.

“The resolution will not only constitute a serious breach of international law but also set a precedence on the sovereignty of nations,” said Ariyasinghe.