The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has established the Sri Lanka accountability project in line with resolution 46/1, despite objections raised by Sri Lanka.
In its resolution 46/1 on “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka”, adopted on 23 March 2021, the Human Rights Council recognized the importance of preserving and analysing evidence relating to violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes in Sri Lanka with a view to advancing accountability.
It also decided to strengthen the capacity of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to collect, consolidate, analyse and preserve information and evidence relating to violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes in Sri Lanka, and to advocate for victims and survivors, and to support relevant judicial and other proceedings, including in Member States, with competent jurisdiction.
The Human Rights Council also requested OHCHR to continue monitoring and reporting to the Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, including on progress in reconciliation and accountability and to present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its forty-eighth session, and a written update at its forty-ninth session and a comprehensive report that includes further options for advancing accountability at its fifty-first session, both to be discussed in the context of an interactive dialogue.
In accordance with this mandate, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has established the OHCHR Sri Lanka accountability project.
OHCHR said that the Sri Lanka accountability project team will be based in Geneva.