A United States State Department report on human trafficking said that official complicity in human trafficking in Sri Lanka remained “a serious problem”, as it placed Sri Lanka on the Tier 2 Watch List for the fourth consecutive year in its annual report on trafficking.

“The Government of Sri Lanka does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” said the report, noting that “it is making significant efforts to do so.”

The State Department report said that Sri Lanka was granted a waiver that would have allowed it to downgrade a tier as the government had “devoted sufficient resources to a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute significant efforts to meet the minimum standards”.

Yet implementation of that plan was missing, according to the report.

“Despite these measures, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing anti-trafficking efforts compared to the previous reporting period,” it stated.

A number of countries voiced their support for the High Commissioner’s oral update today and re-asserted their commitment to ensuring full implementation of Resolution 30/1. While welcoming the positive steps taken by the Sri Lankan government, several countries expressed concern with ongoing human rights violations and the pace of progress.

The need for international participation

Many countries specifically reiterated the necessity of international participation in a judicial mechanism as per the Resolution.  

“International participation in the accountability mechanism will…be important in ensuring that the process is both credible and perceived as such by all sides in line with the October commitments,” said the Netherlands on behalf of the European Union.

See statement here:

In addition to pointing to the need for international judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers and investigators in a judicial mechanism, Estonia once again called on the Sri Lankan government to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Stressing operative paragraph 6, Norway said:

“It is further our expectation that Sri Lanka adheres to OP 6 in the resolution, regarding the planned judicial mechanism to investigate allegations of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and of the importance of participation in the judicial mechanism of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers and authorized prosecutors and investigators.”

Macedonia also stated the importance of international participation in the form iterated by the Resolution, as did Ireland.

Canada reiterated that international involvement in a judicial mechanism was importance to “enhance its credibility, especially to victims.” 

The need for tangible steps on human rights violations

The United States encouraged Sri Lanka to make continued tangible steps in fulfilling their commitments under the Resolution.

“Protecting human rights in this post-conflict context is central, and we urge Sri Lanka to work to further improve the human rights situation, especially in the North and East," said Denmark.

The Sri Lankan military has constructed a new Buddha statue besides a Hindu temple in Mannar, in a move decried by locals as yet another government sponsored act of Sinhalisation of the Tamil North-East.

The statue was built on an area of land by Manthai junction located in front of the ancient Thiruketheeswran temple. The five acres of land is currently occupied by the Sri Lankan military.