The British government said it will continue to support engagement between the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Sri Lanka on accountability and human rights, when questioned on the UK's plans to pursue an international investigation into rights abuses.
Steven Baker, MP for Wycombe asked Vicky Ford, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), what plans her department has "to ask the (a) International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism or (b) International Criminal Court to conduct an international investigation in Sri Lanka" when UN Resolution 46/1 expires.
Ford stated that the UK had "led efforts" to adopt resolution 46/1 last year, which calls on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to "collect" as well as "consolidate, analyse and preserve” evidence that could be used in future war crimes trials. Ford, however, failed to comment on the steps the FCDO would take once the resoultion expires later this year.
The UK have expressed support for engagement between the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Sri Lanka despite telling the UNHRC last week that Sri Lanka's "progress since Council resolution 46/1 is limited" and called the "slow progress" by the Office of Missing Persons in fully investigating cases of enforced disappearances "troubling".
Baker also asked if Ford's department "will consult Tamil representatives including in Sri Lanka on potential next steps on UN Resolution 46/1", to which she replied:
"The Minister for South and Central Asia, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, discussed the importance of these issues with representatives of the Sri Lankan government and wider stakeholders, including representatives of Tamil communities, during his visit to Sri Lanka in January 2022 when he travelled to Jaffna and Trincomalee as well as Colombo."
Read more about Ahmad's visit here: Trade, climate and human rights – Britain’s South Asia Minister tours Tamil homeland