- The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a process in which the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States are reviewed periodically. It was introduced when the UN Human Rights Council was created by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, and it was adopted unanimously by all UN Member States. Under this process, the human rights situation of all member countries of the UN is reviewed every 4.5 years.
- The UPR is a State-driven process. Each State is given an opportunity to declare what actions have been taken to improve the human rights situation in a country and to fulfil their respective human rights obligations. The UPR is designed to ensure equal treatment for every country when their human rights situations are assessed. The ultimate aim of this mechanism is to improve the human rights situation in all countries and address human rights violations wherever they occur.
Consideration of the Fifth Periodic Report of Sri Lanka under the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) took place at the 61st Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, held at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, on 8-9 June 2017. Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva led the Sri Lanka delegation and introduced the report.
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the USA, Prasad Kariyawasam, who has been a member of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers since its inception in March 2004, and the first Chair of the Committee , was re-elected for the fourth time at the Election held at the UN in New York on 28 June 2017, at the 8th Meeting of State Parties to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative in Geneva Mrs. Samantha Jayasuriya said that ‘as a country with a sizeable number of its citizens working abroad, the Government of Sri Lanka places migration high in its national development policy’ and have made considered efforts to improve its national labour migration policies and governance, at national, bilateral, regional as well as international levels.
Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva delivered the Statement on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka as the country concerned during the Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur (SR) on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Mr. Diego García-Sayán, at the 35th Session of the Human Rights Council today (12 June 2017). The Statement followed the presentation of the Report (A/HRC/35/31/Add 1) on the visit of previous Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Ms. Mónica Pinto to Sri Lanka from 29th April to 7th May 2016.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
12 June 2017
Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Dr. Rajitha Senaratne addressing the 70th World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting in Geneva on Tuesday (23 May 2017) said that the “Sri Lanka has achieved much progress in health care delivery due to cost-efficient use of resources and the coordinated use of its well ingrained primary, secondary and tertiary health care facilities”.
Highlighting the positive dividends migrant health agenda could contribute to both the individual migrants and to their host countries, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha emphasised that the Migrant Health be an essential element of the 2018 final Global Compact on Migration (GCM) document. Ambassador Aryasinha made these remarks during Sri Lanka’s intervention on 8th May 2017, at the first informal thematic discussion on development of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, held from 8 -9 May 2017 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, which focused on human rights of migrants, including their social inclusion and cohesion and all forms of discrimination, including racism, xenophobia and intolerance. During the session, Sri Lanka also officially tabled the ‘Colombo Statement on Migrant Health’ adopted at the 2nd Global Consultation on Migrant Health, held in Sri Lanka from 21-23 February 2017, as an input to the GCM process.