Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, 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 on Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, expires.

The UK led efforts at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in March 2021 to adopt Resolution 46/1. We continue to support engagement between the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Government of Sri Lanka on reconciliation, accountability and human rights.

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.