Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions against people in Sri Lanka accused of war crimes.

Sri Lanka is a human rights priority country for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and we regularly engage with the Government of Sri Lanka on the need for truth, justice and accountability. The Global Human Rights sanctions regime is one tool in our foreign policy toolkit. The UK uses sanctions when we judge that they will be effective to achieve our foreign policy goals.  It would not be appropriate to speculate about future sanctions designations as to do so could reduce their impact.