Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support the Tamil population of Sri Lanka.

The UK Government has long called for the rights of Sri Lankans from all communities to be respected. The Minister for South Asia, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, has raised the importance of inclusive engagement with all communities in Sri Lanka in his discussions with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris, most recently on 24 September. We continue to urge the Government of Sri Lanka to uphold the rights of all of Sri Lanka's communities.

In March 2021 the UN Human Rights Council adopted a new UK-led resolution, 46/1, on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka. The resolution provides a continued framework for international engagement on human rights in Sri Lanka. It calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to make progress on accountability and human rights, and stresses the importance of a comprehensive accountability process for all violations and abuses committed in Sri Lanka. It also calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to fulfil its commitments on the devolution of political authority, which is integral to reconciliation and the full enjoyment of human rights by all members of its population. It encourages the Government to respect local governance, including through the holding of elections for provincial councils, and to ensure that all provincial councils, including the Northern and Eastern Provincial Councils, are able to operate effectively, in accordance with the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka. Through UK-funded programmes, we have supported a number of activities to benefit those in the north and east of the country, including demining, resettlement of internally displaced persons and interfaith dialogue.