OHCHR in Sri Lanka

Background

 
In April 2002, at the request of the Prime Minister, the Secretary-General fielded a high level needs-assessment mission to Sri Lanka . The mission was carried out jointly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and OHCHR, and made recommendations for immediate UN socio-economic and peace building efforts. The recommended actions included the deployment of an OHCHR senior human rights adviser to the United Nations Country Team (UNCT).

The Senior Human Rights Adviser (SHRA) began his assignment on 1 June 2004. The SHRA is attached to the UNCT and works closely with the Resident Coordinator and UN agencies, advising and supporting strategies to protect human rights and build human rights capacity of local institutions, civil society and the UN itself, in the context of Sri Lanka 's evolving peace process.
 

2006-2007 Programme

 
The SHRA will advise the parties to the peace process on how best to strengthen human rights monitoring and integrate human rights into the political settlement.

OHCHR will continue providing capacity-building for the Human Rights Commission (HRC), particularly in the conflict areas of the north and east. During 2006, international United Nations Volunteers will be deployed to the regional offices of the HRC to strengthen their monitoring and protection work. The SHRA will also provide advice and support to the Human Rights Commission's work with internally displaced persons and monitoring for discrimination in tsunami assistance programs.

The SHRA will continue to provide human rights training and technical advice and input on human rights related questions to the Resident Coordinator and UN Country Team; the Government, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Muslim peace secretariats as well as Government institutions, National Human Rights Commission and civil society. The SHRA will continue to work closely with UNICEF in monitoring child recruitment, particularly as a follow-up to UN Security Council Resolution 1612 on children and armed conflict.

Sri Lanka has been promised considerable international assistance for post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation as well as recovery from the tsunami disaster, and there are many new international agencies and actors on the ground. The SHRA will assist the UN Country Team in integrating human rights issues and rights-based approaches into its post-conflict and tsunami recovery strategies, as well as in the Common Country Assessment /United Nations Development Assistance Framework (CCA/UNDAF) process which commenced in 2006.

The creation of a Ministry for Disaster and Management and Human Rights in early 2006, has also presented new opportunities for human rights cooperation with the Government. It is envisaged that OHCHR will deploy additional staff during the biennium to undertake capacity-building activities with this Ministry. 
 

Expected Accomplishments

 
Enhanced capacity of Sri Lanka institutions to promote and protect human rights, particularly in the conflict-affected areas.

Human rights are guaranteed in peace agreements and political settlement.

Human rights are mainstreamed in strategies for post-conflict and post-tsunami reconstruction.