Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena to address 46th UNHRC session today (23)

COLOMBO (News 1st): Sri Lanka's Minister of Foreign Affairs Dinesh Gunawardena is scheduled to address the 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council today (Feb. 23). "The UN High Commissioner's report on Sri Lanka is not justifiable, baseless and unfounded based on false statistics; Sri Lanka's initial response to the report was already conveyed," Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told News 1st on Monday night (Feb. 22). A dialogue on the report compiled by Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding Sri Lanka will take place on Wednesday (Feb. 23). The UN Core Group on Sri Lanka led by the United Kingdom is expected present a fresh resolution on Sri Lanka largely based on the UN High Commissioner's Report. Apart from the UK, Germany, Canada, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia and Malawi are among other member states representing the core group. Thereby, Minister Gunawardena pointed out that Sri Lanka is prepared to respond to the UN Core Group's Resolution to be tabled against the country. The Minister was of the view that the UN Core Group member states are following a biased policy and emphasized that the UN Human Rights Council has been established to ensure unbiased treatment for all states. According to Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, several allies of Sri Lanka have extended their support to respond to the charges levelled against the country. "We are among the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement that stood against hegemonic behaviour. Many member states of the UNHRC are aware of how Sri Lanka's Non-Aligned Movement managed to overcome the global hegemony. Therefore, we are confident we could overcome this with the support of allies," Minister Dinesh Gunawardena stressed. The 46th UNHRC session began on Monday (Feb. 22) with the participation of 47 countries and it will be held until the 19th of March, via video conferencing technology amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.