Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena is due to lead Sri Lankan delegation to 43rd session of the UNHRC in Geneva today, where he will formally inform Council Members on the Sri Lankan government's decision to withdraw from con-sponsoring 40/1 and preceding 30/1, 34/1 at the Council High-Level Segment on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka decided to withdraw from the resolution after the United States imposed a travel ban on the Sri Lankan Army Commander and his family members over war crimes allegations.

“It is because of the historic betrayal committed by the Yahapalana government formed by the United National Party, the Tamil National Alliance and the JVP in co-sponsoring UN Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 in 2015 that other countries are able to name members of our armed forces as violators of human rights. The first operative paragraph of that Resolution had taken note ‘with appreciation’ the September 2015 Report of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights which accused the Sri Lankan armed forces of human rights violations. This report was based on the previous 2011 unofficial report prepared by a three member committee appointed by the then UN Secretary General outside the established procedure of that organization. In this manner, the UNP-TNA-JVP combine ended up accepting all the unfounded allegations made against our armed forces by various interested parties," Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a statement.