The United Kingdom warmly welcomes the High Commissioner to her first session of the Council and thanks her for her report.

The UK fully supports the OHCHR and the central role the High Commissioner’s independent mandate plays in the international human rights system.

We remain concerned by human rights violations in Bangladesh, including restrictions on freedom of expression. We welcome Bangladesh’s continued support to the Rohingya refugees, but call on Bangladesh to fulfil its commitments made at the Universal Periodic Review.

We also remain concerned at the continued erosion of democracy, human rights and respect for the rule of law in the Maldives. It is critical that the authorities respect fundamental freedoms. Upcoming elections must be free, fair and credible.

The national election in Cambodia was neither free nor fair. We urge the authorities to lift restrictions on political debate and media freedom, drop all charges against and restrictions on opposition leader Kem Sokha, and create the conditions for a proper functioning democracy.

Vietnam has imprisoned a number of bloggers and activists, often with heavy sentences. This further restricts the space for people to freely express their views on matters of public interest.

We urge the Philippines to conduct thorough investigations into killings associated with the “war on drugs”. We are concerned by recent reports concerning land rights defenders and call on the Government to ensure their safety.

We urge the Venezuelan Government to take immediate action to facilitate humanitarian aid; the international community stands ready to assist. We also call on the Government to respect the National Assembly and release all political prisoners.

In Cameroon we are deeply concerned at further reports of the burning of villages and schools in the Anglophone regions, and an increasing number of IDPs and refugees. We call for all parties to show restraint and reject violence.

Finally, on Sri Lanka, our views have been set out in the earlier joint statement.

Updated: Minor revisions to the figures for both the UK and England results.

This statement is delivered on behalf of Germany, Macedonia, Montenegro and the UK as members of the Sri Lanka core group.

We welcome further recent steps Sri Lanka has taken to implement commitments made to the Council in 2015 and 2017. We welcome the Government’s continued engagement with the UN system and actions to implement its National Reconciliation Action Plan and Peacebuilding Priority Plan. We applaud the Office on Missing Persons’ commencement of work and encourage everyone able to advance or contribute to its work to do so. We hope the Government will establish an Office for Reparations quickly. We also welcome the return of further private land in the north, and commitments to return more military-occupied land to civilian ownership.

Nonetheless, the pace of progress on important areas remains much slower than many hoped for. As time passes, lack of progress in delivering key steps risks undermining reconciliation efforts.

In co-sponsoring resolution 30/1, Sri Lanka recognised that national accountability mechanisms are essential to dealing with the past, and to restoring confidence among its communities. These have yet to be established. The Prevention of Terrorism Act has not been replaced with a law that accords with international standards. And, though processes to consider reform to important provisions of the Constitution, including devolution of political authority, has been ongoing since 2016, a way forward has not been found. We are concerned by recent reports of harassment of and attacks on human rights defenders.

Our view remains that, with determined leadership and a clear time-bound action plan, this Government can make more progress towards delivering its Council commitments, and that doing so will better position Sri Lanka and its people to enjoy a more enduring reconciliation and prosperity. We urge Sri Lanka to prioritise and drive forward implementation of resolutions 30/1 and 34/1, before the Council next considers Sri Lanka in March.