Joan Ryan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2015-11-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) human rights situation in Sri Lanka and (b) detention of Tamil political prisoners in that country.

Mr Hugo Swire

We warmly welcomed the resolution on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights which was co-sponsored by Sri Lanka and adopted by the UN Human Rights Council on 1 October. Since President Sirisena came to power in January, there have been improvements in the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, including on freedom of expression, some return of military held land, and improved relations between different communities. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will provide a further assessment in our 2015 Annual Human Rights and Democracy Report. We regularly raise matters of concern with the Sri Lankan government, including the detention of Tamil political prisoners without trial. We have been encouraged by the recent announcements that bail has been granted to 39 prisoners being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.