Amnesty International on Wednesday urged the UK government to push for a strong resolution in the next month Human Rights Council, enabling more robust monitoring and reporting of human rights conditions in Sri Lanka.

In a report earlier, the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) had criticized the Sri Lankan government’s “persistent failure” to address the historic crimes committed during Sri Lanka’s three-decade-long civil war in the country. 

According to a report in Daily Mirror, the OHCHR said the failure to address these issues is “clear early warning signs of a deteriorating human rights situations and a significantly heightened risk of future violations.’

“This report lays bare Sri Lanka’s abject record on delivering justice and accountability and the decaying effect this has had on human rights in the country,” David Griffiths, the Director of the Office of the Secretary-General at Amnesty, was quoted as saying by Daily Mirror.

He further added, “The seriousness of these findings highlights the urgent need for the UN Human Rights Council to step up its efforts in Sri Lanka.”

Last year in February, the Sri Lanka government had pulled out of co-sponsorship of the landmark UNHRC resolution 30/1, meaning the country would no longer adopt a reconciliation, accountability approach as prescribed in the resolution. The government had announced that they would instead adopt their own reconciliation mechanism.

Just days earlier, during the 23rd meeting of the EU-Sri Lanka joint commission, the EU had expressed regret over Sri Lanka’s decision to pull out of the resolution.