UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk to Visit Sri Lanka Today

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk will visit to Sri Lanka from June 23 to 26. This marks the first visit by a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to Sri Lanka since February 2016.

The High Commissioner will call on the President and the Prime Minister. He will also hold meetings with the Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment, and Tourism Minister, several other Cabinet Ministers, MPs, senior Government officials, religious leaders, representatives of civil society, members of the diplomatic community, and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. High Commissioner Turk will travel to Kandy where he will pay respects to The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and call on the Chief Prelates of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters.

He will also travel to Jaffna and Trincomalee where he will meet with the Governors of the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

Discussions during the visit will focus on further advancing the promotion and protection of human rights and reconciliation, in line with the Government of Sri Lanka’s ongoing constructive engagement with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.