The United Nations Treaty-Based Bodies and Their Engagement with Sri Lanka

Abstract

The fifth chapter will turn to the charter-based bodies, i.e., the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Council. While the United Nations Commission on Human Rights was more focused on standard-setting in its first twenty years of existence, these same years of its existence were, however, dominated by politicization. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights moved to another crucial aspect of its work, namely implementation through its mechanisms. For this purpose, the work will explore the 1503 and 1235 procedures of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Did these procedures advance the work of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights? With the Resolution A/RES/60/251, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council, introducing new organs and mechanisms aimed at rectifying the shortcomings of the past. In this contextual environment, the chapter will draw on academic writings from the perspective of Third World Approaches to International Law and shed light on Third World states’ reluctance towards international bodies and their engagement in domestic affairs of respective countries. Intrusion by international bodies is often perceived as post-colonial involvement that, according to certain scholars, leads to reluctance by such states to engage further.