On 16-17 February 2016 FORUM-ASIA will participate in a workshop in Sri Lanka organised by UPR-Info, INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre – a long-time member of FORUM-ASIA – and the National Fisheries Solidarity Organisation that aims to ensure all sectors of the national civil society are equipped to utilise the opportunities provided by the upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the country.

The UPR is a unique mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) aimed at improving the human rights situation on the ground of each of the 193 United Nations (UN) Member States. It is a key tool for civil society organisations in their advocacy for the protection and promotion of human rights at the domestic level. Sri Lanka will be a reviewed in November 2017 in the 3rd cycle of the UPR.

FORUM-ASIA has been invited to participate in the workshop to share the experience of other UPR processes in the region with a specific focus on how it has been used, along with other international processes, in countries going through a similar situation as Sri Lanka. This will help formulate a more coherent and holistic advocacy and implementation strategy that addresses all parallel international processes on the human rights situation in the country. In specific, the overarching goal of this workshop is to strengthen the capacity of national civil society organisations in Sri Lanka to employ the UPR to improve the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.