Sri Lanka’s candidate Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam was elected to the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families at the election held on 27 June 2023 at the United Nations in New York.

Ambassador Kariyawasam is a retired career diplomat and has previously served in the Committee three times, during which he was also the Chairperson during the Committee’s initial formative stages.

In addition to Ambassador Kariyawasam, candidates from Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Türkiye, Mexico and Burkina Faso got elected to the seven member Committee. Sri Lanka obtained the second highest number of votes together with Algeria.

In the post pandemic context, and the prevailing global economic situation, migrant workers are facing enormous challenges while contributing to the growth of economies across the world. The nomination of a candidate to the Committee by Sri Lanka is an endorsement of the country’s commitments to protecting and promoting rights of migrant workers.

The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) is a body comprising of 14 independent experts that works to protect the rights of migrant workers around the world and monitors the implementation of the Convention, an important International Human Rights Treaty.