A/HRC/34/53/Add.3 representation of all communities, “ethnic or otherwise”, in the election of Members of Parliament is commensurate with its national population ratio. Constitutional reform 12. The National Unity Government established at the beginning of 2015 enjoyed the support of most communities and brought new hope for reconciliation and progress, promising an ambitious set of constitutional and governance reforms. The nineteenth amendment to the Constitution, adopted on 28 April 2015, lessened the powers of the executive presidency that had been in place since 1978, revived the Constitutional Council and strengthened the independent commissions. On 9 January 2016, a resolution was tabled for the Parliament to sit as a constitutional assembly to consider proposals for constitutional reform. The Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reform was appointed by the Prime Minister to gather public opinion on the constitutional reform. The Committee’s recommendations were submitted in May 2016 in a report to the Cabinet Subcommittee on Constitutional Reforms. 13. The importance of guarantees for the inclusion of provisions protecting minority rights featured prominently in all discussions concerning the constitutional reform. A majority of those consulted expressed fears that retaining the primacy of Buddhism in the Constitution could lead to further suppression of and discrimination against minority religions and communities. Others stated that they did not object to the preservation of this clause as long as specific non-discrimination guarantees were also built into the Constitution to prevent the potential misuse and misinterpretation of article 9. Article 16, relevant to personal laws, was cited as especially problematic and harmful for Muslim women, who argued that it should have no place in the new Constitution. Transitional justice 14. Under way in parallel to the constitutional reform process is the transitional justice process following the co-sponsorship by Sri Lanka of Human Rights Council resolution 30/1, in which the Council emphasized the importance of a comprehensive transitional justice approach on the basis of the four pillars of non-recurrence, right to truth, right to justice and reparations. 15. The Government has established the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation as well as the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms, which has begun, through its Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms, nationwide public consultations on the mechanisms to be established for reconciliation. National human rights commission 16. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka was established in 1996. The independence and integrity of the Commission were severely compromised under the previous regime; however, its credibility was finally restored in May 2015 with the adoption of the nineteenth amendment, which ushered in new leadership and members on the advice of the Constitutional Council. However, the Commission continues, to face challenges, including inadequate financial, physical and human resources, as well as insufficient staff training and expertise.1 Institutional resistance from government entities, 1 See http://hrcsl.lk/english/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Draft-Strategic-Plan-2016-2019-of-HRCSLEnglish.pdf. 5