Colombo, Mar 19 (IANS): Sri Lanka is to formally respond to a new US resolution on Sri Lanka tabled at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

Spokesman Rodney Perera said that the government was studying the document and will respond to it when it is discussed at the Council, reports Xinhua.

The US Monday tabled the final version of the resolution at the 22nd session of the UNHRC in Geneva, with co-sponsors Austria, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway and Britain.

In a toned down document as compared to the previous drafts, the resolution requests the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to present an oral update to the at its 24th session.

It is also seeking a comprehensive report followed by a discussion at the 25th session, on the implementation of the present resolution.

The US said it had alerted the government last year on the possibility of taking action on Sri Lanka if there was no progress in human rights related issues.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland Monday said Sri Lanka had been alerted last year by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she met Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris.

Nuland said the US was working with several governments on the resolution on Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka faces -- but denies -- charges that its military killed a large number of Tamil civilians during the final stages of conflict that crushed the Tamil Tigers in 2009.