For UN High Commissioner, the Sri Lankan government must lay the foundations for peace and reconciliation
Colombo (AsiaNews) – In a video message to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein (pictured) said that Sri Lanka can “lay the basis for long-term reconciliation and peace” after almost 30 years of civil war between the regular army and Tamil rebels.
For his part, the Sri Lankan ambassador said at the meeting that the Sri Lankan government is willing to accept the assistance of the international community to safeguard the human rights of all citizens.
The UN representative presented the report on war crimes published in mid-September, which confirms the responsibility of former President Rajapaksa and the rebels in the last stages of the civil war.
He noted that the report was released at a period of relative political stability compared to the tension present in the country before.
Al Hussein asked the current government to criminalise hate speech and the constant interference taking place in the country’s northern and eastern districts, including harassment and intimidation by the army and the intelligence services.
“Sri Lanka,” he said, “can finally break the cycle of impunity that for so long wracked its past. This will require more than prosecuting a few emblematic cases, but rather a comprehensive approach, developed through a broad-based and victim-centred process of consultation”.
Speaking at the same meeting in Geneva yesterday, Sri Lanka's Ambassador Ravinatha P. Aryasingha told the UN Human Rights Council that the Sri Lanka government will ensure that the content of the report on Sri Lanka by the High Commissioner for human rights as well as the recommendations receive due attention by the relevant authorities, including the new mechanisms, like a commission of inquiry, that are envisaged.
"The president and prime minister placed reconciliation as well as development as the top-most priorities of the government,” he said. Likewise, "The spirit of the Government that I represent is to build a nation that is prosperous, a nation where the human rights of all individual citizens are protected".
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14/03/2022 13:03
