South Asians for Human Rights

Promoting Democracy, Upholding Human Rights

The UN Human Rights report published yesterday is a well-crafted and sober report which itself says it is not a criminal investigation, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.

Speaking at a press briefing in Colombo Samaraweera told reporters that the report gives the narrative that some of the Human Rights violations or war crimes may have happened.

“It’s up to us to investigate and ensure the justice and such thing doesn’t happen again,” Samaraweera said.

However the Minister said the proposal of establishing a hybrid special court and its technical details is not yet finalized.

“We also put forward several proposals to them, so the final decision on this hybrid system will be decided after consultations with political parties, civil society organizations and other relevant parties.”

The government has also planned to start consultations about the report recommendations with pertinent stakeholders from mid October and finalized the mechanism or structure by January next year.

“Our objective is to implement this mechanism during maximum 18 months.” Samaraweera said.

Minister has told UN Human Rights Commissioner that the government is willing to strengthen the current office of the UN in Colombo rather than establishing a separate permanent mission for HR in Colombo.

http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/ Updated On: Sep 17, 2015