Govt. To Hit Back
By Easwaran Rutnam
The Sri Lankan Government is preparing to counter allegations to be raised at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) during its 27th regular session which begins tomorrow.
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Geneva Ravinatha Aryasinha will lead the Sri Lankan delegation to the session and will make a statement on the opening day of the session tomorrow, sources said.
During the three-week session the Council will hear the first address from the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein.
Focus will be on Sri Lanka on September 24th with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) set to submit an oral update on the investigations into the war in Sri Lanka.
Sources said that the Sri Lankan delegation led by Aryasinha will respond to the allegations expected to be raised through the oral update by OHCHR.
In its resolution A/HRC/25/1 adopted in March 2014 on “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka”, the United Nations Human Rights Council requested the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to “undertake a comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka during the period covered by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), and to establish the facts and circumstances of such alleged violations and of the crimes perpetrated with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring accountability, with assistance from relevant experts and special procedures mandate holders”.
The Council requested the High Commissioner to present an oral update at its 27the session and a comprehensive report on the investigations at its twenty-eighth session.
Accordingly OHCHR will submit the oral update on September 24th, the final week of the 27th UNHRC regular session.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights established the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL), based in Geneva and has been collecting testimonials on the war from the public