UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein today said that he will release his report on Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
In his opening address at the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today, Al Hussein said that the findings in the report are of the most serious nature.
“Six years ago, we were confronted with serious violations and loss of civilian life in the last months of Sri Lanka’s long civil war. This Council has been deeply engaged with the need for accountability, as a necessary step towards reconciliation in that country. On Wednesday I will release the report of the comprehensive investigation that OHCHR was mandated to conduct in March 2014, including my recommendations. Its findings are of the most serious nature,” he said.
The High Commissioner also said that he welcomes the vision shown by President Maithripala Sirisena since his election in January 2015, and the commitments made by the new Government under his leadership.
“But this Council owes it to Sri Lankans – and to its own credibility – to ensure an accountability process that produces results, decisively moves beyond the failures of the past, and brings the deep institutional changes needed to guarantee non-recurrence,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday Foreign Minister Mangala Samarweera met the High Commissioner and briefed him on the domestic process undertaken by the Government to address human rights concerns. (Colombo Gazette)