The Ministry of Human Rights says the human rights report released by the US State Department last week consists of vague, non-specific and unverifiable information on Sri Lanka and would appear to fall short of the high standards that the State Department professes to uphold.

The Sri Lankan government notes that the basis for many assertions in the US State Department report are “reports” that are mainly attributed to anonymous “NGOs”, “international sources”, “human rights groups”, “observers” and other unnamed sources.

As in the past, few (if any) of these allegations have been made known to the government of Sri Lanka. Accordingly, the Government’s position, reaction or response to these assertions are not reflected in the report, making it a less than objective assessment, the Ministry of Human Rights said today.

It also noted that the US report unfortunately does not reflect the fact that the defeat of terrorism after nearly 30 years of conflict now creates an environment within which the human rights of all Sri Lankans can be safeguarded, protected and advanced.

“The report also clearly sets out to speculate on opposition claims of a LTTE pact and a  bribe given by President Rajapakse’s campaign. This is totally unacceptable and smacks of a political agenda being played out. This is further proof of the unprofessional and  subjective nature of the report,” the Sri Lankan Ministry of Human Rights said.

It also notes that the report, which is ostensibly based on the realization of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the benchmark, completely ignores the socioeconomic rights enshrined in Articles 25 and 26 of the Declaration.

Thus, despite Secretary Clinton’s claim that these reports provide “the most comprehensive record available of the condition of human rights around the world”, the report on Sri Lanka would appear to fall short of the high standards that the State Department professes to uphold, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Human Rights said. (Daily Mirror online)