Govt says seeking delay in UN war-crimes report

12 February 2015 05:06 am

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said on Wednesday that they were seeking a delay of several months in the release of a U.N. report on alleged war crimes during the civil war until the government had time to establish a mechanism to deal with the issue.


"Once the report is finalized, we are hoping they can refer it to our domestic mechanism for action," Samaraweera told reporters during a visit to Washington. "We are hoping they could hold on to it until our mechanism is in place – maybe August, you know, or so."


According to the Reuters, U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville has declined comment earlier on Wednesday when asked about the possibility of a delay in the report, but when pressed, said it was still scheduled for release on March 25.


In March last year, the U.N. Human Rights Council voted to look into reports of abuses during the Sri Lankan civil war, saying the Sri Lankan government had failed to investigate properly. The U.N. report is due out on March 25.