OISL findings are of a serious nature: UN Rights Chief

14 September 2015 06:58 am

Hinting at the contents of the report on the international investigation on Sri Lanka carried out by the UNHRC, which set for public release on Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein notes the findings of the OISL (OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka) are of ‘the most serious nature’.

In the opening statement, which High Commissioner Zeid is due to deliver at the opening session of the 30th UNHRC session this afternoon he states that while the vision and commitment shown by President Maithripala Sirisena and the new government is welcome, the UNHRC owes Sri Lankans to ensure an accountability process that produces results and moves beyond the failures of the past.

“I welcome the vision shown by President 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,” the High Commissioner will note in his statement.

The report on the international investigation which came to be known as OISL (OHCHR investigation on Sri Lanka), which was mandated through a US sponsored resolution in March 2014, was due to be released at the last UNHRC session but was granted a ‘one-time only’ deferral. It is set to be released to the public on Wednesday (16) along with the high Commissioner’s recommendations and would be officially presented before the Council on September 30. (Lakna Paranamanna)