No trust in SL’s process-UK

26 February 2014 05:58 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 47 Bookmark

CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA Follow

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Britain on Tuesday said it did not believe that the processes set up by the Sri Lankan Government, such as the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission or the Commission of inquiry on Disappearances announced last year, adequately addressed accountability.

Responding to a question during a debate in the UK Parliament Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Hugo Swire said that following her visit to Sri Lanka last year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that she had detected 'no new or comprehensive effort' to investigate these allegations. “We share the High Commissioners concerns and do not believe that processes set up by the Sri Lankan Government, such as the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission or the Commission of inquiry on Disappearances announced last year, adequately address accountability.”

He also said that since the end of the military conflict in Sri Lanka, the British Government has been clear that there should be a credible, transparent and independent investigation into allegations of violations and abuses of international humanitarian and human rights law.

“If credible domestic investigations have not begun properly by March 2014, the Prime Minister has been clear that we will use our position on the United Nations Human Rights Council to work with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other countries to call for an international investigation,” he said.