The British Foreign Secretary William Hague reiterated at the House of Commons today, that if the Sri Lankan government failed to show credible progress on addressing human rights issues before the Human Rights Council meeting in March, the UK would pursue a credible, thorough, international investigation in to the past and present alleged human rights abuses and atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan military.

The Foreign Secretary also expressed discontent at the Sri Lankan government’s failure to sign a declaration to end sexual violence in conflict. Outlining one of the reasons behind the Sri Lankan government’s reluctance to sign the agreement, he said,

“For instance because one of the provisions of our declaration is that there will be no amnesty in peace agreements for crimes of sexual violence and that there will be real accountability for what happened in the past. It is easy to see why the Sri Lankan government do not want to embrace those issues, but we will keep on raising them with them.”

Reiterating the March 2014 deadline given by David Cameron after his visit to the North-East, Hague outlined,

“We have called on the Sri Lankan authorities to investigate in an independent credible manner the allegations of sexual violence, including the allegations that it was committed by Sri Lankan forces during and after the recent conflict. The Prime minister has made it clear that in the absence of an independent investigation, we will press for an international investigation. We will continue to put the chase… In march, there will be a session of the Human Rights Council, of which, I am pleased to say the United Kingdom was re-elected as a voting member last month. We will use that position to raise the issue along with many others around the world."