British Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Hugo Swire, has stated that the UK strongly supports the position of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, adding that the international community has a duty to act on Sri Lanka.

Swire went on to add that,

“if a credible domestic process has not begun properly by March 2014 we will use our seat on the UN Human Rights Council to call for an international investigation.”

Responding to questions in Parliament, hours before the High Commissioner’s report was released (see here), Swire reiterated the March 2014 deadline, also stating,

“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.”

See his comments in full here.

Also see our earlier posts below.

'Any investigation must be internationally accepted' - UK (20 December 2013)

UK ‘concerned at military involvement in civilian activities’ (16 February 2014)

UK repeats March 2014 deadline (07 February 2014)

Sri Lanka's LLRC does not meet international standards - FCO (28 January 2014)

UK minister reiterates March deadline for Sri Lanka (19 January 2014)

EU Parliament sets March 2014 deadline (13 December 2013)

'British Tamils discuss international inquiry on war crimes and genocide with Shadow Foreign Secretary’ (06 Dec 2013)

British Foreign Secretary reiterates March deadline for SL war crimes probe (04 December 2013)

Britain sets March deadline for war crimes probe, Sri Lanka defiant (16 November 2013)

SL rejects March 2014 UN deadline... again (30 September 2013)