Sri Lanka said that the recommendations of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL) will “receive due attention”, in a statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council today.
Sri Lanka’s ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha told the council that the OISL report had “set out clearly the path we intend to take”.
“We stated we take note of the Report of the OISL and that we will ensure that its content as well as recommendations receive due attention of the relevant authorities including the new mechanisms that are envisaged to be set up,” he added.
Earlier the High Commissioner had reiterated one of the reports key recommendations – “the establishment of an ad hoc hybrid special court, integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators, mandated to try notably war crimes and crimes against humanity, with its own independent investigative and prosecuting organ, defence office and witness and victims protections programme”.
See the full text of Sri Lanka's statement here.
The Sri Lankan government has rejected the notion, despite co-sponsoring a resolution calling for a "credible justice process" with "independent judicial and prosecutorial institutions led by individuals known for integrity and impartiality" and "Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers, and authorized prosecutors and investigators".
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has repeatedly rejected international involvement since the resolution was tabled and said his government had protected Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, by averting an international mechanism and ensuring foreign judges work under 'Sri Lanka's law and hierarchies'.
See our earlier posts:
Ranil reiterates foreign judges will work under 'Sri Lankan laws and hierarchies' (30 Sep 2015)
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