Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, G. L. Peiris, briefed the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, during a virtual meeting as part of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Sunday.
After stating Sri Lanka’s commitment to the values, principles and objectives of the UN, the Minister dismissed international efforts of reconciliation in Sri Lanka.
“This is an ongoing process, and the country requires sufficient space for the local institutions to deliver on their mandates. The work done by these institutions cannot be replaced or taken over by external bodies,” he said.
He further slammed the proposed evidence-collecting mechanism in the latest UNHRC resolution. Peiris referred to the resolution on accountability and justice in Sri Lanka which was passed during the 47th session of the UN Human Right Council (UNHRC) in March 2021, stating that such an ad-hoc mechanism that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is trying to establish “is not acceptable to Sri Lanka and not in line with the spirit and letters of the UN Charter.”
Peiris was amongst the small number of officials who accompanied President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to the UNGA session on Saturday.
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