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Sandra Beidas to coordinate OHCHR investigative team into Sri Lanka

Sandra Beidas, a senior official previously with the UN mission in South Sudan, has been appointed by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to coordinate the investigative team examining mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, reports Al Jazeera.

According to the news agency, the team will comprise 12 members, including two experts in forensics as well as a legal analyst and a gender specialist. The investigation is intended to commence later this month and last for ten months.

Earlier this week, the SLFP decided that the decision as to whether to allow the OHCHR team to visit Sri Lanka would be debated and determined by Parliament, stating it was a matter of "national importance".

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, had requested the team be allowed to visit Sri Lanka in a letter to the country's Minister of External Affairs, G.L. Peiris, the paper reported.

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