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Sri Lanka states draft UN resolution is 'repetitive, judgemental and prescriptive'

The Sri Lankan government labelled a draft United Nations Human Rights Council resolution dealing with mass atrocities on the island as “repetitive, judgemental and prescriptive” in comments made during an informal discussion on Monday.

In a written statement distributed to member states, Sri Lankan Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha said the current draft of the resolution was “imbalanced” as it was “emphasizing excessively on the criminal justice aspects”.

“My delegation is of the view that a lengthy resolution of the nature of the current draft before us which contains 24 preambular paras and 26 operative paras, which is repetitive, judgemental and prescriptive is not in keeping with the spirit of the process of reconciliation and reform that is underway in my country,” he added.

“Certain terminology used such as 'verification' is new and intrusive language,” said the statement, and added that the resolution “must also observe clear, cogent language that the people of Sri Lanka find respectful”.

The current draft of the resolution “calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka, to involve international investigators, prosecutors and judges in Sri Lanka’s justice processes”.

Last week, Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena reiterated that his “stand is to have a domestic inquiry”. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, echoed Mr Sirisena's calls, saying, "What I emphasise is that, there will be no 'international inquiry'.” “Nobody knows what a hybrid court is although they talk through the local media,” he said. “We do not accept this... We haven’t sold our sovereignty or integrity.”

See more here.

See Sri Lanka's response to the draft resolution in full below.

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