A Sri Lankan minister claimed that president Maithripala Sirisena is not against a UN Human Rights Council resolution which mandated a hybrid court with international judges, despite his government repeatedly speaking out against such a mechanism.
“I don’t think the President is really against the UNHRC or the setting up of OMP,” claimed Harsha De Silva in an address to Sri Lanka’s parliament.
His remarks come despite Sirisena having criticised the UN process, called for his country from to withdraw from the resolution and repeatedly vowed not to abide by key terms in the resolution such as allowing international judges in an accountability mechanism.
“It seems that he is being misled by someone,” claimed De Solva. “I know the President might get angry with me for saying it. The President should not get misled. He should work with us instead.”
See more from the Daily Mirror here and see De Silva’s address on his Facebook page here.
Sirisena is one of various Sri Lankan leaders who pledged not to fully implement the UN resolution, which Sri Lanka co-sponsored last month. Sri Lanka’s foreign minister told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that his government would not allow foreign judges.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
