The British High Commission in Sri Lanka stated the UK was still fully committed to the UN process, including the upcoming report on mass atrocities on the island, yet called on the Sri Lankan government “to make progress domestically”.
In response to a query from The Island a spokesperson for the High Commission said:
"The UK remains fully committed to the UN process, including the OHCHR investigation and the publication of its report in September. It will then be for the government of Sri Lanka to demonstrate what progress it has made towards reconciliation and accountability, and how it will take forward the recommendations of the OHCHR report.”
The spokesperson went on to say:
“We have consistently called for Sri Lanka to make progress domestically. It is important that any accountability process is credible, inclusive, transparent, independent and meets international standards."
The comments come after the visit of two senior US officials to Sri Lanka this week, when it was announced the US would support the Sri Lankan government in creating a credible domestic process to address accountability and reconciliation. US assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, Tom Malinowski, added that any investigation by Sri Lanka into mass atrocities committed at the end of the armed conflict must be credible to the international community and must have some degree of international involvement.
The Tamil National Alliance and over 40 civil society organisations reiterated their calls this week for an international mechanism to address accountability.
See our earlier posts:
War-affected Tamils call on US to support international accountability mechanism (28 Aug 2015)
TNA 'demanded international accountability mechanism' – M. A. Sumanthiran (28 Aug 2015)
TNA still demand international investigation, NPC chair tells Japan rep (28 Aug 2015)