The United States will support a resolution pushing Sri Lanka to address accountability issues at the UN Human Rights Council session next month.
The resolution would be asking for the same ‘internal mechanism’ that the UN panel of experts recommended nearly one year ago.
Under Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake responded to reporters in Colombo when he was asked if the US would support a resolution.
“The United States will support a very straightforward resolution that the government of Sri Lanka has not yet done enough to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee, and comprehensively address the question of accountability,” said Blake.
“A very important part of the whole process of reconciliation will be accountability,” he added, pointing out that even though an ‘internal mechanism’ would be preferable, if this fails there will be demands for “some sort of international mechanism”.
Mr Blake reiterated US criticism of the LLRC, highlighting the importance of addressing issues not covered by the report.
“Reports such as the U.N. panel of experts report describes in some detail some of their concerns human rights violations and the war crimes allegations that have occurred particularly in the end stages of the conflict from January to May 2009… The LLRC report did not cover [these] in detail.
"This is very, very important in achieving a just and durable settlement and reconciliation. So we talked in detail with our friends in government about that,” he added.
Maria Otero, Under Secretary General of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights called on the Sri Lankan Government to implement the recommendations of the LLRC.
“I urged the Sri Lankan Government to share the details of their plans and begin fulfilling the recommendations called for in the report, and to credibly address outstanding issues of accountability,” she told journalists in Colombo.
“I confirmed the United States will support a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council in March that provides an opportunity for the Government of Sri Lanka to describe what it intends to do to implement the LLRC's recommendations and advance reconciliation, as well as address accountability, human rights and democracy concerns,” added Ms Otero.
“We hope that all Sri Lankans see diversity as a strength, not a weakness.”
Senior US diplomats to visit SL for war crimes talk - 07 Feb 2012
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