Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the government will be able to “salvage the good name of our country and our armed forces” through a domestic investigation into war crimes committed by Sri Lankan troops.
Speaking at a press conference in Colombo, Mr Samaraweera said “Since Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the Rome Statute regarding international jurisdiction with regard to war crimes, ensuring justice with regard to such matters will be the business of national independent judicial mechanisms.”
Stating that the government was in the process of doing so, with “international technical assistance”, and the minister was “sure we’ll be able to salvage the good name of our country and our armed forces by doing so”.
Mr Samaraweera went on to say the domestic mechanism would be in place before the UN Human Rights Council meets in September and that when an ongoing investigation into mass atrocities by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights concludes, it could be referred to the domestic Sri Lankan mechanism.