The newly appointed Permanent Representatives for the United Nations in Sri Lanka, Hanaa Singer, met with Sri Lanka’s president, Maithripala Sirisena this week.
Singer, who was previously the UNICEF Syria Representative, will lead the United Nations Country Team of 22 Resident and Non-Resident UN Agencies, as well as act as the representative of the UN Secretary-General in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan President’s Media Division reported that Singer told Sirisena “she would explore the possibility of widening the assistance”.
Her appointment comes as Sri Lanka is due to be discussed at the UN Human Rights Council next year, where a resolution it co-sponsored on accountability for crimes committed during the final phase of the armed conflict will be reviewed. Though Sri Lankan pledged to set up an accountability mechanism with international judges, senior Sri Lankan leaders including Sirisena, have repeatedly spoken out against such a move.
Just last week, the United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) also wrote to Sri Lanka, after the government failed to respond to a report, which called for information on the “establishment of a judicial mechanism” to investigate torture and information on the role of a former Criminal Investigations Department head.