Sri Lanka's delegation to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva due to begin Monday, assured the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, that "we [Sri Lanka] have dealt with accountability isses". Speaking to reporters afterwards, Sri Lanka's irrigation minister, Nimal Siripala de Silva, said when Pillay has raises the issue of war crimes and the UN expert panel report, they responsed promptly. “We corrected her immediately. We have dealt with accountability issues.” “We made that point during the discussion. Whatever it is, the people of Sri Lanka should approve it. We...
Sri Lanka has expressed outrage at the humiliating treatment meted out to Major General Shavendra Silva by a UN committee. Silva, who is accused of war crimes, was ejected from the peacekeeping advisory panel to Bank Ki-moon earlier this week, after widespread criticism of his selection to the committee. "To seek to exclude him from a position in the UN is unfair and contrary to the principles of the United Nations," the Sri Lankan government said in a statement issued in New York. It added that the action amounted to a "public lynching without trial" Silva still attended the first meeting of...
A UN peacekeeping committee reportedly barred Major General Shavendra Silva of the Sri Lankan Army from attending their meetings. "Following careful consideration and consultation with other special advisory group members, the chair, Louise Frechette, has advised Major General Shavendra Silva of Sri Lanka, that his participation is not appropriate or helpful for the purposes of this group ," said a statement released by Frechette. "He will not participate in its deliberations," added Frechette, a former UN deputy secretary general and top Canadian diplomat who was named by Ban to chair the...
Endorsing the "principled stand" of Louise Frechette, the chair of the UN body who made the decision to bar Major General Shavendra Silva from the UN's Special Advisory Group on Peace Keeping Operations, Philippe Bolopion, the UN director for Human Rights Watch, called on UN member states and the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, to publicly back her decision. In a statement released Thursday, Bolopion said, "General Silva was seeking a ‘blue wash’ of his record and got instead a stinging public rebuke. By defeating Silva’s attempt to pose as a respectable peacekeeping expert, Louise...
The Sri Lankan government vowed to conduct large scale rallies against the "Western forces" that are calling for an independent probe into the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The government's spokesperson, Susil Premajayantha, told reporters, " We will organise demonstrations to show that the people of this country are with the government. They are against the Western forces ." "We have lobbied member countries and the feedback that we have is very positive," "We will be able to block any resolution against us."
The Conservative MP for Harlow, Robert Halfon, writing on the ConservativeHome website, endorsed the Canadian pledge to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in 2013, if held in Sri Lanka, and urged the UK government to considering doing the same. Drawing attention to the " reports of violent suppression of Tamil dissidents, disappearing civilians, and secret executions ", Halfon said that Sri Lanka was " without doubt a hideous regime ". Outlining basic steps that must be met by the Sri Lankan government, such as, demilitarising the North-East, allowing the International...
The United States have reiterated their demand for Sri Lanka to take ‘concrete steps’ on reconciliation. State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said Sri Lanka had not attempted to implement any of the LLRC report’s recommendations. "To date, frankly, we've not seen a detailed action plan from the government of Sri Lanka on how it's going to implement these recommendations," Toner told reporters. "We still encourage the government of Sri Lanka to move forward, to take concrete steps on this implementation plan," "At the same time, we're working with our partners in Geneva on a resolution...
The Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka dismissed calls for an international inquiry into allegations of war crimes. Vladimir Mikhaylov was speaking at a conference marking 55 years of diplomatic relations between Russia and Sri Lanka, where he expressed Russia’s view that larger, more powerful nations cannot dictate to smaller countries how to govern or what type of leader should be in power. He argued that the legitimately elected governments should be allowed to solve internal matters themselves. "We always advocate that democratically elected government of Sri Lanka has a right to lead the...
The UNP's deputy leader, Sajith Premadasa, is reported to be working with UNP dissidents towards forming a new organisation, with the group's first meeting held in Kandy Upcountry Union recently. The rumours come amidst reports that the US Assistant Secretary of State, Robert Blake, felt it unnecessary to meet with the UNP's current leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, during his recent visit to Sri Lanka.
Ahead of the UNHRC March session, starting next week, Sri Lanka's minister of foreign affairs suggested it was unreasonable to expect implementation of the LLRC recommendations already. Peiris said, “The report was presented in Parliament on December 17, 2011. Then, we had the festive period. I was notified on January 25, 2012 that there would be a resolution against us. Is it reasonable for anyone to expect us to implement these recommendations within a span of four weeks? In comparable situations in other countries, it has sometimes taken ten years,” “A great deal of work has already been...