Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera on Friday hailed the consensus resolution on mass atrocities in Sri Lanka to be tabled at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), as a "victory" for Sri Lanka.
"Today we have achieved a path-breaking success in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva at the current 30th Session," Mr Samaraweera said, chairing the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers Meeting in New York.
"For the last several years, Sri Lanka was repeatedly humiliated by the international community with Resolutions that censured the conduct of our country. Successive resolutions since 2012, adopted by divisive and acrimonious voting, resulted in repeated defeats and isolation for Sri Lanka."
Describing the previous resolutions calling for accountability for serious and grave allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Tamil people during the final stages of the armed conflict as a "point of embarrassment", he added, "we have succeeded in winning over the once divided Human Rights Council to work with the Government of Sri Lanka."
"The armed forces of Sri Lanka were once recognised internationally for their professionalism and discipline. The international community recognises this fact and the unfortunate reality that the reputation of the vast majority of the armed forces was tainted in the recent past because of the system and culture created by a few in positions of responsibility."
"Today we have achieved a path-breaking success in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva at the current 30th Session," Mr Samaraweera said, chairing the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers Meeting in New York.
"For the last several years, Sri Lanka was repeatedly humiliated by the international community with Resolutions that censured the conduct of our country. Successive resolutions since 2012, adopted by divisive and acrimonious voting, resulted in repeated defeats and isolation for Sri Lanka."
Describing the previous resolutions calling for accountability for serious and grave allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Tamil people during the final stages of the armed conflict as a "point of embarrassment", he added, "we have succeeded in winning over the once divided Human Rights Council to work with the Government of Sri Lanka."
"The armed forces of Sri Lanka were once recognised internationally for their professionalism and discipline. The international community recognises this fact and the unfortunate reality that the reputation of the vast majority of the armed forces was tainted in the recent past because of the system and culture created by a few in positions of responsibility."