Responding to Britain’s travel advisory warning on Sri Lanka, the country’s Foreign Ministry, G.L. Peiris, lashed out against the UK accusing the government of singling out Sri Lanka for criticism and claimed individuals had gained 'mega financial benefits' as the United Nations Human Rights Council passed resolutions on mass atrocities committed on the island.
According to a report in The Island, Peiris claimed “the UN squandered money on a costly project targeting Sri Lanka”.
“The FM also flayed those who received mega financial benefits at Sri Lanka’s expense as a result of the UN body pursuing an agenda inimical to the war winning country,” the report added.
Questioning the focus on Sri Lanka, Peiris stated:
“Is that because we are small, we don’t have large armies, we are not an affluent nation?”
Despite claiming to want to uncover documentation, Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry has repeated opposed international investigations into war crimes as well as the UN Human Rights Council resolution which mandated the collection, consolidation, and preservation of evidence of war crimes for future war crimes trials.
In December Human Rights Watch raised concerns over concerted attempts to slash UN funding for investigations into atrocities such as “rights violations in Sri Lanka”. Last August, then British Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, reiterated Britain’s commitment to support funding for the UN mechanism focusing on Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister also slammed the British travel advisory warning which warned travellers of the potential for a future terror attack.
“If you were a British family contemplating a holiday with your loved ones, your friends, in Sri Lanka, would you for a moment consider a holiday in a country where your government says terrorists’ violence is likely” the Foreign Minister stated.
Since his remarks, violent protests have broken out in Colombo in response to the dire economic situation.