Call for fully fledged OHCHR
presence in Sri Lanka misplaced
- delegation briefs DPLs
The Permanent Mission of
Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva
10th December 2007
SRI LANKAN DELEGATION TO THE
HRC 6TH SESSIONS DECEMBER 2007 HAS WORKING BREAKFAST AND LUNCHEON MEETINGS
WITH DIPLOMATIC
COMMUNITY IN GENEVA
The Sri Lankan delegation to the HRC 6th sessions in Geneva which began
today 10th December 2007, met with groups of Ambassadors and diplomatic
representatives at two working meetings at the Palais de Nations this
morning and afternoon.
The Sri Lankan delegation comprised Ms. Shirani Goonatilleke Director
Legal of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process Mr. Shavindra
Fernando, Deputy Solicitor General, and Mr. Amarawardene, Additional
Secretary, Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, and (Prof.
Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General of SCOPP was expected to join the
delegation later in the day.)
H.E. Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka presided at both meetings and Counsellors
Mr. Sumedha Ekanayake and Mr. Ameerajwad were also present.
Ambassadors or their representatives from Japan, Ecuador, Nigeria,
Thailand, Mexico, Djibouti, Jordan, Nicaragua, ROK, Brazil, China, Cuba,
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bangladesh, India, Philippines and the Holy See
were present.
The Diplomats were greatly appreciative of the opportunity to meet
with the delegation in order to discuss current issues in Sri Lanka
and to obtain first hand information. They also participated in a discussion
on Sri Lanka's position that a proposal from the UN Human Rights High
Commissioner (HC), for OHCHR to establish a fully fledged presence of
OHCHR in Sri Lanka, with a full mandate for public reporting - was misplaced.
The Sri Lankan delegation explained that the Government shared in the
HC`s concern of a "deficit in independent, reliable and credible
information on the situation of human rights in the country".
The Government was of the view that national mechanisms to promote
and protect the human rights of Sri Lanka`s citizens in the long-term
will be best served by creating a "strong national protection system".
The Government had also suggested the strengthening of the advisory
capacity of the UN Country team`s Senior Human Rights Advisor, in order
to enable the Advisor to assist the national reporting structures to
ensure credible, reliable and objective reporting that the HC had stressed
as essential.
The Government was therefore mounting a concerted effort to re-establish
a competent, community oriented police service, placing great emphasis
on capacity building of the Police. This included language learning,
recruitment of minorities and training in interrogation, investigation
and prosecution as well as to enhance the capacity of other key agencies
in the Criminal Justice System and the National Human Rights Commission
of Sri Lanka.
The delegation invited the Ambassadors to look at the issue of the
perceived deficit in credible reporting highlighted by the OHCHR in
the specific Sri Lankan context, which was one where actual acts of
terrorism were commonplace and had been prevalent for the last 25 years.
This they said was quite different to the post 9/11 scenario in many
western jurisdictions where strong anti terrorism laws had been enacted
in the face of "imminent terrorist threats" as preventive
legislation.
The necessity to advance the capacity of the crucial focal points in
the CJS was therefore obvious and could not be substituted by an OHCHR
office.
The fact that Sri Lanka had by statute set up an independent National
Human Rights Commission in 1994, with a requirement that it had to have
representatives of all ethnic communities and the upholding of fundamental
human rights by a strong Supreme Court were also cited as examples of
the independence and strength of national institutions in the country.
Building confidence in these institutions and giving legitimacy to
them in the eyes of all Sri Lankans, was seen as a priority by Government
which placed great emphasis in open and constructive engagement with
the international community and the UN bodies including the OHCHR.
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