Govt looks to improve rights record

PTI: Following new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe’s assertion that his Government would get the country’s human rights house in order, separate missions are to make crucial visits abroad to engage with global agencies.
Deputy Foreign Minister Ajith P. Perera said President Maithripala Sirisena’s International Affairs Advisor Jayantha Dhanapala is to travel to Geneva.
“We are taking the international commitments very seriously. Mr. Dhanapala will go to Geneva to meet with the UN Human Rights Council,” Perera said.
Dhanapala, a former top UN diplomat is to meet with Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN Human Rights Commissioner.
“We hope the next UNHRC report on Sri Lanka would be favourable. The new Government is determined to make amends with the international agencies,” Perera said.
The new Government has said they will continue with the same non-cooperation policy of the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa government on international investigation to probe alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
Premier Wickremasinghe said Sri Lanka would engage with the UN but criminal investigations would be done only as a domestic mechanism.
The Rajapaksa government claimed the UNHRC investigation impinged on the island’s sovereignty.
Separately, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera leaves for Brussels tomorrow to seek a postponement of EU’s fish exports ban on Sri Lanka.
“We will ask for a postponement of the ban,” Deputy Minister Perera said. EU has said the ban has come into effect on 14 January but would work with Sri Lanka to help it regain a delisting.
Parliament was told this week that the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act will be amended as a priority to comply with conditions in the EU fishing ban.

Zeid’s March report notes Lanka   The annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, which will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in March, takes note of the investigations on Sri Lanka. The report notes that during the period under review, which is between January and December last year, the Council had requested the High Commissioner to undertake a comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations of human rights by both parties in Sri Lanka during the period covered by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. He notes that in 2014 his office continued to support or established five commissions of inquiry mandated by the Human Rights Council or the Security Council, and initiated investigations on human rights violations in Sri Lanka and Iraq pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions. The report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will be discussed during the March session of the Council where a separate report in to be presented on the investigations on the war conducted by a team appointed by Zeid’s office. (Colombo Gazette)