{"id":51311,"date":"2017-02-09T03:14:23","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T08:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=51311"},"modified":"2017-02-09T03:14:23","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T08:14:23","slug":"sri-lanka-to-request-more-time-from-un-human-rights-council-to-implement-resolution-setting-up-reconciliation-and-transitional-justice-mechanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=51311","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka To Request More Time From UN Human Rights Council to Implement Resolution Setting up Reconciliation and Transitional Justice Mechanism."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Dharisha Bastians<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka will request more time at the UN Human Rights Council Session that convenes later this month, to implement the October 2015 resolution calling on the Government to establish mechanisms to deal with post-war reconciliation and justice for major rights abuses during the war. <\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said he would travel to Geneva on 27 February to address the UNHRC, to tell the Council that the Government needed more time to make good on its transitional justice commitments as outlined in the resolution it co-sponsored in 2015. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we need more time,\u201d the Foreign Minister told Foreign Correspondents in Colombo on Tuesday night, adding that the extended timeline would not be \u201cforever\u201d. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Minister Samaraweera pledged that there would not be a U-turn on the Government\u2019s reconciliation and justice commitments but sticking to the same metaphor he admitted that there could be \u201cdetours\u201d from time to time. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut the destination remains the same,\u201d he asserted during the meeting. <\/p>\n

The Foreign Minister admitted that progress on reconciliation and accountability had not proceeded as fast as it should have. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome Sinhalese nationalists think we are moving too fast, some Tamil nationalists believe we are moving too slow, but we are trying to adopt the policy of festina lente \u2013 to make haste slowly,\u201d Minister Samaraweera said, adopting a favourite Latin phrase he has used previously when addressing the UNHRC in Geneva. <\/p>\n

The Minister, who has consistently championed human rights and reconciliation issues despite waning support for the moves within his own Government, vowed that Sri Lanka\u2019s post-conflict truth-seeking and justice efforts were not motivated by international pressure but by a duty towards its own citizens. <\/p>\n

Responding to questions about whether the Government would proceed with transitional justice efforts even when positions on human rights and international intervention may have shifted in the US and Britain – countries that were the main architects of resolutions on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC, Samaraweera responded: \u201cEven if they don\u2019t insist, we insist.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile what we have left to do is daunting, what we have already achieved is remarkable, against all odds,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

A progress report on the UNHRC resolution adopted by consensus in October 2015 is due at the Council\u2019s March 2017 session. A report by the High Commissioner of Human Rights, who has been tasked by the Council to support, monitor and assist reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka, is also due this month. <\/p>\n

Courtesy: Daily FT<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dharisha Bastians Sri Lanka will request more time at the UN Human Rights Council Session that convenes later this month, to implement the October 2015 resolution calling on the Government to establish mechanisms to deal with post-war reconciliation and justice for major rights abuses during the war. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said he would …<\/p>\n

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