EU To Push For UN Probe

By Easwaran Rutnam

The European Parliament has decided to push for a UN commission of inquiry into the crimes committed in Sri Lanka during the war.
A Resolution agreed upon by the European Parliament last week on its position at the next UN Human Rights Council session includes its stand on Sri Lanka.
On Sri Lanka, the European Parliament said it will stress on the need to further support efforts to strengthen the accountability process in Sri Lanka and continue to call for the establishment of a UN commission of inquiry into all crimes committed, as recommended by the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka.
“Stresses the need to further support efforts to strengthen the accountability process in Sri Lanka and continue to call for the establishment of a UN commission of inquiry into all crimes committed, as recommended by the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka; invites the Sri Lankan Government to send an invitation to the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression,” stated the EU Resolution on Sri Lanka to be presented at the UNHRC.
The UN Human Rights Council will convene in Geneva at the end of this month and the US has already said it will support a Resolution on Sri Lanka.
US Under-Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Maria Otero told reporters last week that the US position was communicated to President Mahinda Rajapaksa when she met him in Colombo.
She said that the Resolution will give the government an opportunity to address some human rights concerns, including those raised over the final stages of the war between the military and the LTTE.
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake, who accompanied Otero during her Sri Lankan visit, said that the Resolution to be presented on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC, and which is expected to have the support of several other countries as well, noted that Sri Lanka has failed to implement most of the recommendations of the LLRC.
Blake told reporters at the same press briefing, that the US government hopes Sri Lanka will address some of the concerns raised by the international community through a domestic mechanism, failing which the US government will push for an international independent probe.
The EU meanwhile said that it is satisfied with the resettlement process in Sri Lanka despite a few more families still remaining in camps even three years after the war ended.
The EU Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Bernard Savage said that the Sri Lankan government should be commended for the efforts it took to resettle most of the war displaced people.
The government resettled most of the people but a few more still remain, despite an assurance by the government last year that all displacement camps will be shut by last January.
Savage noted however that all the major camps for the war displaced have now been shut and appreciated the efforts taken by the international community to support the Sri Lankan government to send home those affected by 30 years of war.