Addressing the ongoing session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, the Sri Lankan delegation at the session said that as a founding member of the Commonwealth, Sri Lanka is firmly committed to the values and principles of the organisation.

“Due process and constitutional requirements have been followed in relation to the impeachment of the former Chief Justice,” the Sri Lankan delegation said at the 22nd session of the Council yesterday.

The comments were made by the Sri Lankan delegation as a right to reply to views expressed by Canada, Sweden and Slovakia.

Canada had urged the government to implement  without delay, the recommendations of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

The Canadian delegation at the 22nd UNHRC session had today urged Sri Lanka to demonstrate its commitment to the Commonwealth fundamental values and principles.

Sweden also raised concerns over the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, including the recent attacks on the judiciary.

Slovakia raised similar concerns on Sri Lanka and called for the effective implementation of the National Action Plan on the LLRC recommendations.

The Indian High Commission in Colombo said that that these reports are totally baseless and that there has been no radiation leak at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.

The High Commission said that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (Unit-1) is currently in an advanced stage of commissioning.

It said that ‘Initial Fuel Loading’ has been completed and various tests prior to ‘First Approach to Criticality’ are under progress.

Close monitoring of the testing procedures and their results is being undertaken by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).

“Further, an AERB Observers’ Team is at the site to monitor various commissioning activities and report to the AERB on a daily basis. Only after checking compliance with safety requirements does AERB permit taking up of the next commissioning stage,” the High Commission said.

The High Commission says at this stage of commissioning, the nuclear fission process has not yet begun and there is no generation of radiation or radioactive material, and therefore, there is no release or leakage of radioactive material.

“Also, as per established practice, area radiation monitoring (within the plant) and environmental radiation monitoring (covering air, water route discharges) are in place and their readings are continuously monitored. These readings are of background level and do not indicate any release or leakage of radioactive material,” the Indian High Commission added.

Sri Lankan environmental activists have protested opposite the Indian embassy in Colombo, demanding a halt to a nuclear power plant being built in southern India.

Environmental groups in Sri Lanka had this week raised fears of the dangers posed by the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant to Sri Lanka.

The 22nd Session of the Human Rights Council opened today with statements by Remigiusz A. Henczel President of the Human Rights Council, Vuk Jeremic, President of the General Assembly and Navanethem Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights.

This was followed by the commencement of the High Level segment where country statements were delivered. Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha and members of the delegation attended the session. The current session runs through the 22 March 2013. Sri Lanka is due to engage the Council under relevant agenda items and a number of thematic sessions.

Today’s agenda also included a High Level Panel on Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA) today. Intervening during the Panel, Deputy Permanent Representative Manisha Gunasekera “recalled that the promotion and protection of human rights as enshrined in the VDPA should be carried out in a spirit of cooperation, mutual respect and dialogue, and in conformity with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and norms governing international relations”.

It was noted that “Sri Lanka is particularly mindful of the VDPA’s affirmation of the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelatedness of human rights which denotes the equal importance of civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights” stressed the delegation.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, making a video statement during the panel highlighted that promoting and protecting rights was confirmed as a priority United Nations objective and this lead to the crucial decision to create the post of High Commissoner for Human Rights.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay while making her statement said VDPA is the most significant overarching human rights document produced in the last quarter of century and said that the most pertinent feature in this document is its universality.

Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Plantation Industries and the President’s Special Envoy on Human Rights and leader of the Sri Lanka delegation, who is due to arrive in Geneva on Tuesday, will deliver Sri Lanka’s National Statement during the High Level segment of the Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

The IGP had been instructed to appoint a team to investigate the incident.

Shauketaly was shot at by a group of unidentified men in his house at hotel road in Mount Lavinia last night.

Shauketaly received bullet injuries in his neck and was rushed to the Kalubowila hospital and was later transferred to the Colombo National hospital.

The gun-shot wounds were however not life threatening. Eyewitnesses said they saw three men running away from his room following the shooting incident.

The police said that the two victims were asleep in the house when it was on fire  and they were burned to death.

The police identified the victims as a 37 year old woman and an 8 year old girl.

Meanwhile the husband of the woman and another child who were sleeping separately in the same house were unharmed in the fire.

The police suspect the fire was caused by a mosquito coil which was lit overnight.

The latest incident comes after 1000 children were hospitalized in Gampola this week after suffering from the allergic reaction.

The children were from the Jinaraja Balika (girl’s) school. Gampola Hospital Director Sarath Weerabandara had said that the allergy was still not identified.

Central Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake had said that the school had been closed till Monday following the incident.

The United Nations has stood by a decision to censor parts of the internal review report on Sri Lanka, saying it was done to protect the names of some UN staff and also strictly confidential documents.

UN Chef de Cabinet, Susana Malcorra told reporters in New York there was a decision taken after a discussion with UN Secretary-General Ban ki-moon regarding how they are going to make the report public.

“The report has references to documents related particularly to the policy committee meetings and the deliberations, but also to some of the code cables that are of a strictly confidential nature.  The Secretary-General felt, and I fully share his view, that there was nothing that will change the transparency to show the report if we took out those aspects that have a clear relation to documents of internal use that were fully available to the Panel, which only indicate how open and available every single person and every single document was, but didn’t necessarily add any value, but also put the Organization at risk by sharing publicly in such a short term internal documents,” she said.

She also said that in some cases there were references to staff members which could put that person in jeopardy vis-à-vis his or her personal safety.

“So that you may find a couple of markers on that.  We feel that this is a responsible way to be transparent.  We feel about this very strongly and we would like to have a shared view with you all, because as much as we want to push the envelope of transparency as the Secretary-General does, we also need to be responsible vis-à-vis the ability of the Organization to handle and manage its own internal affairs.  So, I will pose this to you.  That was the criteria; it was an internal decision taken by the Organization, and we stand by that,” she said.

The Head of the Secretary-General’s Internal Review Panel on United Nations Action in Sri Lanka, Charles Petrie meanwhile said that there was no substantive difference in terms of facts and even argument between the penultimate version of the report and the final version.

“What we were trying to do is to find language that would make the report more balanced and more acceptable in terms of the message that we were trying to give,” he said.

Asked about the White Flag incident, Petrie said there was an honest attempt by the UN to try and get the Government to accept the surrender of the LTTE but it just didn’t work.

A Tamil refugee branded a security threat by ASIO and held in detention in Melbourne has attempted to take his life, following a suicide attempt last week by another Tamil man in Sydney.

Managing arrivals from Sri Lanka has emerged as the biggest challenge for immigration authorities, with the latest boat intercepted at Cocos Island on Wednesday carrying 86 people.

It comes as international pressure builds for a boycott of the Commonwealth meeting to be held in Sri Lanka next year.

More than 5700 Sri Lankans have landed on Australian territory this year, making up more than 80 per cent of all asylum seekers who have arrived by boat.

The Immigration Department has stepped up involuntary deportation of Sri Lankans from the majority Singhalese ethnic group, including 32 on Thursday.

But the number of arrivals continues to outpace deportations and the United Nations has expressed alarm that Australia may not be adequately assessing asylum claims.

Of Sri Lankan asylum seekers already in Australia, the most difficult cases include more than 50 people, the majority Tamils, held in detention.

They have been found to be refugees – preventing them being returned home – but branded a security risk by ASIO, making them ineligible for release into the community.

About 10 men with adverse assessments are being held at the Broadmeadows centre in Melbourne. There have been several suicide attempts this year among the group.

The latest case involves a man – known as Fairfax – who has been detained since June 2009.

He was found early on Thursday morning by another detainee and taken to hospital. (Huntsvaley news)

Another group of Sri Lankan men have been sent home to Sri Lanka from Christmas Island to Colombo today, the Australian High Commission in Colombo said.

This is the sixth involuntary removal to take place in the last week and was made up of 32 Sri Lankan men, all recent arrivals from a number of different boats.

This latest group takes to 232 the number of Sri Lankans returned involuntarily since 13 August, the High Commission said.

The men were advised of their status and that they were subject to removal from Australia. They raised no issues that engaged Australia’s international obligations.

Without a valid visa they had no legal right to remain in Australia and were removed at the earliest opportunity.

“The message is clear that people who pay smugglers are risking their lives and throwing their money away. There is no visa awaiting them on arrival, there is no speedy outcome, and no special treatment,” the High Commission quoted Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Bowen.

The Government will continue to return people where they do not engage Australia’s international obligations.

“We are committed to breaking the people smuggling trade and preventing people from taking these dangerous boats to Australia. And we will continue to regularly transfer people to Nauru and shortly to Manus Island,” he said.

Since 13 August, 324 Sri Lankans have returned home – both voluntarily and involuntarily – as people realise that these smugglers only sell lies and false promises about what awaits people in Australia.

People returned involuntarily do not have access to reintegration assistance.

He announced his decision in parliament today, just days after DNA MPs Arjuna Ranathunga and Tiran Alles decided to leave the alliance.

Ranathunga and Alles resigned following comments made against them by Democratic Party leader Sarath Fonseka.