UN probe panel on Sri Lanka yet to seek entry into the country
June 30, 2014 08:13 am
The
three-member panel appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to probe alleged
human rights abuses in Sri Lanka is yet to seek entry into the country. A
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said that the team has not yet asked
for approval to visit the island.
On
June 25, UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navy Pillay announced the three
member expert team which would advise and support a team of 12 UNHRC staff.
The
experts are, Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland and Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate, Silvia Cartwright, a former Governor-General and High Court
judge of New Zealand, and Jahangir, former President of Pakistan’s Supreme
Court Bar Association and of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, according
to a UN statement.
The
investigation team with whom they will work will consist of investigators,
forensics experts, a gender specialist, a legal analyst, and other specialised
staff.
The
team will be operational for 10 months upto mid April 2015 and will look into
alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by the
Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE during the last years of the armed conflict that
ended in 2009.
The
panel’s appointment was the result of the US-backed resolution at the UNHRC
session in Geneva in March, where the UN endorsed Pillay’s recommendation for
an external probe into serious violations and abuses of human rights in Sri
Lanka.
Sri
Lanka has expressed strong objections to the investigation panel saying they
would not cooperate with it as the move was an attack on the island’s
sovereignty.
The
parliament also passed a government backed resolution not to allow the UNHRC
team into the country.
The
UN said it was encouraging the government of Sri Lanka to fully cooperate with
the investigation which can help shed light on the truth and advance
accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, PTI reports.