UNHR chief refers to SL probe in UN report
October 23, 2014 05:40 pm
Addressing the General Assembly’s main body dealing with social, humanitarian, and cultural issues (Third Committee), UN High Commissioners for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said OHCHR was also assisting or conducting three Commissions of Inquiry or mandated investigations - on the Syrian Arab Republic, Central African Republic and Sri Lanka - with three more soon to become operational, on Eritrea, the occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem, and Iraq.
He said that at the root of crises confronted by the United Nations usually lies a “complex web” of violations of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights requiring solutions that can only come from more emphatic and comprehensive protections.
“When human rights go wrong - when violations and abuses generate explosive crises and conflicts - the cost in bloodshed, in wrecked economies and humanitarian aid is titanic,” he added, urging the world to enable his Office not only with the capacity to detect and alert to violations, but to ensure that the “alarm bells” are followed by swift action.
The High Commissioner also presented a report on the work of his Office (OHCHR) between August 2013 and July 2014, under his predecessor, Navi Pillay.
