US hails post-election human rights climate in Sri Lanka

Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the United Nations, said on Saturday that it is “remarkable” to see the changed human rights climate in Sri Lanka, following the Presidential Election in January.

She termed her meeting with Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera as “encouraging.”

“Encouraging mtg w/ FM Samaraweera. Remarkable to see changed human rights climate in #SriLanka since Jan elections,” Power wrote on Twitter, following the meeting.

Samaraweera, who is currently in New York, has used his trip to the United States to persuade U.S. and U.N. officials of the importance of delaying the release of a U.N. report on Sri Lanka.

He met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday at U.N. headquarters in New York and discussed “critical priorities for Sri Lanka, including especially human rights, accountability and reconciliation.

Samaraweera said in Washington earlier this week that the situation at home was fragile and is therefore seeking to delay the scheduled release of the U.N. Human Rights Council report until “August ... or so.”

He also met the US Secretary of State John Kerry in the US capital .