March 23, 2012
Sri Lanka’s Mahinda Samarasinghe before a special session of the Human Rights Council. Photo by Jean-Marc Ferre/United Nations
By Colombo Telegraph -
“Ambassador met with Minister of Disaster Relief and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe January 30 to share with him a list of suggested actions the Government could take to address the human rights situation. The deeply frustrated Minister (strictly protect throughout) expressed concern that the President and his two brothers have rendered his human rights and humanitarian access efforts ineffective and that he would not sacrifice his political career to become ‘part of a white wash’ for the Government of Sri Lanka’s (GSL) recent human rights violations.Ambassador invited the Minister to participate in a press conference with several other heads of mission to express support for the good work that NGOs do for the citizens of Sri Lanka and counter the recent negative publicity international NGOs have been subject to. Minister Samarasinghe agreed, and asked that Ambassador also take his humanitarian message directly to President Rajapaksa.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.
The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” and written by the Ambassador Robert O. Blake on January 30, 2007.
