Obama ambassador pick vows to keep hounding Sri Lanka on human rights

 

 By Julian Pecquet - 06/06/12 

President Obama's pick to be U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka vowed to make human rights a priority during her confirmation hearing Wednesday.

“If confirmed I can [assure you] that human rights issues … will be on the top of my agenda,”  said Michele Sison.

Sison made the remarks after lawmakers made it clear during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that they want the administration to keep the pressure on Sri Lanka to punish human rights violators on both sides of the civil war that ended three years ago.

“Recent reports by the Department of State, the U.N. and international human-rights groups cite forced disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture, and repression of media and political opposition as ongoing problems,” said Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), the author of a resolution calling for greater accountability in the country. “The United States should continue to work with the international community to push for greater accountability and protection for human rights in Sri Lanka.”

Casey went on to urge Sison to keep up the pressure on the Sri Lankan government if she's confirmed because the issue “is not going to go away until the world sees results.”

Sison made a similar pledge in her written testimony to the committee.

"If confirmed," she wrote, "I stand ready to lead our efforts to support Sri Lanka as it moves forward and to use U.S. assistance strategically to promote reconciliation, strengthen democratic institutions and practices, and foster economic growth, particularly in the north and east."