After Pillay: Sharma To Do Damage Control For Lanka

September 5, 2013

The Government of Sri Lanka has decided to place its hopes on Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma seeking the protection of the Secretariat ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo in November, the Colombo Telegraph learns.

Rajapaksa and Sharma

Sharma has promised to assist the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to regain its status as a credible mechanism after the Commission was downgraded to “B” status.

The Commonwealth Secretary General recently dispatched a team for a dialogue with the HRC in Colombo. During the discussions the Commonwealth team has assured they will help the HRC to raise its standards and build capacity in a bid to help the commission to uplift its standards putting the past behind. Human Rights Commissioner Prathibha Mahananama told our sources that looking beyond the past was essentially mean that the HRC would not focus on the post-war period but look to the future.

Colombo Telegraph further learns that during the recent visit of External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris to London,conversations have taken place between the Sri Lankan Minister and Secretary General Sharma with specific reference to the visit of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to the island last week. Pillay who left Colombo on Sunday issued a strong criticism against the country’s human rights record and said after the war, Sri Lanka’s “democracy was undermined and the rule of law eroded.”  She warned that the country was moving in an increasingly “authoritarian direction.”Read More