Sri Lanka main opposition charges President of taking country before HR court 
Sun, Nov 24, 2013, 09:25 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Nov 24, Colombo: Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) says that President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Chairman of the Commonwealth has agreed in policy to take the country before an international human rights court in the official declaration signed by the heads of states following the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo.
The UNP has issued a special statement expressing concern over the 39th sentence of the declaration signed by the Commonwealth leaders at the 2013 CHOGM that all heads of the Commonwealth nations would adhere to the Vienna Plus 20 action plan and all areas under the Vienna Declaration, thereby working towards strengthening international human rights mechanisms including universal periodic reviews.
"The Vienna Plus 20 includes 10 mechanisms and the 10th point is to establish an international human rights court," the UNP notes.
"It is President Rajapaksa who first took Sri Lanka before the Human Rights Council and it is Rajapaksa who made pledges to the same Council. Rajapaksa also established the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and promised the Human Rights Council the recommendations will be implemented. Now he has agreed to set up an international human rights court," the UNP said, adding that this action is in violation of the government's statements to the Sri Lankan people.
The statement also noted that when Sri Lanka came under pressure in 2002 to sign the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the prime minister, now opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe refused to sign the treaty.

According to the UNP, the President in order to take over the Chairmanship of the Commonwealth has put the nation at risk of being taken before an international human rights court.