Pillay incurs Sri Lanka’s wrath
REUTERS
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Pillay was in Sri Lanka to assess the wide range of allegations on human rights violations during and after a nearly three-decade war. The writer says Pillay expressed shock at the levels of trauma and emotional distress she encountered in those she met from the north and east.
By ALAN KEENAN-September 12 2013
Concluding her recent fact-finding trip to Sri Lanka, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay warned that President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government was “heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction… despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant, all-embracing state”.
Pillay’s statement cited a long and growing list of serious human rights problems, including “persistent impunity and the failure of rule of law”.
