UN Report Is Well-Balanced And Unbiased: FM Mangala Samaraweera

September 18, 2015 

Sri Lanka would have faced economic sanctions from the US and EU countries if the Rajapaksa regime had been in power today, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said addressing both foreign and local media in Colombo yesterday.

Speaking for the first time after the release of the much anticipated report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Sri Lankan war, Samaraweera said that broken promises by the former Rajapaksa regime had led to a possible international intervention on issues which otherwise could have been solved locally.

The 300-page OHCHR report, among other things, called on the Sri Lankan government to set up a “hybrid special court” with international judges and investigators to investigate the crimes against humanity committed during the war and bring the perpetrators to the justice.

Blaming the Rajapaksa regime for the present imbroglio Samaraweera said soon after the war ended in 2009 the government made a Joint Statement with the UN at the conclusion of the UN Secretary-General’s visit to Sri Lanka, promising to take certain steps including on accountability.

Soon after Samaraweera said that Sri Lanka proposed a Resolution in the UN Human Rights Council containing a series of measures to be taken by Sri Lanka including investigating war crimes charges and punishing those responsible.                     Read More