Minister Samarasinghe Briefs High Commissioner for Human Rights,Country Missions to the UN in Geneva
Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, met with Navanetham Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the Palais Wilson in Geneva on Tuesday (09). The Minister, who was accompanied by Attorney General Mohan Peiris, PC, and Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN at Geneva, Ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne, briefed High Commissioner Pillay, on the progress achieved in developing a National Action Plan for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (NAP) in Sri Lanka. Noting that the NAP was the outcome of a pledge made in 2008 at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council, he outlined the process to date and also the next steps contemplated towards finalization of the first draft Action Plan.
As a part of the continuing efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka to provide clarifications on the alleged cases of disappearances submitted by the UN Working Group on Disappearances, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights has now provided an analysis of 47 possible cases of disappearances, which can be closed/clarified by the Working Group. The details of these cases have been forwarded to the UN Working Group by the Permanent Mission in Geneva.
Prior to their submission, the aforementioned 47 cases were compared with the findings of the following Commissions of Inquiry established by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka to investigate the alleged cases of disappearances:
· Final Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Involuntary Removal and Disappearance of Certain Persons (All Island) March 2001
· Human Rights Taskforce Annual Report—10 August 1992 to 10 August 1993
· Human Rights Taskforce Annual Report—10 August 1993 to 10 August 1994
· Report of the Committee on Disappearances in the Jaffna Region of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, October 2003
Of the forty seven (47) cases clarified, there were:
· Four (4) cases where death certificates had been issued to the next of kin;
· Twenty four (24) cases where the person was found to have returned home as reported by the next of kin, and registered as returned by the 2001 Commission.
· Nineteen (19) cases where the persons were found in official custody having been arrested under the laws of Sri Lanka.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN
Geneva
16 December 2009
Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe addressed the High Level Segment of the World Climate Conference-3 which is being held in Geneva, delivering a policy statement on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka. The week-long conference, which began on 31 August, will conclude its deliberations on Friday 4 September with a High Level Declaration which was also adopted by consensus today.
Speaking at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday, 10th June, during the consideration of Russia’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report, Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka made the following statement:
Sri Lanka welcomes the Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation and applauds his remarks here today. We also applaud the role played by the distinguished Ambassador of Russia, His Excellency Valery Loshchinin, in the Human Rights Council, in its institution/building package, in the UPR process and the Durban Review conference.
Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka of Sri Lanka speaking at the consideration of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report of Cuba:
Mr. Vice President,
Cuba participated in the UPR process on a very important landmark anniversary in its history: 50 years after the victory of the Cuban revolution. Cuba’s participation in the UPR has been a model of dynamism and active engagement. Here, Sri Lanka would like to salute the role played by Ambassador Juan Antonio Fernandez Palacios, who has been a militant combatant and a field commander in the battle of ideas in the Human Rights Council.
Ambassador Gopinathan Achamkulangare of India, responding yesterday to the remarks on Sri Lanka included in the statement of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Navi Pillay said, "...it will be prudent to adhere to the outcome of the special session and be sensitive to the concerns expressed already, rather than take a position on contested proposals or controversial issues and ideas, which did not find eventual acceptance in the outcome of the special session."