Govt says no human rights “crisis”  
[Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 5.30 GMT]   

The government of Sri Lanka refuted NGO allegations that the country is facing a human rights crisis that requires a monitoring mission from the United Nations, said a press release issued by the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva on September 17.
  
According to the release Ms. Shirani Goonatilleke, Director Legal of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) addressing an event titled “The Human Rights Situation in Sri Lanka” organized on the sidelines of the Sixth Session of the Human Rights Council by the International Commission of Jurists and Human Rights Watch at the Palais des Nations, Geneva said that the GOSL appointed the All Party Representatives Committee its continuing efforts to find a framework for a political solution to the conflict and now on the verge of presenting its proposal to the President and the APC.
  
The Government has also taken several initiatives concerning the safeguarding of human rights of the citizens, she said. Ms. Goonatilleke went on to state that Sri Lanka has been maintaining a policy of open and constructive engagement with all UN human rights mechanisms and working closely on the ground with UN and other agencies from both civil society and the international community in implementing these initiatives, and this totally negates the adverse unsubstantiated allegations and propaganda of some INGOs and NGOs at these sessions, that lead to their conclusion that “ Sri Lanka is facing a human rights crisis that calls for UN monitoring”.
  
The release further said:
  
“Every one of these initiatives is open to the relevant agencies in the international community and in civil society and this is not empty government propaganda.
  
“In fact it is important to emphasise the point that these particular organizations by misreporting and misrepresenting certain facts and by ominously refraining from mentioning any positive steps taken to alleviate the problems faced by the people affected by the conflict are actually working contrary to their stated aims to ensure the protection of human rights. This behaviour is even more suspect in a context where the UN agencies and the international community who work closely with Sri Lanka in the country have commended these positive steps taken by Sri Lanka, despite the difficult circumstances faced due to terrorism”.

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Last Updated Date: September 18, 2007 - 5.30 GMT