National institutions will not be supplanted – Ambasador Jayatilleka

[Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 6.20 GMT] 

Addressing the sixth session of the Human Rights Council on December 11, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka emphasized that Sri Lanka negotiates with OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) on the basis that ‘national institutions and processes can only be supplemented and supported by international assistance but shall not be supplanted or substituted by the non-national’.

Dr. Jayatilleka was responding to the statement made by Ms. Louise Arboour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who recently visited Sri Lanka and argued for a permanent OHCHR presence in the country.

His statement referenced the historical context of the discussion of human rights and elaborated on the particular articulation of terrorism in Sri Lanka.

He further said that Sri Lanka remains open to scrutiny by all the core treaty monitoring mechanisms to which the country has subscribed. He pointed out that just as Ms. Arbour and other UN officials were invited to visit the island, Dr. Walter Klin, the Representative of the Secretary General on Internally Displaced Persons will begin a tour of Sri Lanka's Eastern Province tomorrow (12). Dr. Jayatillake also said, "We have agreed in principle to a visit by Mr. Santiago Corcuera, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, sooner rather than later next year".