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Tuesday, 27 January 2015 00:45 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera left for Brussels last night, where he will lobby the EU for a deferral of the grouping’s ban on Sri Lankan fish exports to the region, scheduled to come into effect this month.
Senior Advisor on Foreign Relations to President Maithripala Sirisena Jayantha Dhanapala also hold discussions with key officials in the capital of the European Union, about the UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka which EU member states have traditionally co-sponsored.
Senior Advisor on Foreign Relations to President Maithripala Sirisena and former UN diplomat JayanthaDhanapala also took wing to Geneva yesterday, for ‘informal’ discussions with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, ZeidRa’ad Al Hussein and other UN member states.
Dhanapala, a former UN diplomat will meet with Prince Zeid tomorrow (28), Daily FT learns.
Speaking to the Daily FT before his departure to Brussels, Foreign Minister Samaraweera explained that Dhanapala’s Geneva visit was what he wanted to call a ‘feeler’ trip to sound out officials there about Sri Lanka’s options regarding the UN investigation mandated by the Council in 2014.
«We felt Mr.JayanthaDhanapala should go to Geneva immediately and meet the High Commissioner. Basically this is what I would call a ‘feeler’ trip. It is not to commit on anything. But we are going to talk to the UN, member states that sponsored this resolution. It is a matter of looking at different options before we decide on a definitive roadmap, which as the Prime Minister has said we will be presented to cabinet and we will embark on,” Minister Samaraweera said in an interview.
The Foreign Minister will also fly to Washington DC in early February – thedates of which are yet to be scheduled – formeetings with Secretary of State John Kerry and other high level officials in the US Government.
High level visits from the US and British Governments are also expected in Colombo over the next two weeks, including by US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, NishaBiswal.
The new Foreign Minister admitted that the Sirisena Government was looking at obtaining UN technical assistance for a domestic investigation as ‘one of the options.’
Samaraweera said he was hoping the Government’s fresh efforts with regard to a domestic remedy to the allegations of major rights abuses could help to defer or even conclude the report due to be presented at the UNHRC’s March session that kicks off in a few weeks.
“It could be deferred or it could be concluded. One of the options would be for them to conclude the report and then refer it to the domestic mechanism in Sri Lanka to take whatever actions necessary, to be decided by the mechanism here instead of dragging it on,” Samaraweera explained.
He said the Sri Lanka did not want the UN inquiry to be “hanging over its head”.
“We are committed to ensuring that justice prevails for those who have suffered. Within that context, the sooner this investigation is over and referred to Sri Lanka, the better,” the Foreign Minister explained.
