Pillay coming in August

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has decided to undertake a visit to Sri Lanka from 25 to 31 August this year.

This is in response to an invitation formally extended to her by the government in April 2011, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva said.

“Sri Lanka considers this visit as part of its continued, transparent and proactive engagement with the High Commissioner and the OHCHR," Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva Ravinatha P. Aryasinha said.



 "We believe that the visit would enable the High Commissioner to experience first-hand the significant strides made and also efforts presently underway in the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka, in the relatively brief period of four years since the end of the ruthless terrorist conflict that decimated our nation and its peoples for 30 long years,” Aryasinha said.

He said that Sri Lanka hopes that through the visit, a platform will be built for constructive engagement between the government and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), laying by the fallacies that have in recent years guided the UN system’s actions and engagement with respect to Sri Lanka and its reconciliation process. (Colombo Gazette)