No judgment on LLRC report before its release: US

Washington, DC: The United States will not have any kind of judgment on the report of Sri Lanka’s Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) until its release that is expected to be in mid-November, the United States said Monday.

Responding to a query on the US State Department’s opinion of the LLRC report, the State Department Spokesperson Mark Toner said the US would wait until the report was released to view whether it was sufficient.

“We likely wouldn’t have any kind of judgment until it’s released,” the Spokesman said.

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake, Jr. visited Sri Lanka last month to hold discussions with the Government officials on LLRC to ensure the commission’s work was thorough and credible.

Replying to a question on the investigations into human rights concerns during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict against Tamil Tiger terrorists, the Spokesman reiterated the US stance that it was the Sri Lankan Government’s responsibility to investigate the allegations.

“The Government of Sri Lanka needs to demonstrate that it’s able to and willing to meet some of these obligations, as you mentioned, to be as transparent as possible, to look into some of these human rights allegations,” Toner said.

He added that if the Government failed to fulfil its obligations, then there would be international pressure for an independent mechanism.

“It’s important within the country itself as it seeks reconciliation, and we hope that Sri Lankans will be able to do this for themselves. If they don’t, as we’ve said many times, there’s going to be growing international pressure for some other mechanism to look at this,” the spokesperson said.