Pillay to submit oral report on Lanka to UNHRC September sessions
Friday, 23 August 2013 01:43
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Full report to follow in Feb-March 2014
By Dharisha Bastians
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay will present an oral report before the UN Human Rights Council next month, following her five day mission to Sri Lanka, Daily FT learns.
An oral presentation by Pillay during the 24th Session of the UNHRC that starts on 9 September will be followed up by a full report by her office on the Sri Lankan human rights situation for the Council’s February-March 2014 sessions, highly placed diplomatic sources said.
High Commissioner Pillay and her team, who will arrive in Colombo on Sunday (25 August), will hold meetings with political leaders, opposition parties and civil society groups during her visit, but the better part of her mission will be spent in the former conflict zones. She is expected to meet with families of the disappeared and spouses of former LTTE members during her visits to the North.
The High Commissioner is expected to meet with representatives from civil society on 26 and 27 August.
The High Commissioner’s office is mandated to submit her report to the council by the UNHRC member states that adopted a resolution against Sri Lanka for the second consecutive year in March 2013, calling for investigations into the last phase of the war and the implementation of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.
High Commissioner Pillay’s mission is defined as one of “technical assistance” to Sri Lanka, to aid the country to meet its international obligations as set out in the two UNHRC resolutions.
