UK hints at international probe inclusion in UNHRC resolution on Lanka

Friday, 28 February 2014 00:49 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The British Government is working with ‘like-minded’ member states of the UN Human Rights Council on the March 2014 resolution on Sri Lanka that will go beyond the two resolutions previously adopted and call for an international investigation, a Senior Minister of State has told the UK’s Upper House of Parliament. Senior Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Baroness Warsi said that a number of countries had indicated strong support for the resolution on Sri Lanka but acknowledged it would be premature to predict the outcome of the vote at this stage. “We have been working with a number of countries that have indicated strong support for the resolution, but it would be wrong for me to predict at this stage what the outcome of the vote will be. We continue to work incredibly hard to make sure that we get the resolution,” Baroness Warsi said. The House of Lords debate also included inputs from Lord Naseby, Chairman of the All-Party British-Sri Lanka Group, who asked Baroness Warsi why the UK Government is “already working to influence the UNHRC to call for an international investigation,” when the UK Prime Minister David Cameron had claimed in November 2013 that the UK would allow Sri Lanka until March to begin its own investigations into alleged war crimes before taking steps through the UN. Lord Naseby also told the House that there is now conclusive evidence that the Channel 4 film on Sri Lanka’s war features two key “independent female witnesses”, who were in fact fully paid members of the Tamil Tigers and made reference to the book Corrupted Journalism that is a critique of Channel 4’s journalism with regard to war crimes allegations in Sri Lanka. Responding to his comments Baroness Warsi said she was aware of the new material but the UK is yet to see a meaningful solution to the issues. “We have yet to see a meaningful, time-bound, independent, domestic-led political process with clear milestones in this matter,” she said.