United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today congratulated the Sri Lankan Government for setting up an Office of Missing Persons (OMP), “an important step for all Sri Lankans who are still looking for the truth about their loved ones.”
Stressing the need to ensure justice and accountability, the United Nations human rights chief today called for the establishment of an independent and credible investigation into alleged violations committed in 2009 during the final phase of the conflict in Sri Lanka.
The United Nations human rights chief today spoke out against the impeachment and removal of Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice, saying it is a “calamitous setback” for rule of law in the South Asian nation, as well as for accountability and reconciliation.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced hope that the Sri Lankan Government will move forward on its commitments to deal with accountability concerns in the wake of the long-running civil war in the Asian country.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appointed a panel of experts to advise him on accountability issues relating to alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka that ended last year.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed concerns about the lack of progress on political reconciliation, the treatment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the setting up of an accountability process in Sri Lanka since the United Nations signed a joint statement with the Government last year in the wake of the end of its civil war with separatist Tamil rebels.
Nearly 58,000 farming households in Sri Lanka are expected to benefit from a United Nations-funded programme designed to improve their livelihoods, boost their incomes and enhance their participation in the marketing and selling of their products.
A hospital in the zone of fighting between the Government and rebel forces in north-eastern Sri Lanka, which has been the scene of heavy shelling and aerial bombardment for several days, was empty this morning, the United Nations reported.
The top United Nations humanitarian official in Sri Lanka today called on authorities to mount a thorough investigation into last week’s murder of an aid worker in the east of the violence-wracked country – the third staff member from the same relief group to have either disappeared or been killed in the Asian island nation.
United Nations relief officials are continuing to assist authorities in the conflict-wracked north of Sri Lanka respond to flooding that has displaced more than 70,000 people and affected 300,000 others.
