UN High Commissioner For Human Rights Navi Pillay: When a government fails to protect its own citizens, then its the responsible of the international community to do so, thats the international law. I heard the last speaker to say its politically motivated because I called for an inquiry so soon. We had enough evidence, we dont wait for 40,000 to be killed. For instance in Gaza, 1,600 were killed in the attack and in less then a week, a Commission of Inquiry was set up. In this case the Human Rights Council and the United Nations, the Secretary General waited almost 5 years for Sri Lanka to take internal action hold an investigation and render justice for victims. I’m now entrusted to be in charge of the investigation, and I will definitely seek the cooperation of the Sri Lankan government. They were very good during my visit to Sri Lanka. There is political will there to address the situations. They just want us to recognize how much they have done and they have in terms of the construction, disarmament, and removing the internally displaced people (IDPs). I am going to seek theyre cooperation for justice and accountability on both sides. Victims of LTTE are also waiting for justice. I’m disappointed that there were so many abstentions and 12 no votes. It’s the Security Council, General Assembly and Human Rights Council that establishes Commissions of Inquiries. Nobody is targeting Sri Lanka here. Commissions of Inquiry were appointed in respect of Palestine, in respect of Syria and more recently the Central African Republic. The African Union established one for South Sudan. So these are the usual mechanisms employed by the international organisations, the United Nations and it various bodies, for victims to get protection of human rights, to seek accountability and to ensure victims get the justice they are seeking.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 08:29:35 +0000