Sri Lanka's reconciliation commission tells right groups to judge on performance, not on prejudice

Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) today slammed the right groups for their preconceived notion on the Commission's impartiality and urged them to judge it by the performance and not by prejudice.

In a statement released Friday the Secretary to the LLRC told the New York-based Human Rights Watch, London-based Amnesty International, and Brussels-based International Crisis Group that "The independence and impartiality of the Commission, in all fairness must be judged by the performance of the Commission and not on the basis of pre-conceived notions."

The three foreign human right groups, which are always critical of the Sri Lankan government, backed away Thursday from a challenge posed by Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris last month to testify before the LLRC.

Instead of accepting the invitation to express their views on the conflict, the three groups questioning the integrity of the LLRC, appointed by the Sri Lankan President, called for an independent international inquiry.

The Commission said it notes with greater regret, the indirect aspersions the right groups have cast on hundreds of fellow citizens who were the victims of this conflict and several responsible civil society organizations of Sri Lanka, who have already made representations before the Commission by turning down the invitation.

"Despite your ill-founded misgivings about the outcome of the commission's work, the commission will strongly safeguard its independence and will continue to work towards fulfilling its mandate, by addressing important issues raised by witnesses, including matters relating to International Humanitarian Law, reconciliation, governance and other related issues. " the eight-member commission headed by former attorney-general C.R. de Silva said.

The Commission terminated further communication on the issue saying that correspondence of this nature does not advance the work of the Commission but said that it remains open to receiving views from all concerned, including the rights groups if they should change their mind.