Sri Lankan government considering UN agency's request to send a team

The Sri Lankan government is to respond next week to a request made by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva to send several representatives to the country. A senior External Affairs Ministry official told
 that the government has not yet responded to the request made by the OHCHR and the government would respond to the request next week. "The External Affairs Ministry is currently considering the request and a final decision would be made after External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris returns to the country," the official said. The official also explained that the government has not denied requests made by the international community to visit the country, but would also consider the circumstances that call for such a visit and the requirement for it. Reportedly, the United States State Department during the Sri Lankan delegation's visit to Washington last month has requested that Sri Lanka allow the High Commissioner Navanethem Pillay's team to visit the country. The US-sponsored resolution, which calls for the Sri Lankan government to expedite implementing the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), adapted by the UN Human Rights Council in March, encourages the OHCHR and relevant special procedures mandate holders to, with the consent of the Sri Lankan government, provide advice and technical assistance on implementing the recommendations. Nationalist groups in Sri Lanka strongly oppose the intended visit by a OHCHR team saying that there is a step by step process to destabilize the country.