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Friday, 25 February 2011

High level Sri Lankan delegation updates UN Chief on rehabilitation efforts

A high level Sri Lankan delegation has updated the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the ongoing post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in Sri Lanka, the UN confirmed Thursday (24).


In response to questions, the Spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General Martin Nesirky noted that a high-level delegation from the Government of Sri Lanka, which included the Attorney-General and the Foreign Secretary, paid a courtesy call on the Secretary-General on Wednesday.

"This provided an opportunity for the delegation to update the Secretary-General on ongoing post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts and for an exchange of views on different aspects of those efforts," the Spokesperson said.

Sri Lanka's External Affairs Ministry Wednesday confirmed that a delegation comprising Attorney General Mohan Peiris and External Affairs Ministry Secretary Romesh Jayasinghe along with the Permanent Representative Dr. Palitha Kohona and Deputy Permanent Representative Major general Shavendra Silva had met the UN Chief.

When asked whether the Secretary-General's Advisory Panel on accountability would visit Sri Lanka, Nesirky said that, while a visit to Sri Lanka would have been useful, it is not essential for the Panel to complete its work.

"There are other ways for the Panel to gather the material that it needs to do the job on accountability that it has been asked to do by the Secretary-General, to advise him," Nesirky has said.

He further said the Panel will inform when they are ready to release its report.

UN Secretary-General appointed the three-member expert panel in June 2010 to advise him on Sri Lanka's accountability issues regarding any alleged violations of human rights and humanitarian law during the last stage of the three-decade long conflict.




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