UN report on Sri Lanka is still being studied

The United Nations Secretary-General ban Ki-moon is studying the recommendations made in the report by the Panel of Experts, appointed by him to probe Sri Lanka's accountability issue during the later stage of the war, the spokesperson for the UN Chief said yesterday.


Responding to a media query, Martin Nesirky, the spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon said the report submitted to the UN Chief last month by the Panel is in the public domain and anyone can access it.

When asked whether the UN chief has transmitted the report formally to either the High Commissioner on Human Rights or to the Human Rights Council, the spokesperson said the report is publicly available, in its entirety for Member States and for the different parts of the UN system to see.

The Secretary-General, while awaiting an official response from the Sri Lankan authorities, is to take up the recommendation that was made with regard to looking at what there is to learn internally about the UN's response to what happened in Sri Lanka, Nesirky said.

"And that mechanism of whatever form it takes will be going ahead in due course," he added.

The Sri Lankan government last month rejected the report saying that it is "fundamentally flawed in many respects" but has not responded formally to the allegations in the report yet.