Sri Lanka on Friday dismissed a U.S. Senate resolution calling for “accountability” for the alleged human rights violations during the last phase of the ethnic war, saying that the government-appointed ‘Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’ has been adequately empowered.
“The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) appointed to look into the history of the island’s ethnic question has been adequately empowered to handle any evidence of violations of human rights or international humanitarian law,” the Sri Lankan government said in a statement.
Reacting to a resolution passed by the U.S. Senate calling for accountability over events during the last stages of the government’s successful military campaign against the LTTE, the government said that the LLRC had taken pro-active interest to travel to north and east in order to gather evidence.
“The LLRC has come up with a set of interim recommendations which the government had complemented by appointing an inter agency advisory committee,” the statement added.
The government calls the U.S. Senate resolution as an attempt by motivated groups to force the important entities to take ill founded positions.
The LLRC looks back at events between February 2002 and May 2009. It began its public sittings in August last year and should come up with their final report by mid-May.
The LLRC was appointed by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapksha to look into events during the war and make recommendations to avoid such repetition.
