IIGEP step up human rights criticism of Sri Lanka

A team of international legal experts Tuesday stepped up their criticism of Sri Lanka, noting that repeated calls to improve its record on the issue had fallen on deaf ears.
he International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) said Colombo lacked the political will to investigate grave rights abuses.

The panel members spoke to reporters Tuesday for the first time after attacking Colombo in a statement last month for blocking efforts to ensure minimum standards were maintained in probing serious abuses.

As their work progressed, the government's tone "was becoming increasingly disrespectful (of the experts)," British panel member Nigel Rodley said at the briefing.

"They were accusing us of all kinds of nefarious stuff, including making way for an international panel to monitor the rights situation on the ground here. It's not true, the allegations are baseless," Rodley said.

The IIGEP, which includes experts from the European Union, United Nations, Australia, Canada, India, France and the United States, was formed in 2007 to oversee a presidential commission of inquiry into 16 cases of major human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

However Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe says the Government rejects the final report of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons. He said the group was appointed to monitor the activities of the special presidential commission. Speaking at a press briefing at his ministry this afternoon the minister emphasised that most of the statements of the group are false. He noted that the group always released its report targeting a meeting of the International Human Rights Council. The minister said this gives rise to a reasonable doubt regarding the activities of the Group of Eminent Persons. The Group was appointed by the government as a fact finding mission. Minister Samarasinghe stated that the government granted all the facilities needed for the group in this endeavour. This depicts the government’s genuine desire to find the truth. Therefore he pointed out that the groups claim that the government doesn’t have a true political desire is greatly unjust. The minister added that members of the group have not actively taken part in investigations.

Also addressing the media briefing Attorney General C.R. De Silva said the claim made by the group that the involvement of the Attorney General’s Department threatened the impartiality of the investigations is ungrounded. He said the attorney general’s department had no occasion to invene in the activities of the group.