Outgoing UN rights chief commends Lanka

Outgoing UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein today commended Sri Lanka for cooperating with the UN system, following a period of fraught ties with the UNHRC over the country's rights record.

Hussein was speaking at the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva where he presented his last global update.

He praised Sri Lanka for allowing at least five visits by UN rights officials in the last five years.

I note and commend the following states which have hosted at least five visits by thematic mandates in the last five years: Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Chile, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Ukraine, the UK and the US, he said.

Sri Lanka has extended more cooperation to the UNHRC under Hussein's tenure.

The country had received condemnation during Hussein's predecessor Navi Pillay's term as UNHRC chief for not cooperating with the UN rights body after it passed three successive resolutions against Sri Lanka's human rights accountability record following the end of the brutal three-decade civil war in 2009.

The resolutions called for an international investigation into alleged war crimes committed by both government troops and LTTE militants during the ethnic conflict.

After 2015 when the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa was ousted, the current regime has allowed several visits of UN rapporteurs for first hand inspection of rights conditions.

Rajapaksa had rejected the UN resolutions claiming they were attacking the island's sovereignty.