Prez to meet Zeid on Friday Talks crucial for SL

The coming Friday (22) will be extremely crucial for Sri Lanka with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Al Hussein expected to have a one-on-one meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena here in New York.

According to reliable sources, the meeting is going to be a closed door……affair between the President and the High Commissioner. Diplomats are of the view that the outcome of this meeting is going to be crucial for Sri Lanka with High Commissioner Hussein recently expressing his frustration at the delayed reconciliation process in Sri Lanka.

During his opening statement at the 36th session of the UNHRC on Monday (11) Al-Hussein added that the absence of credible action in Sri Lanka, to ensure accountability for alleged violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, makes the exercise of universal jurisdiction even more necessary. He urged the Sri Lanka Government to swiftly operationalize the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) and to move faster on other essential confidence building measures. However, this should not be a “box-ticking exercise to placate the Council”, Hussein said adding that the Government must consider it as an essential undertaking to address the rights of all Sri Lankans.