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Message: <blockquote data-quote="netlife007" data-source="post: 18995057" data-attributes="member: 79514">It is clear from perusing the above paragraphs of the Geneva HRC’s Report,  (please draw your attenton to the highlighted section)  that the UN Human Rights Council was awaiting the release of the report done as per the 2nd mandate of the Paranagama Commission.  It is also curious as to how the specific reference to the International Advisory Council, which was obviously referring to the expert panel assembled to carry out the 2nd mandate of teh Paranagama Commission,  had been omitted in the final version of the HRC Reprot that was released to the public on the 16th of September. We would urge your Excellency to investigate this matter, and find out as to who from the Ministry of External Affairs had advised the UN HRC to drop this reference from their report.As your Excellency knows, this Commission was established by the previous Government of Sri Lanka in response to the calls by the international community to have a credible domestic investigation process, and had its mandate expanded on the 15th of July  2014, to inquire into the matters of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and thus secured the services of several leading internationally renowned legal and military experts like  Sir Desmond De Silva Q.C. , Professor David Crane,  Sir Geoffrey Nice Q.C. and Major General John Holmes, the former commander of the SAS, to provide assistance to the Commission with regard to international humanitarian law, international human rights law, customary international law and the laws of armed conflict generally.The second mandate of the Paranagama Commission was thus expected to inquire into the facts and circumstances that resulted in the principle loss of civilian life in the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka and to issue a report on or before the 15th of August 2015.   Sir Desmond De Silva Q.C. and Professor David Crane, were both chief prosecutors of an international criminal tribunal.   They were both picked personally by the Secretary General of the United Nations to discharge those roles.   In that role, they were both appointed at a level of an Under Secretary General of the United Nations. Sir Geoffrey Nice Q.C. was the lead prosecutor in the case against  Slobodan Milosevic, the former President of Yugoslavia.  In fact, all three of them, have each prosecuted a head of state.  Sir Desmond prosecuted the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, and had him arrested  and prosecuted for war crimes, for which he is now serving 50 years in prison.It is imperative, that this first official report from the Government of Sri Lanka, prepared with assistance from independent international legal and military professionals, is tabled forthwith to the ongoing Human Rights Council in Geneva,  so that it makes a meaningful impact. It is only right that the 47 voting member countries of the Human Rights Council have an opportunity to read and digest Sri Lanka’s own independent report in order that they might make an informed judgement prior to the conclusions of the final deliberations on Sri Lanka by the HRC.We are deeply concerned to learn from media reports and the statements issued by the Minister of External Affairs, that this vital report dealing with the 2nd mandate of the Paranagama Commission, which has been made available to your office over a month ago, has not as yet been presented to the members of the  UN Human Rights Council, which commenced its sessions on the 14th September 2015.</blockquote>

Verification: Hathara warak wissa keeyada? (Hathara wadi karanna 20)

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