Moon's Envoy to Visit Sri Lanka

(February 17, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, Angela Kane is to visit Sri Lanka as the representative of U.N Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as civilian casualties due to the escalation of violence and military operations are on the increases.

She will be having discussion with the country’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapakse and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse from the government side, and many other human rights organizations which is operating in the war ravaged area in Sri Lanka.

The UN Assistant Secretary General is expected to submit a report on her findings to Ban Ki-Moon on her report for follow up action.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour visited Sri Lanka in last October and said, the large number of lawlessness in the country where thousands of people were abducted, disappeared and killed is a great worry to her and the UN. She said, in Sri Lanka, there is a strong case for having the UN monitoring presence in Sri Lanka to help them to improve the country’s rights situation.

"Regrettably, the various national institutions and mechanisms that could be expected to safeguard human rights have failed to deliver adequate protection," she added.

Mr.Manfred Nowak, United Nations Special Rapporteaur on Torture and Human Rights Abuse visited to the affected area in Sri Lanka and talked to the affected people directly to assess the human rights situations.

Sir John Holmes United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under Secretary General of Humanitarian Affairs, end of his fact finding mission to Sri Lanka last year said, “Sri Lanka is among the most dangerous places on earth for humanitarian workers, and called on the government to probe civil war abuses and consider an international rights monitoring mission.”