Secretary-General Forwards Sri Lanka Expert Panel Report to Human

 

Rights Council, High Commissioner for Human Rights

 

The following statement was issued on 12 September by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General is sending today the report of his Panel of Experts on accountability in Sri Lanka to the President of the Human Rights Council and the High Commissioner for Human Rights.  The Sri Lankan Government has been informed of the Secretary-General’s decision to share the report with the Council and the High Commissioner.  While the Secretary-General had given time to the Government of Sri Lanka to respond to the report, the Government has declined to do so, and instead has produced its own reports on the situation in the north of Sri Lanka, which are being forwarded along with the Panel of Experts report.

On the recommendation of the Panel of Experts for the United Nations to review its own actions during the period in question in Sri Lanka, the Secretary-General has asked Thoraya Obaid, former Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), to conduct the review, which should begin soon.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record