UN Human Rights Chief names experts to Sri Lanka conflict investigation panel

The UN High Commissioner for Human

Rights Navi Pillay Wednesday announced the names of three distinguished experts who have agreed to advise and support the team set up to conduct a comprehensive investigation of alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka, as mandated by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in March.

Former President of Finland and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Mr Martti Ahtisaari who has also served as a UN diplomat and mediator and is renowned for his international peace work has been named to the panel.

Dame Silvia Cartwright, former Governor-General and High Court judge of New Zealand, and judge of the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts in Cambodia, as well as former member of the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women is one of the three experts.

Ms Asma Jahangir, former President of Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association and of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, previous holder of several Human Rights Council mandates and member of a recent fact-finding body into Israeli settlements is the third expert.

"I am proud that three such distinguished experts have agreed to assist this important and challenging investigation," the High Commissioner said. "Each of them brings not only great experience and expertise, but the highest standards of integrity, independence, impartiality and objectivity to this task."

The team is coordinated by the senior human rights official Ms. Sandra Beidas.

The experts will play a supportive and advisory role, providing advice and guidance as well as independent verification throughout the investigation, the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) said.

The Investigation Team comprises 12 staff, including investigators, forensics experts, a gender specialist, a legal analyst and various other staff with specialized skills.

The team is expected to conduct its operations for a 10-month period beginning in mid-June t and ending in mid-April 2015.

Announcing the experts to the panel, the High Commissioner asked the Sri Lankan government to cooperate with the investigation which will still continue even if the government refuses to cooperate.

"Once again, I encourage the Government and people of Sri Lanka to cooperate fully with this investigation which can help shed light on the truth, and advance accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka," the High Commissioner said, adding that the investigation would still go ahead undeterred if such cooperation was not forthcoming.

Sri Lanka flatly rejecting the investigation mandated to the OHCHR by the adoption of the UNHRC resolution 25/1 in March this year refused to cooperate with the "OHCHR-driven so called comprehensive investigation emanating from it (resolution)."

The Sri Lankan parliament on June 18 passed a motion against the UN investigation and accordingly the parliament has decided to deny permission for the UN investigation team to enter the country.

The resolution adopted by the UNHRC requests the OHCHR to present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-seventh session in September 2014, and a comprehensive report at its twenty-eighth session in March 2015.

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Governments of Sri Lanka, Maldives sign three important agreements

The Governments of Sri Lanka and Maldives

Wednesday signed three very important agreements during the official visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Male.

The Government of Maldives and Sri Lanka held official talks, led by President of Maldives Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and the Sri Lankan President. The three agreements were signed at the President's Office this evening following the talks. 

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Health Cooperation was signed by Maldivian Minister of Health, Dr. Maryam Shakeela, and Sri Lankan Minister of External Affairs, Prof. G. L. Peiris.

MoU on strengthening cooperation between Board of Investment of Sri Lanka and Ministry of Economic Development of Maldives was signed by Maldivian Minister of Economic Development, Mohamed Saeed, and Sri Lankan Minister of External Affairs, Prof. G. L. Peiris.

Arrangement on Search and Rescue was signed by Maldivian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dunya Maumoon, and Minister Peiris.

President Yameen and President Mahinda Rajapaksa were in attendance at the signing ceremony.

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Sri Lanka win second Test with one ball left to end England resistance

Sri Lanka won the second Test by

100 runs, and with it the series, shortly after seven o’clock in the evening. It was remarkably tense, given the apparently easy nature of the task at the start of play. There were just two balls of the match remaining when the paceman Shaminda Eranga, banged in a short ball to Jimmy Anderson, and the ball ballooned from his glove to Rangana Herath perched on the leg side. As the ball was caught, the Sri Lankan team engulfed the bowler, a writhing heap of humanity on the floor.

The batsman crouched in dismay. So close. Anderson and Moeen Ali had 122 deliveries to survive to save a match that had seemed a doomed cause for England 24 hours previously, and negotiated all but the final two. Moeen, though, enhanced his reputation with a maiden century that was both steadfast and enchanting, finishing unbeaten on 108; he can really play. Anderson had faced 55 balls without scoring as England were all out for 249.

As Sri Lanka closed in, the cloud descended and the umpires consulted their light meters as the gloom gathered. It made no difference:the pitch was taking spin now. At one end, the rotund little left-armer Herath, not a big spinner of the ball but a cornucopia of clever variations, was twirling away: at the other, Mahela Jayawardene was making some offbreaks turn. Six men, including the wicketkeeper, perched around the last batsmen, as if crows waiting for carrion. Moeen and Anderson resisted where Joe Root, Matt Prior, Chris Jordan and Stuart Broad had before them. The new ball had long since come and gone.

Then the light improved. On came the pacemen Eranga and Dhammika Prasad, five wickets under his belt already, to try and finish things. A quick burst from the latter and back came Herath. Men surrounded Anderson as if he were the altar stone at Stonehenge.

Twenty overs and two balls had remained in the match when Anderson joined Moeen, who had 88. Runs were eked out as Moeen farmed and Anderson pushed diligently forward. Once, Moeen lofted Herath back over the bowler’s head to move to 93, and starting to get torn now between the prospect of a first Test hundred before the last wicket fell, and saving the game. He is a natural strokemaker, who drives delightfully and once stood up and lacerated the ball through extra cover off the back foot as once did Garry Sobers: but now he reined himself in. Maiden overs were played out and Angelo Mathews started to ring his bowling changes. Even the side that had dominated the last two days were beginning to get nervous, straining for the final wicket.

The overs ticked by. Three successive maidens were played out, two of them by Anderson. Herath changed ends as the sun burst through. Moeen advanced down the pitch and took his first run for 15 balls to move to 97. Seven overs left. On came Nuwan Pradeep and Moeen leg-glanced his first ball fine to the boundary to reach his hundred, greeted in understated fashion. It had been beautiful batting over almost six hours from a talented batsman.

Finally, it came down to the last over, just as it had at Lord’s and, for England, a little over a year ago in Auckland.

That Sri Lanka deserved to win the match is without question, but England deserve credit for the manner in which they battled through the day after such an horrendous last session on the penultimate evening. Joe Root stayed with Moeen for the first 30 overs of the day until he was caught in the gully off Pradeep, and Prior was in for 71 minutes before he was caught at short leg, fending off a short ball from Prasad to give the bowler a fifth wicket: twice in three innings Prior has been dismissed in this fashion which is a concern. Next, Jordan lasted for 70 more minutes, before he became the first of two lbw victims for Herath. The second was Broad, who batted half an hour without scoring. There was no need for a review.

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