UN expert on transitional justice to arrive in SL

Colombo, Oct 7: The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, would undertake an official visit to Sri Lanka from October 10 to 23, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has said. In a statement here, the OHCHR said Mr de Greiff would arrive in Sri Lanka to examine the progress made in redressing the legacies of massive past violations and abuses, including those that resulted from the conflict, the Daily Mirror reported today. In 2015, the Government of Sri Lanka committed itself to designing and implementing a comprehensive transitional justice strategy. “My visit aims to review the progress made thus far, to identify obstacles and bottlenecks in the implementation of the transitional justice and reform process and to discuss opportunities with the Government and Sri Lankan society to overcome these,” Mr de Greiff said. He is scheduled to meet Government officials at central and provincial levels, representatives of the legislature, members of the judiciary, the armed forces, law enforcement officials, religious leaders, political parties, the Human Rights Commission, civil society, victims’ groups, academics and representatives of the international community. The human rights expert would present his preliminary findings and recommendations at a press conference to be held on Monday 23. The final report on the visit would be presented to the Human Rights Council in September 2018. UNI