Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General has said that UNSG Ban ki-Moon supports the position of the High Commissioner Zeid [Ra’ad al-Hussein] on Sri Lanka investigation. The statement was made as reply to a question at the daily press briefing by the office of UN General Secretary on 10th Nov 2014.
Sri Lanka government blamed the High Commissioner for double standards and ineptness for his recent statement on Sri Lanka.
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The question and answer given by the Farhan Haq follows:
Question: Sure, thanks. I wanted to ask about Sri Lanka and separately about Tony Blair. On Sri Lanka, I’d asked here about these comments by the Government about blank human rights forms. And last week High Commissioner Zeid [Ra’ad al-Hussein] said that this is not true and that the Government’s not cooperating. Over the weekend, I guess, or at least it was reported over the weekend, the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in Geneva has said, has denounced everything that Prince Zeid said and has said this is now why they’re constrained from constructively engaging with the inquiry. I wanted to know, given the Secretary‑General’s travels to Sri Lanka in 2009 and his engagements since, what does he make about this? Does he have any comment on how the Government rejected what the High Commissioner said and said this is the reason why they won’t cooperate? Should they cooperate? Will he call President [Mahinda] Rajapaksa? What’s his response?
Deputy Spokesman: The Secretary‑General supports the views of High Commissioner Zeid, and he agrees with High Commissioner Zeid that the Government of Sri Lanka should cooperate. And we will continue to urge that they do so. Yes?
10 November 2014
Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General