Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of Plantation Industries Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Environment Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, and Minister of Foreign Employment and Welfare Promotion Dilan Perera have been appointed to the sub-committee.
Minister Samarasinghe, who is President’s Special Envoy on Human Rights, will continue to function in that post and also as the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Officials Committee.
The Plan will be implemented by different ministries and institutions while the inter-ministerial committee will monitor the progress.
Former Attorney General, President’s Counsel Mohan Peiris who is also the Senior Legal Advisor to the Cabinet will assist the Cabinet Sub-Committee and the Committee may co-opt the services of any other officials deemed necessary.
The Cabinet of Ministers in September 2011 approved the National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) for implementation.
The Plan was voluntarily prepared by the government in response to a pledge made at the Universal Periodic Review meeting before UN Human Rights Council in 2008.
Sri Lankan government is under increasing pressure from Western governments and human rights organizations to improve its abysmal human rights record amid the allegations of war crimes committed during the final stages of the 30-year long bloody battle with the Tamil Tiger terrorists.
CP