The United States State Department said it welcomed the report by High Commissioner Pillay on Sri Lanka and echoed the High Commissioner’s concerns, in particular regarding restrictions on freedom of expression, attacks on human rights defenders and journalists, and interference with the judiciary.

 

In a note posted by the US State Department The United States also noted the High Commissioner’s assessment that, absent meaningful progress on post-conflict accountability, calls for an international inquiry will persist.

 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay stated on September 25 that government of Sri Lanka should use the time from now until March 2014 to address its human rights concerns in the absence of which the international community will have a duty to establish its own inquiry.

 

In a statement by the High Commissioner to the UNHRC on Sri Lanka, delivered by Deputy High Commissioner Flavia Pansieri, she stated that Sri Lanka should “engage in a credible national process with tangible results including the successful prosecution of individual perpetrators”.

 

She warned that in the absence of this course of action, she feels the international community will have a duty to establish its own mechanism of inquiry.

 

She commended the government on its achievements with relation to reconstruction, resettlement and rehabilitation and thanked the government for inviting her and facilitating her visit.

 

Pillay also welcomed the Northern Provincial Council polls and expressed her hope that this would usher in a new stage of power devolution.