A tense situation has emerged among several Sri Lankan representatives at a session held in Geneva concurrent to the 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

These parallel sessions were held with the participation of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP S. Shritharan and Northern Province Council member M.K. Sivajilingam.

However, a heated argument had broken out between MP Sritharan and several other Sri Lankan representatives during the session held yesterday (18).

Commenting on the situation, TNA MP Sumanthiran stated that the government is lying to the international community.

Meanwhile, the report of the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka” is slated to be considered at the UNHRC session tomorrow (20).

Presenting her report on Sri Lanka, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet had stated that the “lack of progress” shows that the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka should remain firmly on the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council.

She had further said that Sri Lanka has failed to seize the opportunity provided by the Human Rights Council to establish a trustworthy domestic mechanism to address impunity or to show that such a mechanism is not necessary.

She had proposed to set up a hybrid court in Sri Lanka to look into war crimes allegations.