United Nations Special Rapporteur Pablo de Greiff who will make an official visit to Sri Lanka next week, will submit a comprehensive report on his findings to the UN Human Rights Council in September 2018.
De Greiff, who is the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, will be in Sri Lanka from October 10 to 23, a release from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
In July this year, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Ben Emmerson, QC visited Sri Lanka to take stock on the progress Sri Lanka has made in its law, policies and practice in the fight against terrorism since the end of the armed conflict in May 2009. While commending the decline in the arrests made under the PTA, Emmerson, observed the measures adopted by Sri Lanka to fulfill the country’s own transitional justice commitments were inadequate to ensure real progress.
De Greiff, during his visit fortnight stay, will examine the progress made in ‘redressing past violations and abuses, including those emanating from a 25 year old conflict’, the press announcement said.
He is expected to identify obstacles and bottlenecks in the implementation of the transitional justice and reform process, and to discuss opportunities with the Government and other stakeholders to overcome them.
The Special Rapporteur will tour the southern, central, northern and eastern parts of the country. He is due to meet the President, Prime Minister and Government officials at central and provincial levels.
He will also meet the law enforcement officers, armed forces, political parties, the civil society as well as victims’ groups among others.
Colombian legal expert, De Greiff was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2012 as the first Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.