Sri Lanka's newest Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath kicked off his tenure by thanking Saudia Arabia for supporting Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council, where Colombo is rejecting calls for an international accountability mechanism for atrocities committed against Tamils.
Herath, a senior Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader, was speaking at Saudi Arabia’s National Day event in Colombo this week, shortly after he was appointed as foreign minister.
"I wish to note and appreciate that Saudi Arabia continues to support Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council," said Herath.
The latest UN Human Rights Council session is currently underway, where a new resolution on Sri Lanka is due to be introduced. Previous resolutions have called on Sri Lanka to cooperate with an international accountability mechanism to prosecute war criminals. Successive governments have refused to comply.
In attendance at the event in Colombo was former army commander and accused war criminal Shavendra Silva, a man who remains banned from entering the USA due to his role in executing Tamils. He is barred from entering the USA “due to credible information of his involvement, through command responsibility, in gross violations of human rights."
Silva led the notorious 58 Division as the government launched a massive military assault. That culminated in the massacre of tens of thousands of Tamils during the 2009 genocide. They oversaw the repeated bombing of hospitals, widespread sexual violence, torture, and the execution of surrendering Tamils.
