Colombo:
Sri Lanka on Tuesday rejected a UN move to preserve proof of war crimes in the nation and stated the revenue allocated for the work would be much better spent on housing for the poor.
The resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva named for a $2.8 million price range to gather and preserve proof of war crimes for future prosecutions.
It follows a damning report from UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Sri Lanka’s failure to prosecute war criminals from the island’s separatist conflict that ended in May 2009.
Foreign minister Dinesh Gunawardena stated the UN rights council’s censure motion, which 22 voted for and 11 against, was not binding on Colombo.
“It is a waste of money. Highly uncalled for,” Gunawardena told reporters at a hurriedly organised press conference in Colombo shortly right after losing the vote.
“Without the consent and acceptance of the country concerned, it cannot be implemented.”
The revenue would be much better spent on supplying “housing for the entire population in the Jaffna peninsula”, he stated, referring to the heartland of the island’s minority Tamils in the war-battered area.
Successive governments in Sri Lanka have resisted calls for an independent investigation into allegations that troops killed at least 40,000 Tamil civilians even though crushing Tiger guerrillas, a charge Colombo denies.
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