UN to make Sri Lanka report public this week

English.news.cn   2011-04-19

UNITED NATIONS, April 18 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations is expected to publicly release this week a UN panel of experts' report that looked into whether war crimes were committed in the final stages of Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said here Monday.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his senior advisors are currently finalizing their review of the report and hope to make it public along with a formal response from the government of Sri Lanka, Haq told reporters here.

The UN-commissioned report was delivered to the secretary- general on April 12 and was shared with the government of Sri Lanka.

"The secretary-general has always stressed the government of Sri Lanka's pre-eminent responsibility in this matter. Sharing a copy of the report of the affected member state is in line with the organization's customary practice," said Haq.

The panel of experts, whose appointment was strongly criticized by the Sri Lankan government, is tasked with advising the UN secretary-general on accountability issues related to alleged human rights violations at the end of the conflict.

Chaired by former Indonesian Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, the three-member panel was appointed by the secretary-general in June of last year -- Yasmin Sooka of South Africa and Steven Ratner of the United States serve as the other two members.

Editor: yan