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U.N. rights official visits Sri Lanka

— PHOTO: AFP

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour in Colombo on Wednesday.

COLOMBO: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, on a five-day visit for a first hand assessment of the human rights situation, exchanged views with Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday.

Ms. Arbour is expected to meet representatives of the government on the concerns of the international community over the rights violations and measures taken to remedy the situation.

Concerned over the possibility of adoption of an adverse resolution by the European Union Human Rights Council last month, Sri Lanka agreed in principle to consider strengthening of the presence of the Senior Human Rights Adviser to the U.N. Country Team in Sri Lanka.

Augmenting the monitoring mechanisms is on top of Ms. Arbour’s agenda. On Friday, she is scheduled to visit the Jaffna town under the control of the government. She has no plans to visit the area under the control of the LTTE.

On the eve of the E.U. Human Rights Council, in an aide memoir to the Presidency, Sri Lanka had said it was ready to discuss the views and recommendations of the High Commissioner on the subject during her visit.

Colombo had further said the Office of High Commission for Human Rights has sent a number of officials to Sri Lanka from time to time to assist the Senior Human Rights Adviser on many issues, such as witness protection and treaty body reporting.

Colombo said as a founding member of the HRC, Sri Lanka will be ready to subject itself for the Universal Periodic Review Mechanism of the Council. Sri Lanka’s two-year term in the Council will end in May 2008.

Separately, the military claimed to have killed 10 cadres of the LTTE when they tried to breach the defence line in Eluththumaduwal in Jaffna on Tuesday. In another incident, it was claimed that two LTTE cadres were killed during a clash in Mannar.

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