Get moving on LLRC recommendations and elections to the North: Blake

The United States wants Sri Lanka to make progress on the Action Plan to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) ahead of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva in March next year.

This was emphasised by US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert Blake, during talks with External Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris.

Addressing a news conference, Mr. Blake said he discussed at all the meetings, “the need to accelerate the progress of the implementation of the recommendations of the LLRC action plan

“I urged progress as quickly as possible on issues in the Action Plan and other issues,” he said.

“On the issue of credibility it is our hope that three years after the end of the conflict there can be credible and transparent accounting, investigations and prosecution of some of the outstanding and serious allegations of human rights violations.

“The issue of human rights is important in the whole reconciliation process. We discussed this in detail and I made the point that it is important not only to make progress about the missing but also the progress about media freedom,” he said.

Regarding the provincial council elections for the north, he said that elections were an important part of the reconciliation process in ensuring political rights for the people in the North.

“When the Eastern province was liberated from the LTTE the government was able to hold the elections within a year for the Eastern PC. In the North it has been a long time- three years since it was over. We were told that September 2013 is the latest. We hope it can be as soon as possible,” he added.