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Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday said he held a “fruitful discussion” with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on ways to jointly promote “reconciliation” within the country because the only thanks to move towards a prosperous future Mr. Rajapaksa, who is within the U.S. for the high-level United Nations General Assembly session, called on Secretary General Guterres at the UN headquarters in ny on Sunday and discussed with him the reconciliation process with the minority Tamil community in Sri Lanka .
During the meeting, Mr. Guterres told Mr. Rajapaksa about the necessity to guard minority rights in Sri Lanka , the Colombo Gazette newspaper reported.The two leaders also discussed economic recovery within the face of the COVID-19 pandemic besides ensuring uninterrupted education within the island country.
In a tweet, the Sri Lankan President said: “Had a fruitful discussion w/@UNSG @antonioguterres, on ways to jointly promote reconciliation in #SriLanka, because the only thanks to move twds a prosperous future. Also discussed economic recovery within the face of the #Covid19 pandemic, and ensuring uninterrupted education process The Secretary-General, who expressed solidarity with Sri Lanka for the continued challenges associated with the coronavirus, was briefed by Rajapaksa on the country’s domestic issues, including the reconciliation process.
Mr. Guterres offered the UN’s support over the difficulty and reiterated the worldwide organisation’s view on the importance of ensuring protection of minority rights and civic engagement, the report said In March, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution against Sri Lanka’s rights record, giving the UN body a mandate to gather evidence of crimes committed during the country’s brutal three decade-long war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Reacting to the UNHRC resolution – ‘Promotion of Reconciliation Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka’ – Mr. Rajapaksa had said it had been the doing of “foreign and native forces” which cannot see his government making progress The resolution calls upon the Sri Lankan government to make sure prompt thorough and impartial investigation, if warranted, prosecution of all alleged crimes concerning human rights violations and high violations of international human rights law during the country’s three decade-long war . The Tamil minority has welcomed the resolution.
According to the Lankan government figures, over 20,000 people are missing thanks to various conflicts including the three-decade brutal war with Lankan Tamils within the north and east which claimed a minimum of 1,00,000 lives The Tamils alleged that thousands were massacred during the ultimate stages of the war that led to 2009 when the govt forces killed LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.
The Sri Lankan Army denies the charge, claiming it as a humanitarian operation to rid the Tamils of LTTE’s control At the top of the war , the United Nations accused each side of atrocities, especially during the conflict’s final stages International rights groups claim a minimum of 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed within the final stages of the war, but the Sri Lankan government has disputed the figures.
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