United States on human rights monitoring in Sri Lanka

In remarks made in Colombo on Friday, Richard A. Boucher, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, United States Department of State commented on proposals for human rights monitoring in Sri Lanka.

QUESTION: Shimali Senanayake for the New York Times. Two questions for you, sir. You mentioned that we need to investigate human rights abuses. How does the U.S. feel about the UN involvement in a human rights monitoring mechanism? Secondly, as the key supporter of Sri Lanka’s peace process, what kind of results do you expect from the Geneva talks on the 28th and 29th. What would be the international community’s benchmark for success of these talks? Thanks.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY BOUCHER: Very New York Times sort of questions. We need to start with the basic fact that there is a democratically-elected government here in Sri Lanka. A democratic government that is pledged both personally, politically and constitutionally, to the respect and defense of human rights. Therefore, that primary responsibility to respect and defend human rights is with the government. We look to the government to carry out those responsibilities. We do believe the international community can have a role in helping — whether it is with expertise, such as the Australian forensic team that is here helping with the investigation, or whether it is with the basic monitoring mechanism to observe the situation, to encourage progress and look at where that progress could be made better — that is the kind of commission that we are trying to put together with the government. They have suggested that the UN Human Rights Commission have a role in this. They have suggested that others, including some of the Co-Chairs, have people on this commission. We see this as a group of people who have a strong interest in human rights, who know a lot about how it can be respected and pursued and therefore can observe what the government is doing; observe how the government exercises its responsibility and also look at the human rights situation throughout the island and perhaps make suggestions on how they respect for human rights observance can be improved.