Experts panel on Sri Lanka: NAM expresses deep concern to Ban Ki-Moon
The Non-Aligned Movement Coordinating Bureau Chair has
written to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon conveying the
Movement's deep concern about the announced intention of the Secretary
General to appoint a Panel of Experts to advice on accountability issues
relating to Sri Lanka.
The NAM Coordination Bureau, in a letter dated March
9, said that the Secretary General's proposal comes as a reaction to the
proposals by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that
are based on information that does not take into account the
particularities of the domestic situations, and without consultations
with the Government concerned.
The NAM also pointed out to Ban Ki-Moon that President
Mahinda Rajapaksa has already confirmed in public his intention to
appoint a domestic mechanism to address accountability issues,
voluntarily.
"Neither the Security Council, nor the General
Assembly or its subsidiary, Human Rights Council, has made
pronouncements on alleged human rights violations, nor mandated any
particular course of action," the NAM letter said.
The letter pointed out to Ban Ki Moon that the
situation in Sri Lanka is not on the agenda of any of these bodies and
there is nothing in the Charter of the United Nations that authorizes
intervention in matters which are essentially in the domestic
jurisdiction of any State without prejudice of course to the application
of enforcement measures under Chapter VII.
The Non-Aligned Movement strongly condemned selective
targeting of individual countries, which it deems contrary to the
Founding Principles of the Movement and the United Nations Charter.
Courtesy: Daily News | 
