r Ministry of Defence - Sri Lanka

President discusses issues of SL troops serving in UN Peace Keeping Forces

June 21, 2019

Attention of the President was drawn to issues arise due to delays in clearances by the Human Rights Council (HRC) when dispatching Police and security forces personnel to United Nations Peace Keeping Missions.

President had a discussion with members of HRC in this regard today (20) and instructed the Council to take immediate measures to resolve this issue through common understanding and liaison between relevant parties.

Sri Lanka will be at a loss when there is an undue delay in deploying our officers to UN missions and it will not only have a negative impact on the economy but also damage the trust and faith UN had placed on Sri Lanka, President pointed out.

Our forces are on high demand due to their discipline and valour, President said while adding that since Sri Lanka had been offered training opportunities by several countries, the mechanism to select suitable candidates to follow such training courses should be implemented in a proper manner.

Since 2004, Sri Lanka had been sending troops on UN missions and at present too a large contingent of our country is serving in different parts of the world.

The Secretary of Defence General (Retd) Shantha Kottegoda, senior security officials and the Chairman of HRC Ms Deepika Udugama joined the President in this discussion.

Courtesy: pmdnews.lk