'Move against SL fails'

12 May 2011 06:07 pm Views - 13158

An attempt at the European Parliament to seek the immediate establishment of an International Justice Mechanism on Sri Lanka has failed today, the Sri Lanka Embassy in Brussels said.

During an ‘emergency’ debate called by the Socialist and Green parties at the Strassbourg Plenary session to draw attention to the ‘UN Panel Report’ on accountability issues in Sri Lanka, the EU Parliament was adopted an amended resolution, calling for the Sri Lankan Government to act according to the panel report.

The Belarus regime's harassment of journalists and opposition leaders, the plight of human rights activists in Azerbaijan and the fate of Tamil citizens in Sri Lanka were the three topics selected for urgent debates and resolutions by the European Parliament on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the EU Parliament in a statement said that ‘two years after the civil war in Sri Lanka ended with the surrender of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Parliament urges the Sri Lankan government to take active measures to protect the Tamil people so that they can look forward to "a bright and prosperous future, on equal terms with their Sinhalese fellow citizens".

“Following a recently published UN report, which finds credible, the allegations that both government forces and the LTTE conducted military operations  with "flagrant" violations of human rights, MEPs call for a full, impartial and transparent investigation. The EP urges the Sri Lankan government to  implement the recommendations suggested by the UN panel of experts and conduct a genuine investigation.”