At a recent meeting with foreign correspondents in Colombo, Minister of External Affairs Professor G.L. Peiris noted that Sri Lanka will not be participating in any investigation that is carried out by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris said: “We will not be participating in any investigation that is carried out by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for the simple reason that we do not accept the authority of the commissioner to do this. We have given reasons why we believe that the investigation of a particular country is not within the scope of the Office of the High Commissioner; it does not fall within the ambit of her authority. That is a legal issue and we have given reasons for that.”

He also added: “As we all know, one of the basic requirements of any inquiry is that the person conducting the inquiry should be able to bring an open mind to bear on the issues that constitute the subject matter of the investigation. In other words, it must be an independent and an objective mind, free from any kind of bias or pre-judgement. It is universally accepted that it is a basic requirement of any fair inquiry. Now, it is quite evident that, that requirement is not satisfied in this particular case.

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