Allegations Of War Crimes And Crimes Against Humanity In Sri Lanka

EDM number 314 in 2014-15, proposed by Siobhain McDonagh on 03/09/2014.
Categorised under the topics of Asia, Human rights, International law and International politics and government.

That this House expresses its serious concern at the recent decision by the President of Sri Lanka to deny visas to the UN team investigating allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka; condemns strongly the government of Sri Lanka's refusal to co-operate with the UN investigation or to heed the concerns of the international community on accountability and reconciliation; calls into question the timing and credibility of the President of Sri Lanka's decision to expand the mandate of the domestic Commission of Inquiry on Disappearances and to appoint a council of international legal experts to advise the Commission on war crimes allegations; notes the poor history of Sri Lanka's domestic commissions of inquiry to adequately investigate cases of human rights violations; further notes that the actions of the government of Sri Lanka continue to undermine the accountability and reconciliation processes in the country; urges the Government to reaffirm its strong support for the UN-mandated investigation and to condemn the President's denial of visas to the UN team; and calls on Commonwealth member countries, including the UK, to move to suspend the President of Sri Lanka from his position as Chairperson-in-Office of the Commonwealth, given his government is in clear breach of the values and precepts of the association.

This motion has been signed by a total of 27 MPs.