UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has sharply criticised the government of Sri Lanka, at the end of a week-long visit.
In a statement, Ms Pillay said she feared the country was becoming increasingly authoritarian.
Since the civil war ended four years ago, democracy had been undermined and the rule of law eroded, she added.
(...)
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the statement issued by Ms Pillay's office is astonishingly blunt, and parts of it will not go down well with the Sri Lankan government, which had not been especially keen on her visit in the first place.
Ms Pillay said that she was allowed to go wherever she wanted but that Sri Lankans who came to meet her were harassed and intimidated by security forces.
"This type of surveillance and harassment appears to be getting worse in Sri Lanka, which is a country where critical voices are quite often attacked or even permanently silenced," the statement said.
"Utterly unacceptable at any time, it is particularly extraordinary for such treatment to be meted out during a visit by a UN high commissioner for human rights." Full story...
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In a statement, Ms Pillay said she feared the country was becoming increasingly authoritarian.
Since the civil war ended four years ago, democracy had been undermined and the rule of law eroded, she added.
(...)
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the statement issued by Ms Pillay's office is astonishingly blunt, and parts of it will not go down well with the Sri Lankan government, which had not been especially keen on her visit in the first place.
Ms Pillay said that she was allowed to go wherever she wanted but that Sri Lankans who came to meet her were harassed and intimidated by security forces.
"This type of surveillance and harassment appears to be getting worse in Sri Lanka, which is a country where critical voices are quite often attacked or even permanently silenced," the statement said.
"Utterly unacceptable at any time, it is particularly extraordinary for such treatment to be meted out during a visit by a UN high commissioner for human rights." Full story...
Related posts:
- How not to win a war: Sri Lanka's paradise betrayed by monks, thugs and...
- Sri Lanka Buddhists attack Colombo mosque...
- Sri Lanka: proposed media code threatens free speech...
- Free press under siege in Sri Lanka...
- Sri Lankan editor's astonishing article about his murder and his murderers...
- No Fire Zone: the killing fields of Sri Lanka...(Graphic)
- Sri Lanka 'intensifies crackdown on dissent' - Amnesty...
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