Colombo: Japan on Thursday said it want Sri Lanka to make public a report on war crimes allegedly committed during the final phase of war against the Tamil rebels and emphasised the need to improve human rights situation in the country.
“Japan hopes that the Sri Lankan government will make the report public in due course and takes steps to implement recommendations by the commission,” Tokyo’s special envoy to Sri Lanka, Yasushi Akashi, who was on a four-day visit to the country.
He also called for reconciliation between ethnic communities in Sri Lanka at the end of nearly four-decades of ethnic strife.
“I reiterated the importance of national reconciliation in order to achieve a lasting peace,” Akashi told reporters after talks with President Mahinda Rajapakse and other leaders.
“Accountability could be included in the whole reconciliation process. The objective should be genuine reconciliation,” he said. Akashi, said there was a “perception of insecurity” despite the end of conflict.
“I emphasized the vital need to improve the human rights situation in this country,” Akashi said.
Akashi said many Sri Lankans still spoke of “disappearances” in Tamil areas, military occupation of private property and heavy presence of soldiers in the country’s northeast.
He said Sri Lanka must do more to change the perceptions of people and address accountability issues.
He said asked Sri Lankan Government to make public the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) which was handed over to Rajapaksa last week. (PTI)
