Call for permanent UN rights office

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 June 2001, 11:17 GMT]
"The report of the Presidential Commission that inquired into the disappearances taken place in the northeast of country is still in the cupboard. We do not know when that report will be implemented. Justice delayed is justice denied" said Attorney-at-Law Kasinathar Sivapalan, and a human rights activist, presiding over a function held in Trincomalee on Tuesday to publish the Tamil edition of the Human Development Report-2000, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

"UNICEF, UNHCR, UNDP of the United Nations system have set up their offices in Sri Lanka. Likewise it is high time for the UN Human Rights Commission based in Geneva also to establish its branch in Colombo to monitor all human rights activities taking place in the island," appealed Mr. Kasinathar Sivapalan.

Delivering the keynote address Mr. N. Selvakumaran, Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka said "Human Development and Human Rights are intertwined. Without preserving human rights of an individual there cannot be any human development. This has been stressed in the UNDP Report for the Year 2000. The theme of the report is Human Development and Human Rights."

Mr.Mohan Samaranayake, Information Officer of the UNIC said: "Human Rights and Human Development share a common vision and common purpose. Laws alone do not guarantee human rights. Votes alone do not guarantee human rights. In democracy, majority community can crush the aspirations of the minority. Poverty is also a human rights issue".

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and the United Nations Development Programme jointly organized this event. The Sinhala edition was earlier launched at Kandy.