UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visits Sri Lanka
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
COLOMBO, OCT 9 (AP): UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour arrived in Sri Lanka Tuesday for a five-day visit to investigate human rights amid rising international concerns. Arbour will meet government officials and representatives of civil society during her visit, said UN spokesman Gordon Weiss.
The island nation off the southeastern coast of India has been locked in a more than two-decade conflict between ethnic Tamil separatists and the majority Sinhalese-dominated government that has killed more than 70,000 people.
Human rights groups have accused government forces and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels of civilian killings and abductions over the past 22 months.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said in August that more than 1,100 abductions or "disappearances" were reported between January 2006 and June 2007.
The island nation off the southeastern coast of India has been locked in a more than two-decade conflict between ethnic Tamil separatists and the majority Sinhalese-dominated government that has killed more than 70,000 people.
Human rights groups have accused government forces and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels of civilian killings and abductions over the past 22 months.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said in August that more than 1,100 abductions or "disappearances" were reported between January 2006 and June 2007.