Arizona Senator and former presidential hopeful John McCain has asked whether the US should be more active in condemning the ongoing serious human rights violations in Sri Lanka, reported Colombo Gazette.
Speaking at the confirmation hearing of Nisha Desai Biswal, President Obama’s nominee to be Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, McCain said there continue to be reports from human rights organisations that there are still significant human rights abuses taking place against the Tamils which rise to a level that is “very disturbing”.
Senator Marco Rubio also noted that there had been reports of 30 churches being attacked by Buddhists.
Biswal said to the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee that she would continue to stress accountability and reconciliation, if confirmed in the role.
“As Sri Lanka works to rebuild its society after a devastating civil war, I will, if confirmed, continue to stress the importance of reconciliation and accountability and for the government to meet its commitments to all of its population,” she said.
“The US has been very active and very engaged with Sri Lanka and with the international community in expressing our concern about both accountability and reconciliation between minority populations and majority populations in Sri Lanka. We have made clear that we believe that if Sri Lanka does not address through its own internal processes that there will be increasing calls for international processes to address these issues.”