Martti Ahtisaari to advise UN inquiry into Sri Lanka human rights abuses
<h3 class="post-title subpt">Five years after Sri Lanka's bloody civil war came to an end, questions of accountability for alleged abuses have still not been fully resolved. Martti Ahtisaari has been named as one of three advisors to a UN team investigating human rights violations in the country.</h3><div class="quoteblock"><div class="quotetext"></div></div><p align="center"><img src="http://theelders.org/images/Martti-Ahtisaari.jpg" alt="Martti Ahtisaari" width="600" height="367"></p>
<p>The Elders welcome the <strong><a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14772&…; that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has appointed Martti Ahtisaari to advise and support a team investigating alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka that occurred towards the end of the country’s civil war in 2009.</p>
<p>Other experts appointed to the panel are Silvia Cartwright, former Governor-General and High Court Judge of New Zealand, and Asma Jahangir, former President of Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission and the Supreme Court Bar Association.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center" lang="en">
<p>UN <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HumanRights?src=hash">#HumanRights</a> Chief Pillay announces details of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SriLanka?src=hash">#SriLanka</a> conflict investigation: <a href="http://t.co/IBiN587DHP">http://t.co/IBiN587DHP</a> <a href="http://t.co/AxHWjJh3tX">pic.twitter.com/AxHWjJh3tX</a></p>
— UN Human Rights (@UNrightswire) <a href="https://twitter.com/UNrightswire/statuses/481859395769630720">June 25, 2014</a></blockquote>
<p> <br>For many years, The Elders have voiced their deep concern about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. They believe that accountability and reconciliation are essential if a lasting peace is to ever be achieved in the country, and have repeatedly called on all parties to the conflict to account for crimes and human rights abuses.</p>
<p>Read more about <strong><a href="http://theelders.org/sri-lanka">The Elders' past work on Sri Lanka</a></strong>.</p>
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