Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera has informed Parliament that the visit was in line with the UNHRC’s new focus on Sri Lanka.

He also said Sri Lankan forces were slated to play a greater role in the UN’s peace keeping activities in the future.

The Minister has observed that it was important to have a domestic mechanism to look into human rights violations as pledged by the present regime prior to the presidential election.

He has said, “Failure to carry out a domestic investigation will lead to an international investigation which might in turn lead to foreign intervention.”

“One must not treat the upholding of human rights as a western value. It should be treated as a universal value,” Samaraweera has observed.