United States stands by HR Report: U.S. Embassy tells Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2008, 15:16 GMT]
The U.S. Embassy in Colombo, on Friday, issued a press statement saying that the U.S. Government was standing by its State Department issued 2007 Report on Human Rights Practices in Sri Lanka. The U.S. statement comes, following reports Friday that Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Rohita Bogollagama, had called on U.S. Ambassador Robert Blake, registering his protest to the Human Rights report issued by the U.S. State Department.

Full text of the U.S. statement follows:

U.S. Stands by Human Rights Report; Looks Forward to Continued Dialogue

Colombo, March 14, 2008 – U.S. Ambassador Robert Blake and Minister of Foreign Affairs Rohitha Bogollagama held a constructive discussion on March 14 of the 2007 Report on Human Rights Practices in Sri Lanka that was released this week by the Department of State. The U.S. Government stands by the report. Our goal in the annual, Congressionally-mandated Reports on Human Rights Practices, which are issued for 196 countries, is always to be fair and objective. We welcome information from governments and other parties to correct what are perceived to be inaccuracies. We look forward to continued dialogue with the government to address human rights concerns in Sri Lanka.

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