Sri Lanka's Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms to submit report to President on Jan 3rd

The Consultations Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms appointed by the Prime Minister on 26 January this year will present its report to the President on 3rd January, the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms announced. The report will also be published on its website on the same day, the Secretary of the Task Force, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu told BBC Sandeshaya.

Dr. Saravanamuttu said the Task Force received nearly 7500 proposals during the face-to-face consultations with different communities, civil society organizations, and religious leaders via town-hall meetings, focus group discussions and structured interviews in all districts of the Island. "The basic ideas of those proposals are included in our report," Dr. Saravanamuttu said. He said the government has pledged to include the proposals presented by the public in the four mechanisms proposed by the government to address the Geneva proposal on war crime investigations The Government has indicated that it is considering an Office of Missing Persons, a Truth, Justice, Reconciliation and Non-Recurrence Commission, a Judicial Mechanism with a Special Counsel and an Office of Reparations. When reminded that the government has already established the missing person's commission, the Secretary of the Task Force said the government was advised at the time that it was not appropriate to bring the bill to set up the commission. However, there is still time to make revisions to the bill if necessary since the offices are not yet established, the Secretary said.