Sri Lanka Rejects UN Move To Protect War Crimes Evidence

The resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva called for a $2.8 million budget to collect and preserve evidence of war crimes for future prosecutions.

Sri Lanka on Tuesday rejected a UN move to preserve evidence of war crimes in the country and said the money allocated for the effort would be better spent on housing for the poor. The resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva called for a $2.8 million budget to collect and preserve evidence of war crimes for future prosecutions. It follows a damning report from UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Sri Lanka's failure to prosecute war criminals from the island's separatist conflict that ended in May 2009. Foreign minister Dinesh Gunawardena said the UN rights council's censure motion, which 22 voted for and 11 against, was not binding on Colombo.