Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera, at a press conference yesterday, said Sri Lanka would not include foreign judges in it’s transitional justice mechanism, despite pressure from the United Nations Human Rights Council and other bodies.

This was the first time the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister explicitly ruled out the possibility of foreign judges in the accountability mechanism. 

The Foreign Affairs Minister had noted that Sri Lanka’s sovereignty would have to be compromised if foreign judges are included in the transitional justice mechanism: “We would have to change the Constitution,” he said.

Samaraweera said that while the participation of foreign judges in Sri Lanka’s transitional justice mechanism was perceived as a guarantee of impartiality, Sri Lanka’s proposed domestic mechanism would ensure the same.