Delivering the opening statement at the 14th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva today, Navanethem Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, asked the Council to reflect on the commitments made by the Sri Lankan government to the Council when it addressed the serious concerns at the last session on Sri Lanka's bloody war that ended last May.

Pillay noted that the government has made some progress since then in the return and resettlement of internally displaced persons and the partial relaxation of emergency measures.

"Concrete initiatives must now follow to provide justice and redress to victims and generally to promote accountability and longer-term reconciliation," Pillay added.

While acknowledging the Sri Lankan government's recent establishment of Commission on Lessons Learned and Reconciliation to address some of these questions, Pillay expressed doubts in such a commission.

"However, based on previous experience and new information, I remain convinced that such objectives would be better served by establishing an independent international accountability mechanism that would enjoy public confidence, both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere," she said.

President Rajapaksa recently appointed his own Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation to examine key aspects of the conflict in Sri Lanka that ended a year ago.

The United States has expressed its support for the creation of the President's reconciliation commission and urged Sri Lanka to make the findings public.

During a press briefing on May 28 with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris urged the United Nations to give Sri Lanka space to allow the commission to begin its work without impediment or without hindrance.