Church praises UN rights chief's visit to Lanka

The recent visit of the U.N. human rights chief to Sri Lanka should "help the process of searching for truth and justice in our country," a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Colombo said.

"The path of justice is important to reach authentic reconciliation in Sri Lanka," said Father Cyril Gamini Fernando, head of the archdiocese's social communications department."

We have no problems on the interest of the United Nations and we hope it can help the process of searching for truth and justice in our country," he said, reported Fides, information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

In a four-day visit that ended Feb. 9, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said Sri Lanka "must confront its demons of the past" by fast-tracking an overhaul of its judicial process as it begins a process of reconciliation.

"We have confidence in the national judicial institutions and we ask local courts to judge crimes" Father Fernando said. "We believe that justice is an important process as a prelude to profound reconciliation and to heal the wounds of war," he said.(ucanews.com)