Sri Lankan governing party members of parliament have started the move to impeach the country’s Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.
Reports say a parliamentary motion to impeach Bandaranayake was submitted on Thursday.
The proposal has received the approval of nearly 120 MPs from the pro-government part signing the motion.
The bid for impeachment has pointed chief justice’s behaviour and conduct in 2011 that “affected the sovereignty of the people.”
At Washington DC, Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland
says the United States is concerned by actions taken to impeach Sri Lankan Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.
The US also expresses concern on the recent threats to Sri Lankan judicial officials, including the assault last month on a judge who had publicly criticized government pressure on members of the judiciary.
The United States urges the Government of Sri Lanka to avoid any action that would impede the independence of Sri Lanka’s judiciary.
“The United States, along with our partners in the international community, continues to urge Sri Lanka to address outstanding issues of the rule of law, democratic governance, accountability and reconciliation.” -Ms. Victoria
In March this year, the United States has commended the UN Human Rights Council for taking strong action to promote a durable, just and equitable peace in Sri Lanka.
The resolution adopted convincingly promotes reconciliation and accountability after decades of terrorism and civil war.
The resolution welcomes the constructive recommendations in the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission, while acknowledging the need to address key issues of accountability, Ms. Rice highlighted.
The resolution also calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka to present a plan to implement the recommendations and address alleged violations of international law.
To advance these efforts, the resolution encourages the UN to offer advice and technical assistance to Sri Lanka.
By a vote of 24 in favour, 15 against and 8 abstentions, the Council adopted a resolution urging Sri Lanka to investigate potential human rights abuses committed during its 26-year-long civil war.
In September 2011, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has sent the report of his panel of experts on accountability issues during the final stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka to the United Nations human rights chief and the President of the Human Rights Council.
The report of the three-member panel, which was released in April, found there were credible reports that both Government forces and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had committed war crimes in the months leading up to May 2009, when Government forces declared victory over the separatists.
