Government of the Sri Lanka and the LLRC are described in detail in Annex 2.
21. As that account demonstrates, the Panel made repeated efforts, orally and in writing, from early September 2010 until near the completion of its mandate, to engage with the Government of Sri Lanka. The Panel and United Nations officials repeatedly made clear to the Government the scope of its mandate as an advisory panel to the Secretary-General, including that it was not engaged in any investigation. After several months of lack of communication with the Panel, the Government invited the Panel to Sri Lanka, only to reverse its position effectively, when it did not discuss with the Panel the modalities of such a visit. The Panel notes that it reiterated its willingness to visit the country even after the Government insisted in a letter in December 2010 that the Panel could only make “representations” to the LLRC. Yet the Government rejected this overture in a note in early January 2011 and never pursued the visit thereafter. Instead, it responded in writing to the Panel’s questions, which were transmitted at the end of January, regarding the LLRC and other domestic mechanisms, and sent a small delegation to New York that did not include any members of the LLRC.
22. The Panel regrets that the Government of Sri Lanka did not permit the Panel to visit the country and meet with the LLRC and the range of Government officials involved in accountability questions. While a visit to Sri Lanka was not essential to its work, it would have provided an opportunity for the Panel to meet both the LLRC and Government officials, hear their perspectives more directly and share its expertise with them (although the Panel was able to ascertain official views in other ways). While the Panel welcomes the written responses and appreciates the opportunity to have a face-to-face dialogue with Sri Lankan officials, it was not the type of engagement that the Panel had sought.
E. Confidentiality of the Panel's records
23. In some instances, the Panel received written and oral material on the condition of an assurance of absolute confidentiality in the subsequent use of the information. The Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) confirmed through formal legal advice that the provisions set out in the Secretary-General’s Bulletin on “Information sensitivity, classification and handling” (ST/SGB/2007/6) could be applied to its records. This Bulletin provides for classification of a document as “strictly confidential” with correspondingly strict limits on any access for a period of 20 years, following which a declassification review may be undertaken that weighs the equities involved in retention or release. Moreover, OLA confirmed that, where necessary and appropriate for the Panel’s work, the Panel could give an undertaking of absolute confidentiality in the subsequent use. As a result, nearly all of the Panel’s substantive records will be classified as “strictly confidential” with, in some cases, additional protections regarding future use.
6
