Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma has welcomed Sri Lanka’s measures to conduct an island wide census to assess the human and property damages occurred during nearly three-decade long armed conflict.
Issuing a statement, the Commonwealth Secretary-General said the last week’s announcement by the Sri Lankan Government to conduct a national census to determine the extent of the loss of life during the country’s 26-year old civil war, is a welcome step. He mentioned that this would advance the process of post-conflict reconciliation sought in the national Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation report.
The Secretary General was optimistic that every attempt would be made to record accurately the information and chronologies provided by victims, families and witnesses. He said they encourage all concerned to provide the information required. Kamalesh Sharma hoped that the findings of the census will be made public after its completion. The Commonwealth Secretary General added in his statement that healing and enduring reconciliation will only come about when the truth is known about what happened in the past.
According to the Department of Census and Statistics the Census will be completed by 20th December and the report will be made available by March next year.
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