UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour last week reiterated the necessity of setting up of her one office in Sri Lanka to help improve rights situation in the island country. "What the office could contribute would be a presence in Sri Lanka, acting under a full mandate, which could offer some technical assistance whilst filling the information gap.

Meanwhile, Human Rights and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said that Arbour had not made any formal request to set up an office under the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner in Sri Lanka during her recent visit.

"I must point out that the Office of the High Commissioner does not maintain an OHCHR 'office' in Sri Lanka. Any discussion of its 'expansion,' therefore, will be redundant. OHCHR's presence in Sri Lanka consists of a senior human rights advisor and an assistant working under the aegis of the UN Country Team. I would like to reiterate, moreover, that not once in her statement of 13 October did Madame Arbour request the establishment of an 'office' in Sri Lanka," he said in a letter written to American Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Robert Blake.

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