The Government has re-affirmed its commitment to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), following the alleged kidnapping and questioning of a local staff member of the Swiss Embassy in Colombo.
"The Government of Sri Lanka takes this opportunity to reaffirm unequivocally its commitment to give effect to the obligations undertaken as a State Party to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), to facilitate the smooth functioning of diplomatic missions in Sri Lanka," The Foreign Ministry said in a Statement today.
Through the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, diplomatic missions are given the assurance to function without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country.
The Ministry said the Government has taken serious note of the alleged criminal incident concerning the locally recruited staff member of the Embassy of Switzerland in Colombo.
"On being informed of the alleged incident yesterday, the Police has taken immediate action to commence an investigation into the matter," the Foreign Ministry added.
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Germany who is concurrently accredited to Switzerland, Karunasena Hettiarachchi will be meeting with the Swiss authorities to provide an update on the investigation, shortly.
The Ministry said, in order to enable the relevant authorities to conduct the investigation smoothly and according to established procedure, the fullest cooperation of the Embassy of Switzerland has been requested.
