In his first public response to the OHCHR report on alleged war crimes and human rights violations in Sri Lanka, President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday said the change of government in January rescued the country from facing “strictures” from the international community.

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Sirisena, flanked by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera, told a gathering of editors and heads of media groups in Colombo that there were indications that the international community would have insisted on the strictures. The new government has averted a much adverse report by the UN rights body due to the change of government, he said.

He also insisted that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigation on Sri Lanka would have named some people as perpetrators of human rights violations and barred them.

“The international community is satisfied with the actions taken by the government towards restoration of rights, media freedom, good governance and other positive steps,” Sirisena said, citing the adoption of the 19th Constitutional Amendment as one of the steps.

The amendment diluted the powers of Executive Presidency.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said his government would inform the international community of its intention of setting up a domestic mechanism to look into the alleged violations during the civil war.