A/HRC/25/23 some of the recommendations accepted by the Government during its universal periodic review and with those made by the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka.4 The High Commissioner regrets that she has received no response. 5. With regard to the issue of disappearances, the High Commissioner urged the Government to invite the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and to finalize measures to criminalize disappearances in national law. 6. With regard to criminal justice and accountability, the High Commissioner offered technical assistance in various areas, including draft legislation on hate speech and witness and victim protection, to ensure compliance with relevant international standards. In relation to some long outstanding criminal investigations, the High Commissioner offered to identify international experts who could assist the national inquiries. 7. Furthermore, the High Commissioner offered to provide technical advice on how truth-seeking mechanisms and reparations policies could be developed in accordance with international standards. 8. On 17 December 2013, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights met with the Secretary of Defence of Sri Lanka, in New York, and reiterated the High Commissioner’s offer of technical cooperation. Subsequently, on 20 January 2014, the High Commissioner met with the Secretary to the President, Lalith Weerathunga, in Geneva. 9. There are currently nine outstanding requests to visit Sri Lanka by special procedures: on minority issues; freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; freedom of opinion and expression; extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; enforced or involuntary disappearances; human rights defenders; independence of judges and lawyers; discrimination against women in law and practice; and truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. In October 2013, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association followed up on their requests to visit or made specific offers of technical assistance. These requests remain pending. Since January 2012, the Government has transmitted responses on 842 cases to the Working Group dating back to the 1990s. 10. At the invitation of the Government, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of internally displaced persons visited Sri Lanka from 2 to 6 December 2013 (see also para. 14 below). In August 2013, the Special Rapporteur on the right to education received an invitation from the Government, but had to defer his visit owing to conflicting engagements. The Government has since extended an invitation to the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants to visit the country in May 2014. 11. The High Commissioner welcomes the Government’s engagement in these important issues, but reiterates her calls to invite the special procedures on enforced or involuntary disappearances and minority issues as a matter of priority, considering that these issues featured prominently in the recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and have also been identified by the Human Rights Council as key concerns. 4 4 See www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/Sri_Lanka/POE_Report_Full.pdf.