20 September, 2011
Australia's Green Party has called upon the Australian government to suspend Sri Lanka from the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Perth next month. A resolution was passed by the party on Tuesday at a meeting held at parliament house. The Green Party calling for suspension says that Sri Lanka has defiantly refused to hold an independent international investigation into the alleged war crimes committed during the final stages of the civil war in 2009. It also accuses Sri Lanka of breaching its commitment to the Commonwealth's values and principles. Sri Lanka has been endorsed as the host for the CHOGM meeting to be held in 2013 and the Green Party calls upon the Australian government to boycott it as well. Canada boycott Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already warned that he will not attend CHOGM 2013 unless Sri Lanka improved its commitment to human rights, democratic values and political reconciliation.
"The ball is with the Australian Government to stand up for human rights to ensure the process of restoration can commence and the war crime tribunal is held," Greens Senator for New South Wales Lee Rhiannon told the meeting.  John Dowd AO QC from the International Commission of Jurists Australia, Dr Sam Pari from the Australian Tamil Congress, Associate Professor Jake Lynch from the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Peter Arndt from the Catholic Justice & Peace Commission of Brisbane were among those present.Unsubstantiated propaganda Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in Canberra, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe talking to Australian media has dismissed the war crimes allegations as "unsubstantiated propaganda". "This whole process is being orchestrated by the defeated terrorist front organisations," he has said. | |||||||
| Sri Lanka High Commissioner for Australia |
