Sri Lanka is scheduled to host the next Commonwealth summit in 2013, but the country is under attack for alleged human rights violations and war crimes in the final days of its civil war with the Tamil Tigers in 2009. It is refusing to heed calls for an international investigation into those allegations, which has annoyed some other Commonwealth nations. Pictured, ethnic women with their children walk near barbed wire at an internally displaced camp set up for Tamils who escaped the war zone, in Vavuniya, about 254 km north of Colombo.

Photograph by: Stringer, Reuters

OTTAWA — Canada is rallying behind two reports prepared for the Commonwealth that recommend reforms to uphold core values, such as democracy, the rule of law and human rights among its 54-nation members. Full Story>>>
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Diplomatic Immunity could be tested for war crimes: expert

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Moves to bring war crimes charges in Australia against the Sri Lankan President and High Commissioner face the significant challenge of proving to an Australian Court that serious war crimes can overrule diplomatic immunity, according to an ANU International Law expert.

Professor Donald Rothwell of the ANU College of Law says that suggestions that Sri Lankan High Commissioner Thisara Samarasinghe and the visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa may be subject to war crimes charges under Australian law highlight the growing reach of Australian criminal law in war crimes cases, consistent with Australia’s obligations under international law.

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