Ban stresses importance of accountability as Sri Lanka recovers from civil war

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with

 Mahinda Samarasinghe, Special Envoy of the President of

 Sri Lanka on Human Rights

26 October 2011 – 

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today reiterated the importance of dealing with accountability issues as Sri Lanka continues to work towards national reconciliation following its long-running civil war.

Mr. Ban stressed the point during a meeting at United Nations Headquarters with Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Special Envoy of the President of Sri Lanka on Human Rights.
The meeting was part of the UN’s ongoing dialogue with the Sri Lankan Government as a follow-up to the Joint Statement made by the Secretary-General and President Mahinda Rajapaksa in May 2009, when Mr. Ban visited the South Asian nation shortly after the end of the conflict.
Government forces declared victory over the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009 after a conflict that had raged on and off for nearly three decades and killed thousands of people. The conflict ended with large numbers of Sri Lankans living as internally displaced persons (IDPs), especially in the north of the island country.
Today’s discussion, according to information provided by the Secretary-General’s spokesperson, also touched on the importance of an inclusive national dialogue aimed at achieving genuine political reconciliation, as well as ongoing progress with regard to recovery and resettlement efforts in the north.
Last month, Mr. Ban forwarded a report by a three-member UN panel of experts on accountability issues during the civil war to the Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The panel found there were credible reports that both Government forces and the LTTE committed war crimes during the war’s final months. It recommended that the Government respond to the allegations by initiating an effective accountability process beginning with genuine investigations.
The panel also recommended a review of the UN’s actions regarding the implementation of its humanitarian and protection mandates during the war and its immediate aftermath, which Mr. Ban has asked Thoraya Obaid, the former head of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), to conduct.

News Tracker: past stories on this issue

Ban forwards report on Sri Lanka war crimes to top UN human rights body

Australia mounts pressure on Sri Lanka over war crimes

By Michael Perry

(Reuters) - Australia joined Canada on Tuesday calling for Sri Lanka to 

address allegations of human rights abuses during its war against Tamil Tiger separatists, adding pressure on President Mahinda Rajapaksa ahead of a Commonwealth leaders summit.

A Sri Lankan-born Australian also filed court papers seeking war crime charges against Rajapaksa, who is due to arrive in Perth for the summit on Tuesday, although the government said it would not agree to the request, citing diplomatic immunity.

Western nations are pushing Sri Lanka for an independent probe into allegations that thousands of civilians died in May 2009 as government troops closed in on the Tamil Tigers, a group on the terrorism lists of more than 30 countries.

Sri Lanka, which rejects the war crimes charges, has warned that the issue could split the Commonwealth summit of 50-plus leaders. Sri Lanka is due to host the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2013 and Canada has threatened to boycott the Sri Lanka summit.

"Australia and like-minded countries have been urging and will continue to urge Sri Lanka to address the serious allegations that have been made of human rights violations during the end stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka," Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said ahead of opening a pre-CHOGM business forum.

Protesters say they will target the Perth summit which starts on Friday and, among a number of demands, will single out "war criminals and parasites," including Sri Lanka's president.

Australian Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran said on Tuesday that he had filed court papers to seek justice for civilians killed in aerial bombardments during the final months of the war.

Jegatheeswaran, a civil engineer, returned to Sri Lanka early in 2007 to work as a volunteer, staying with relatives in the Tamil stronghold of Kilinochchi. When the aid work was disrupted by the war, he volunteered to work in a camp for displaced people, but says he did not work for the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

"We want an international war crimes investigation into Sri Lanka. We want the inquiry to look at both sides," he told Reuters.

A court hearing is set for November 29, and Australian police and the country's attorney-general would need to conclude there was enough evidence of criminality for the case to proceed.

Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland's office said it would not accept the request, as it would have breached both domestic laws and Australia's obligations to grant immunity from prosecution to foreign envoys and heads of state.

"Those immunities include personal inviolability including from any form of arrest or detention and immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving state," s spokesman for McClelland said.

But Jegatheeswaran said in his court paper that he was living testimony to what happened during the final stages of Sri Lanka's bloody civil war.

"I saw Sri Lankan planes directing bombs into towns and open areas where displaced people were congregated, including areas declared as no-fire zones. I saw many hundreds of civilians killed and injured by these attacks," he said.

Sri Lanka has said it was impossible to avoid all civilian casualties during the final offensive of the 25-year war against the Tamil Tigers.

A U.N. advisory panel report says there is "credible evidence" both sides committed war crimes.

The LTTE attacked civilian targets throughout the war and are widely accused of recruiting children as soldiers and using civilians as human shields in the final days of the conflict.

Druglords win big at LG polls

OTHER CRIMINAL ELEMENTS TOO SOME TOP THE LISTS By Special Correspondent Police Department sources said that there are a number of well-known underworld criminals from major political parties who had performed quite well at the recently concluded third stage of the Local Government polls. Internal police sources revealed that one such person had obtained the highest number of preference votes in a Colombo District electorate. This person is alleged to be involved in big time drug trafficking and contract killings. In another local government body, the candidate who had obtained the second highest number of preference votes is alleged to be a big time criminal - and another, a drug pusher. In addition to these individuals there are more unsavoury characters who have got elected to various LG bodies from the main political parties, police sources said. ==============================

VIP luxury ‘drug-limos’ to be nabbed

 

By Gayan Kumara Weerasingha

The Police Department has deployed Special Task Force (STF) squads in and around the suburbs of Colombo in order to detect luxury vehicles that are allegedly transporting weapons and drugs.
A senior officer of the Police Department told LAKBIMAnEWS that the department had received many complaints alleging that politicians have given their supporters the ‘green light’ to transport weapons and drugs in these vehicles.

As a result the Police Department has sought the help of the STF to bust this racket and nab those responsible.
Police sources also said that one such vehicle had been detected by the STF with a VIP label near Samudra Devi Vidyalaya in Mulleriyawa, which was being driven without a VIP in it, recently. He said investigations are ongoing.

Commonwealth leaders split over human rights at CHOGM

Herald Sun 
Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits a Perth primary school. Picture: 
Stewart Allen PerthNow
Their 45-minute meeting in Perth came as a split emerged among Commonwealth leaders over human rights.

They are battling over a report written by 11 eminent people, including former High Court judge Michael Kirby, warning that the organisation is in danger of becoming irrelevant unless it finds a better way to take action against human rights abuses by its own members.

Australia, Britain and Canada are leading the push to create a Commonwealth commissioner for democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

But CHOGM makes decisions by consensus and there is fierce resistance from India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and some African countries, such as Uganda, which say it would be overly intrusive.

Sri Lanka's President has been accused of ordering his troops to kill tens of thousands of civilians at the end of the civil war with Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009.

Sri Lanka has denied any wrongdoing.

Australia refused a request to remove Mr Rajapaksa's diplomatic immunity and lay war crime charges against him, but Ms Gillard did call on Sri Lanka to answer "serious questions".

"We have consistently raised our concerns about human rights questions in the end stage of the conflict," she said.

"These need to be addressed by Sri Lanka through its Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission."

Ms Gillard and Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd both said there were no plans to strip Sri Lanka of the role of hosting the next CHOGM, in 2013. Canadian PM Stephen Harper has threatened to boycott the 2013 meeting if Sri Lanka does not make progress on human rights.

The Eminent Persons Group said the Commonwealth was "in danger of becoming irrelevant and unconvincing as a values-based association".

Mr Rudd, who is hosting two days of meetings of CHOGM foreign ministers while battling a cold he says has turned his voice into something "that sounds a little like Mae West", played down the prospect of the issue being settled this week.

"There is potency to the argument that there is a danger in the Commonwealth simply being reactive rather than pro-active; that is, once a military coup occurs then the one blunt instrument available to the Commonwealth is one of suspension or expulsion," he said.

Sri Lankan rights abuses top the bill as leaders talk

October 27, 2011

Meeting ... Julia Gillard with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Photo: Andrew Meares

AUSTRALIA is arguing for the Commonwealth to be given greater powers to stop member nations engaging in military coups and human rights abuses, rather than persist with the present system of suspending nations only once they have transgressed.

The Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, made the call yesterday as Australia argued behind closed doors for the Commonwealth to adopt key recommendations designed to give the 54-member organisation some teeth and stop it sliding towards irrelevance.

Last night, the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, raised human rights directly with the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka is the pariah of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth because of unaccounted-for human rights abuses perpetrated on the Tamils as the country's civil war ended in 2009.

''We have consistently raised our concerns about human rights questions in the end stages of the conflict. These need to be addressed by Sri Lanka,'' Ms Gillard said.

She said the country should address the abuses through its post-civil war Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission, as well as through a parallel United Nations investigation.

A motion lodged in a Melbourne court on Tuesday to charge Mr Rajapaksa with war crimes was stopped by the government. Pressure is mounting to stop Sri Lanka hosting the next biennial CHOGM in 2013.

Yesterday the president of the International Commission of Jurists' Australian chapter, John Dowd, QC, said he had been mailed photos documenting atrocities perpetrated by the Sri Lankan army in 2009.

He cited evidence of executions with people being shot through the forehead, and ''the exposure of women's bodies, presumably after death, and it deals with other evidence showing Sri Lankan army officials and officers''.

Mr Dowd joined calls for Sri Lanka to be stripped of the 2013 CHOGM. However, Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd said this would not happen.

Mr Rudd suggested other Commonwealth nations were free to boycott the event or protest in some other way. He pointed to Canada's threat to stay away if Sri Lanka has not shown signs of reform.

The CHOGM foreign ministers met yesterday and will meet again today to discuss the recommendations of the eminent persons group. The leaders will then debate the issue on Friday and at the weekend.

A key recommendation is the appointment of a Commonwealth commissioner for democracy, the rule of law and human rights to monitor persistent violations of human rights and democracy.

It would advise the Commonwealth Secretary-General and the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, which has the authority to suspend members.

India, Sri Lanka and a host of African nations oppose appointing the watchdog and Mr Rudd conceded yesterday that it was unlikely many of the key recommendations would be adopted because of the need for a broad consensus among nations.

Mr Rudd said ''there is a danger in the Commonwealth simply being reactive rather than proactive. That is, once a military coup occurs then the one blunt instrument available to the Commonwealth is one of suspension or expulsion.

''On the pre-emptive diplomacy side, there may be other means that we can deploy, other engagements which can occur if it is identified by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.''

The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, who is also in Perth, supported Ms Gillard meeting Mr Rajapaksa. Mr Abbott will have his own meetings with world leaders starting today.

Read more: >>>

Sri Lanka Team Calls UN Ban "Close," No "Darusman" Report Action For Year?

                                                                                  

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, October 26 -- After Sri Lanka's special envoy Mahinda Samarasinghe met Wednesday morning with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Inner City Press asked him how the meeting had gone. Video here and below.

"Constructive," he called it, saying that the government's Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission report, due November 15, will be presented nearly a year later in October 2012 to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Inner City Press asked Sri Lanka had again complained about the transmission to Geneva of the UN Report (or "Darusman Report," as the government insists on calling it, referring to Report Panel chairman Marzuki Darusman). Sri Lanka Permanent Representative Palitha Kohona answered that it's a separate issue. For this any other verbatim quotes, see video below.

Multiple sources have told Inner City Press that in President Mahinda Rajapaksa's September meeting with Ban Ki-moon, Ban berated his staff for not having given sufficient notice to the Sri Lankan mission. On the other hand, the number of people the Report says were killed seems more important than technical niceties of notice.

Before the meeting began, there was a photo opportunity. Entering before Ban were, among others, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights representative Ivan Simonovic, and Department of Political Affairs chief Lynn Pascoe and the staffer who accepted Tamil protesters' letter in the past.

Then Mahinda Samarasinghe entered, accompanied by Kohona and his deputy, Shavendra Silva -- not accompanied by his recently hired lawyers. At the end, the talk turned to Diwali, which Kohona emphasized is a national holiday in Sri Lanka. And then they were gone. Watch this site.

Tamils still 'enslaved' in northern Sri Lanka

The Australian   

A SRI Lankan MP has claimed that most of the country's 800,000 Tamils are living as "slaves" in the heavily controlled Northern Province amid daily crimes perpetrated by massive numbers of military personnel.

The claims have been made ahead of this week's CHOGM meeting in Perth, which will be attended by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa along with about 50 heads of state, including the Queen.

Despite ongoing concern about Sri Lanka's abuses during and after its civil war, the country has gained the right to host the next CHOGM meeting in 2013.

Eswarapatham Saravanapavan, who represents the Tamil National Alliance in the Colombo parliament, told The Australian during his visit last week that the minority was experiencing intolerable conditions in refugee camps and in their villages.

He put the number of soldiers in the province at 200,000, or one for every four Tamils living there. With such numbers, abuses against women were commonplace.

"People are scared in the district. The army's behaviour is bad, but women don't complain because they won't be able to live there," he said.

While he said many international agencies were focusing on bringing the perpetrators of war crimes to justice, he said crimes were being committed on a daily basis.

The Northern Province, which was controlled by the Tamils until the Sri Lankan army launched an all-out offensive two years ago, was now run like a military dictatorship, he said. "People feel they have no freedom."

Shuler’s Outreach Goes All the Way to Sri Lanka

Oct. 26, 2011, Midnight By Daniel Newhauser Roll Call Staff      

             

Over the past three years, the Democrat has quietly built a reputation as a top Congressional booster of the small South Asian country, grabbing headlines there last week when he returned for his second Congressional delegation trip in about as many years.

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo

A handful of Rep. Heath Shuler’s constituents in North Carolina spurred the Congressman’s interest in Sri Lanka. Now the lawmaker is seen as an expert on the South Asian nation by his colleagues.

In North Carolina, he’s known as a Congressman. In Tennessee, he’s known as a quarterback. But in Sri Lanka, Rep. Heath Shuler is known as an ally.

It was almost by happenstance that the former Tennessee Volunteer standout quarterback and now-Blue Dog Democrat became the most outspoken Congressional detractor of the Tamil Tigers. But the tale also shows how active constituents can sway a Member.

Full Story>>>

Stock market collapse 'due to deals'

Stock market collapse 'due to deals'

UNP says Sri Lanka share market is being used for money laundering The main opposition in Sri Lanka has accused the government of making "secret deals" in the stock market forcing the market to collapse. The United National Party (UNP) said the employees' provident fund (EPF) lost nearly SLR 30 million ($270,000) as a result of such deals in the marker by the government. "A share that is even not worth SLR10 was sold for SLR100," UNP senior vice president Lakshman Kiriella, MP, told journalists in Colombo. Full Story>>> =============================================== Stop political inteference in police - Ranil Opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe Opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe has called upon to stop political intefrence in the police force. He said that it is important to restore the police into a dignified force in Sri Lanka. He was addressing a gathering of newly elected councillors of the United National Party (UNP) to local government bodies.   Full Story>>>

Gillard questions Sri Lanka's investigation of war crimes

Broadcast: 26/10/2011

Print Email

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Queen has arrived in Perth to officially open CHOGM, where Julia Gillard has quizzed the Sri Lankan president about progress in post-war reconciliation.

Transcript

TONY JONES, PRESENTER: In Perth at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting Prime Minister Julia Gillard has quizzed the Sri Lankan president about progress in his nation's post-war reconciliation process. 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been accused of war crimes during his Government's final assault on Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.   Full Story>>>

Commonwealth leaders to discuss succession and Sri Lanka at Perth summit

The TELEGRAPH  26 Oct 2011

Commonwealth leaders will gather in Perth from Friday for a meeting set to tackle issues ranging from revamping the British throne's succession to alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.

The Queen will officially open the meeting Photo: AFP

The Queen will officially open the 54-nation Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) summit, held every two years, which will take place over three days amid tight security.

Reforming the Commonwealth as it struggles to remain relevant 62 years after it was founded will also be a key focus for the grouping, composed mainly of former British colonies and embracing some two billion citizens.      Full Story>>>
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Gillard rules out Sri Lanka CHOGM boycott

 

Gillard rules out Sri Lanka CHOGM boycott

Updated October 26, 2011 20:04:01

Ms Gillard is meeting Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa later today.

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Prime Minister Julia Gillard says there are no plans to relocate the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which is set to be held in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is due to host the forum in 2013, but some leaders are concerned about the country's human rights record.

Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser has called for the meeting to be deferred until the country deals with allegations of human rights abuses and war crimes from its decades-long civil war which ended in 2009.

Full Story>>>

Australia wants UN rights body to probe S. Lanka

 

Australia Wednesday urged the UN rights watchdog to probe alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, ramping up pressure ahead of a meeting between the two countries' leaders at Commonwealth talks.

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the UN Human Rights Council must address accusations that Sri Lankan troops killed tens of thousands of civilians in their final offensive against Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009.

He also said Sri Lanka, which strongly denies any wrongdoing by government forces, should investigate the claims as part of its ownReconciliation Commission report, due out next month.

"It is of fundamental importance that the upcoming Reconciliation Commission report deal with various questions which have now been raised in the UN report on allegations of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka," Rudd said.

"Australia's national position is that the Human Rights Council also needs to revisit its earlier deliberations on this matter."

Rudd's comments set the scene for a tense bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and President Mahendra Rajapakse in Perth on Wednesday ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) starting Friday.

"Clearly, the courteous thing for me to do is to have the discussion with him first rather than publicly canvas matters which may be raised in that discussion before I have it," Gillard told reporters ahead of the meeting.

"But I have been clear about Australia's position in relation to allegations of human rights abuse in Sri Lanka. We believe that this is a serious question."

Commonwealth countries such as Australia and Canada have been vocal in their calls for Sri Lanka to address claims of human rights violations, placing the issue high on the agenda at the 54-nation grouping's two-yearly meeting.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has threatened to boycott the next CHOGM summit, scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in 2013, unless Colombo takes action.

Gillard said Australia was not planning a similar boycott, although Rudd stressed that all countries attending the meeting of mainly former British colonies in Perth were free to raise concerns with Sri Lanka.

"It will be a matter for individual governments on how they view matters unfolding in Sri Lanka between now and when that next CHOGM is held," Rudd told reporters.

"I'm sure our friends in Sri Lanka are mindful that there are a range of views on this across the Commonwealth."

An ethnic Tamil living in Australia, Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran, this week tried to launch a war crimes case against Rajapakse in a Melbourne court, but officials quashed the action, citing laws that protect visiting heads of state.

New Sri Lanka war-crime evidence: judges

The Australian arm of an international group of judges says it has damning new photographic evi"(The evidence) deals with executions, it deals with such (things) as shooting through the forehead, ... it deals with the exposure of women's bodies, presumably after death, and it deals with other evidence showing Sri Lankan army officials and officers," he told reporters in Sydney.

"All members of the Commonwealth, if the Commonwealth is going to be taken notice of as a human rights body discussing human rights, should take this fact into account."

Mr Dowd said he had gone public with the material because he was concerned it would not be seen by Ms Gillard while the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was currently meeting in Perth.

He called on Ms Gillard - who on Tuesday said she was concerned about the persistent war crimes claims levelled against Sri Lanka - to raise the human rights abuses at CHOGM.

He also said Ms Gillard should push for Sri Lanka to be stripped of holding the 2013 CHOGM, adding that governments were responsible if the meeting went ahead.

He added that eleven days after CHOGM, the decision to hold the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane or Sri Lanka would be made - another "relevant human rights issue" for the PM.

Earlier on Wednesday, Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd signalled the next Commonwealth leaders' meeting would go ahead in Sri Lanka, despite the concerns.

Details of the new evidence comes just a day after Attorney-General Robert McClelland quashed a court action filed by a Sri Lankan-born Australian man in Melbourne, which accused Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa of war crimes.

Mr Dowd also revealed he had been sent hate mail denying war crimes, sparked by his high profile campaign for the allegations to be investigated.

The International Court of Justice has already called on the AFP and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate the claims.dence of war crimes by the Sri Lankan army.

The president of the International Commission of Jurists' Australian chapter, John Dowd QC, announced on Wednesday that photographs had been mailed to him.

They contained evidence of execution and degradation of female victims as the bloody fighting to came an end in 2009 and had been sent by an Australian union official two weeks ago, he said.

Mr Dowd said he had sent the evidence to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

PM raises war crimes with Sri Lanka leader

news.com.au
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has used a meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to stress the need to address allegations of human rights abuses in his country.
Their meeting in Perth today came as damning photographs emerged allegedly showing executions and abuse by Sri Lankan soldiers.
The pair are in Perth for the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM) but Mr Rajapaksa has been surrounded by controversy since his arrival in Australia.
As he and Ms Gillard prepared to meet, the president of the International Commission of Jurists' Australian chapter, John Dowd QC, said photographic evidence of war crimes in Sri Lanka had been sent to him.
The images showed the execution and degradation of female victims as the bloody fighting in the internal separatist war against the Tamil Tigers came to an end in 2009, and had been sent by an Australian union official two weeks ago, he said.
Mr Dowd said he had sent the evidence to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
"(The evidence) deals with executions, it deals with such (things) as shooting through the forehead ... it deals with the exposure of women's bodies, presumably after death, and it deals with other evidence showing Sri Lankan army officials and officers," he told reporters in Sydney.
"All members of the Commonwealth, if the Commonwealth is going to be taken notice of as a human rights body discussing human rights, should take this fact into account."
On Tuesday, a court action was filed by a Sri Lankan-born Australian man in Melbourne, accusing Mr Rajapaksa of war crimes during his government's final offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.
But federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland moved quickly to quash the court action, saying the Foreign States Immunity Act extended immunities granted to diplomatic missions to heads of states.
After Ms Gillard's meeting with Mr Rajapaksa today, the prime minister's office said she had asked about progress in Sri Lanka's Lessons Learned And Reconciliation Commission.
She had underlined the importance of this process in addressing allegations of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka at the close of the civil war.
"The prime minister noted Australia's support for reconstruction, resettlement and reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka, including through the development cooperation program," her office said.
Ms Gillard told reporters before the meeting that Australia took allegations of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka seriously.
Earlier, Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters in Perth that the next Commonwealth leaders' meeting was set to go ahead in Sri Lanka.
He said that at the last meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, Sri Lanka and Mauritius had been named as hosts for the next two meetings.
"Therefore, it will be a matter for individual governments how they then view matters unfolding in Sri Lanka between now and when that next CHOGM is held," Mr Rudd said.
Some Commonwealth leaders have already made statements on the issue, including the Canadian prime minister, who has called for a boycott of a Sri Lankan CHOGM.
Ms Gillard said there were no plans for Australia to boycott the CHOGM in 2013.