[Guardian UK]

This week the UN Human Rights Council has an opportunity and a duty to help Sri Lanka advance its own efforts on accountability and reconciliation. Both are essential if a lasting peace is to be achieved. In doing so, the council will not only be serving Sri Lanka, but those worldwide who believe there are universal rights and international legal obligations we all share.

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[AFP]

Australian leader Julia Gillard on Tuesday urged Sri Lanka to address claims of serious human rights violations as a man filed war crimes charges against President Mahinda Rajapakse.

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[National Post]

A Canadian man has returned to Toronto after spending three years in the custody of Sri Lanka’s anti-terrorism police, whom he said detained him until he signed a false confession saying he had smuggled equipment to the Tamil Tigers rebels.

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[BBC]

India has urged Sri Lanka to scrap far-reaching emergency powers and probe allegations of human rights violations. The emergency remains two years after the government’s military defeat of the Tamil Tigers on 18 May 2009. The Indian call came in a bilateral communique issued after talks in Delhi between the two countries’ foreign ministers, SM Krishna and GL Peiris. It is an unusually frank message to the island nation from its closest international ally. The statement quotes the Indian side as saying that Colombo should ensure the resettlement of all internally displaced people and promote “genuine reconciliation”.

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