[United to End Genocide]

Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war ended in May 2009 when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). For more than 25 years, the LTTE had been fighting for a separate state for the nation’s minority Tamil population.

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[Channel 4 News]

A plane chartered by the British government is to deport about 100 Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka, according to a human rights charity. Human Rights Watch claims the aircraft will fly the Tamils back to the country where they could face interrogation and torture.

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[Human Rights Watch]

The United Kingdom should suspend deportations of ethnic Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka and immediately review its policies and information about the country’s rights situation used to assess their claims, Human Rights Watch said today. Research by Human Rights Watch has found that some returned Tamil asylum seekers from the United Kingdom have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and torture upon their return to Sri Lanka.

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[SPEAK]

Human rights groups welcome the announcement that Shavendra Silva—a former military general in the Sri Lankan army who stands accused of extrajudicial killing and torture—has been removed from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Kimoon’s Special Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations. In a press statement released on February 22, Louise Fréchette, the Chair of the Special Advisory Group, stated that Silva’s participation in the group is “not appropriate or helpful.”

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[Human Rights Watch]

As nations such as Canada and Britain weigh in on accountability for war crimes in Sri Lanka, it’s time for Australia to add its voice. After all, promoting human rights is a crucial part of foreign policy, as Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd is keen to say.

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[Channel 4 News]

The UN has already found that evidence of the killing of up to 40,000 civilians amid allegations of serious human rights abuses amounted to “credible allegations” that war crimes had been committed during the last days of the civil war in 2009.

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[Amnesty USA]

Sri Lanka is not credibly investigating torture, Amnesty International said on the eve of a review by the UN Committee Against Torture into the country.

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[Guardian UK]

A UK charity that is pushing for a halt to deportations to Sri Lanka has handed the UN a file of medical evidence to support allegations that authorities there are continuing to torture opponents.

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[BBC]

A BBC reporter said that the deportees were questioned and later released and that they appeared to be a mixture of failed asylum seekers and overstayers.

Human rights groups have criticised Britain, saying the mainly Tamil asylum seekers may not be safe. The UK government dismissed the fears.

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[ UPI Asia ]

In recent months, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has passed several resolutions regarding lawyers who have come under attack. One such resolution concerned an attorney who had been subjected to intimidation and threats in a case involving the assassination of a client who was pursuing cases against the Sri Lankan police on allegations of bribery and torture. Sri Lankan lawyers also face death threats if they appear for alleged terrorist suspects.

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