[BBC]

Protests are being held across Sri Lanka against plans by Western nations to sponsor a UN motion calling for a probe into abuses during the civil war.

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[Human Rights Watch]

The Sri Lankan army’s announcement that it had appointed a five-member court of inquiry to investigate allegations that its forces committed serious violations of the laws of war appears to be another government delaying tactic in the face of mounting international pressure, Human Rights Watch said today.

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[BBC]

The US will support efforts to get Sri Lanka to implement a government commission’s conclusions in relation to the civil war, officials say.

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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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[Human Rights Watch]

The United Nations Human Rights Council should address the lack of accountability for wartime abuses in Sri Lanka during its March 2012 session, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Human Rights Council (HRC) member countries and observers today. Nearly three years since the end of the war, the Sri Lankan government has not kept its commitments to its people, the UN secretary-general, and the HRC to undertake credible measures towards accountability.

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[The Global and Mail]

For Tamils, the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war has brought no peace dividend; for Tamil women, peace has brought with it a continuation – and in some cases an intensification – of violence and insecurity. In the country’s predominantly Tamil-speaking north and east – a region half the size of Nova Scotia – tens of thousands of “war widows” have been living under the control of the central government and Sinhalese security forces since 2009 and the end of the civil war, whose last few months saw as many as 40,000 civilians killed.

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[Reuters]

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister left on Sunday on a two-week mission to shore up diplomatic support ahead of a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting, where the Indian Ocean nation is expecting to face a fight over Western-led pressure for a war crimes probe.

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[Amnesty USA]

The Sri Lankan government must follow up its repeal of the state of emergency by removing repressive legislation such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), Amnesty International said today.

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[ABC News]

Australian politicians are calling for an international investigation of apparent war crimes in Sri Lanka. A documentary aired on ABC1’s Four Corners on Monday night showed allegations of rape, torture and murder of civilians during Sri Lanka’s civil war.

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[Reuters]

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa landed in China Tuesday in search of support against an aggressive Western push for a probe into war crimes allegations and tighter economic ties in a stormy financial world.

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