இன்று இரவு அவுஸ்திரெலியா ABC தொலைக்காட்சி 10.30 மணிக்கு ABC LATELINE நிகழ்ச்சியில் சிறிலங்கா பற்றிய காணொளி வரவிருக்கிறது. கட்டாயம் பாருங்கள். அத்துடன் நாளை வரும் THE AGE பத்திரிகையையும் பாருங்கள்

Human rights debate could expose divisions at Commonwealth summit

Prime Minister Stephen Harper travels to Australia this week to attend a Commonwealth leaders’ summit that will be dominated by debate over human rights and which could expose divisions within the 54-nation organization.

At the Commonwealth meeting, the urgent need for tough political calls will also be on the table. Among the reasons why:

• 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.

Harper has adopted a high-profile stance, threatening to boycott the 2013 summit unless Sri Lanka shows “progress” on accountability for the alleged human-rights violations.

Sri Lanka’s high commissioner to Canada, Chitranganee Wagiswara, told Postmedia News that her country does not want the issue raised at the summit in Australia. She denied allegations that Sri Lanka committed human rights violations, stressing that the government was fighting a war against terrorism when it defeated the Tamil Tigers.

http://www.canada.co...4813/story.html

Edited October 24, 201114 yr by akootha

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 24/10/2011

Reporter: Hamish Fitzsimmons

An Australian citizen who says he saw hospitals deliberated attacked by Sri Lankan forces has filed war crimes charges against president Mohindra Rajapaksa in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.

Transcript

ALI MOORE, PRESENTER: As Commonwealth leaders arrive for CHOGM this week, an Australian citizen has filed war crimes charges against the president of Sri Lanka, Mohindra Rajapaksa, in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

A 63-year-old retired engineer who was caught up in the fighting at the end of the civil war says he saw hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in both Tamil-held areas and no-fire zones being deliberately attacked by Sri Lankan forces.

Thousands of civilians were killed in the three-decades-long civil war which came to an end when Sri Lankan forces defeated Tamil rebels in 2009.

The Sri Lankan government has repeatedly denied war crimes accusations, but there are growing calls for stronger action to be taken.

The federal Attorney-General will need to give final approval for the Australian indictments to proceed.

Hamish Fitzsimmons reports.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS, REPORTER: Two years ago retired engineer Jegan Waran left Sri Lanka for Australia, but he's still haunted by what he saw in the hospitals and displaced persons camps at the end of that country's civil war.

JEGAN WARAN: Everybody who's alive today, it's a miracle that they have escaped death or injury.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Mr Waran is an ethnic Tamil and sympathised with the Tamil tigers, or LTTE, which fought for a Tamil nation for decades until their defeat in 2009 by Sri Lanka's military forces.

In 2007, the Australian citizen returned to Sri Lanka to offer what assistance he could, volunteering in Tamil hospitals, schools and displaced persons camps. It was here he says he witnessed Sri Lankan military forces deliberately attacking clearly-marked civilian infrastructure such as hospitals.

JEGAN WARAN: Patients were killed and patients who were in the hospital were killed and there were other patients waiting for treatment, they were killed. And there was a medical store where they kept the medicines, those were destroyed, scattered all over the place, you can see. Ambulances was destroyed. So I have seen that personally.

JEGAN WARAN: This and other incidents have led him to issue summonses for three war crimes charges against Sri Lanka's president, Mohindra Rajapaksa.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Jegan Waran says that on Christmas Day 2008 drones circled another hospital before Sri Lankan Airforce planes attacked.

JEGAN WARAN: The hospital, clearly a big red cross sign was marked on the roof, and drones usually take surveillance, so I'm very positive that they know where the hospital is and they know it'll be damaged. So, that's what I can tell at this stage.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Could there have been LTTE infrastructure near the hospitals that they were targeting?

JEGAN WARAN: No, I can positively say there was nothing whatsoever in that vicinity.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Why bring these charges against president Rajapaksa?

JEGAN WARAN: Because I feel that he's the commander-in-chief and nothing would have happened without his knowledge or his directions, and ultimately, he should be answerable to what was happening.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Sri Lanka's government has repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes.

THISARA SAMARASINGHE, SRI LANKAN HIGH COMMISSIONER (Oct. 18): I would categorically say it is not the learning of Sri Lankan military to fire at a hospital. That has never happened in our military.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Last week, Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, who led the Navy in the north of the country, was named in a brief by the International Commission of Jurists. It suggested he be investigated for war crimes. The Australian Federal Police is examining the allegations.

THISARA SAMARASINGHE: Such allegations are baseless and unsubstantiated. In the contrary, I have been commended for my role during the period of my career.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Claims that Sri Lankan armed forces deliberately attacked civilians are not new, but this is the first time charges have been brought by an Australian citizen in an Australian court.

Lawyers in the case have asked the federal Attorney-General to become involved, but a spokesman for Robert McClelland says the Attorney-General hasn't been informed of any criminal matter or charges relating to Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa.

ROB STARY, LAWYER FOR COMPLAINANT: We've written to the commissioner of the AFP and we've written to the Commonwealth Attorney saying here's your opportunity, Mr Rajapaksa will be in Australia, it's appropriate to conduct those investigations.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Last Thursday Victoria's chief magistrate authorised the charges brought by Jegan Waran to proceed, noting that they satisfied Victoria's Criminal Procedure Act. It now needs the approval of the federal Attorney-General to go ahead.

ROB STARY: These are not frivolous or vexatious complaints, they are bona fide credible complaints.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: In April this year, a United Nations panel of experts appointed by Ban Ki-Moon found credible reports that both government forces and Tamil rebels committed war crimes towards the end of the civil war.

Bruce Haigh is a former diplomat who served in Sri Lanka and has long been critical of what he says is inaction on war crimes committed there.

BRUCE HAIGH, FORMER AUSTRALIAN DIPLOMAT: I think just because the Sri Lankan government won the PR battle. The Tamils lost that a long time ago. They've had three decades of being ground under by the Sinhalese. That's why the Tamils wanted a separate state.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: High commissioner Samarasinge says Tamil groups in Australia are manipulating human rights groups and pro-Tamil campaigners. This evening the Sri Lankan government declined Lateline's offer of an on-camera interview and issued a statement, which said in part:

JACKSON MCDONALD LAWYERS STATEMENT (male voiceover): "The issue of the proceedings which are apparently to be the subject of your story are plainly a violation of Australia's obligations under public international law. Furthermore the purported proceedings are incompetent under Australian law."

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: President Rajapaksa arrives for CHOGM on Tuesday.

Hamish Fitzsimmons, Lateline.

http://www.abc.net.a...11/s3347070.htm

Edited October 24, 201114 yr by கந்தப்பு

Sri Lankan President accused in Australian court

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, with former admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, now Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Australia. Photo: Reuters

Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran Photo: Brendan Esposito

_{SRI Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa - who was due to arrive in Australia last night - has had a charge laid against him in a Melbourne court accusing him of war crimes in his country's civil war.}

_{Sri Lankan-born Australian Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran filed an indictment against the President yesterday, declaring he was seeking justice for thousands who perished in a series of aerial bombardments and ground attacks on shelters, schools, hospitals, orphanages and community centres.}

_{The court move coincides with this week's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, which the Sri Lankan President is attending. ''People are still suffering because of what he did and I think the world should know,'' Mr Jegatheeswaran told The Age.}

_{''I've seen all of these things,'' he said, having been a volunteer aid worker in Sri Lanka from 2007 to 2009. ''I can't bear that the person who is responsible for all of this - who is the commander-in-chief - is coming to my country and getting off scot-free. I'm asking the highest court of justice in Australia to decide whether he is guilty or not guilty.''}

_{The indictment had been filed under the Australian criminal code with the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday and set for hearing on November 29, his lawyer, Rob Stary, said.}

_{For the case to proceed, the AFP would have to conclude there is enough material to compile a brief of evidence of criminality, which it would then refer to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions for consideration. If a decision to prosecute is made, the Attorney-General's consent would be sought.}

_{Mr Rajapaksa, who strenuously denies any wrongdoing, has already been cited in a brief of evidence compiled by the International Commission of Jurists' Australian section and handed to the AFP.}

_{The brief recommends that the President be investigated for alleged war crimes, along with Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, and other military and}

_{political figures. Mr Samarasinghe has also denied committing war crimes and, in an interview with The Age last week, cast himself as a unifier of the Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Australia.}

_{Mr Jegatheeswaran, 63, who arrived in Australia in 1987 and became an Australian citizen three years later, says he is still haunted by the killings and injuries he saw. ''I am living testimony to what happened. I'm trying to forget, but I just can't,'' he said.}

_{Mr Stary said he had written to federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland last Thursday to alert him to the move and urge him to take up the case. He had also written to the Australian Federal Police yesterday asking them to serve the indictment on Mr Rajapaksa.}

_{''The government will need to show a bit of backbone to investigate it, but there is absolutely no reason on the face of it why they should not pursue it. It's incontrovertible in our view that war crimes have been committed,'' Mr Stary said.}

_{A spokesman for Mr McClelland said he had not been told about any criminal matter or charges relating to Mr Rajapaksa.}

_{In a seven-page statement, Mr Jegatheeswaran describes how he returned to Sri Lanka early in 2007 to work as a volunteer and initially stayed with relatives in the Tamil stronghold of Kilinochchi.}

_{When aid work was disrupted by the war, he volunteered to work in a camp for displaced people, before being forced to move and eventually becoming displaced himself. ''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.}

_{''I also witnessed many civilian buildings and public facilities damaged or destroyed by aerial bombardments. I saw houses, shelters for displaced people, schools, hospitals, religious temples, orphanages and community centres shelled and bombed.''}

http://www.theage.com.au/world/sri-lankan-president-accused-in-australian-court-20111024-1mgea.html

Edited October 24, 201114 yr by கந்தப்பு

Time is of the essence

32 Comments

Bruce Haigh

The primary focus of Australian diplomacy towards Sri Lanka is to prevent Tamils from getting onto boats and coming to Australia.

To that end there is an AFP presence at the Australian High Commission to liaise and work with the Sri Lankan navy, army and police.

How will they explain these activities at CHOGM? How will Australia explain that its sole cause of concern for the ravaged and defeated Tamils in the north of Sri Lanka is to prevent them seeking refugee status? It is a good look for a country seeking a seat on the UN Security Council.

However the Australian narrow self-concern is surpassed by that of the Sri Lankan government. Two years after the end of the war and all indicators are that Tamils are being pushed to the margins of survival.

In June three members of the Malaysian parliament went to Sri Lanka. They were Dato Johari Abdul, M Manogaran and Senator S Ramakrishnan. They produced a report, Report On Fact Finding Trip To Sri Lanka By Malaysian Parliamentarians, parts of which I quote.

The Sri Lankan government is continuing to mutilate and neglect the war-victimised Tamil community in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The ruling government is only interested in further cleansing any LTTE remnants and mentally rehabilitating LTTE cadres into accepting the current Sinhala mastery in Colombo. It continues to militarise and Sinhalarise (sic) the whole northern and eastern provinces. The traumatised and grieving Tamil population is under complete control of the army. The army controls and in the process rapes, robs, sexually harasses and loots the Tamils of whatever little they have. The Tamils in the northern and eastern provinces will not be able to recuperate and settle back to normalcy for a long time to come. The army is a lord unto themselves and they control and monitor any outside contact and help given to the captive Tamils in IDP camps.

The Sri Lankan government is misleading the whole world into believing that it is doing everything to rehabilitate, reconstruct and reconcile the Tamil population back to normalcy. But on the other hand it is neglecting and hindering the rehabilitating and reconstruction initiatives of India and the Tamil Diaspora. The destabilised Tamil community is struggling among themselves to share very limited resources and the past family cohesiveness and supportiveness is fading away. Their houses flattened and their other belongings are looted by the army itself. Any note of complaint falls on the deaf ears of the army authority. To add insult to injury the Sri Lankan government is attempting to settle the Sinhalese in the Northern Province which has been the homeland of the Tamils for centuries.

Till today nobody is held accountable for war crimes and many war criminals are appointed to high ranking offices and sent as ambassadors to foreign countries... Opposition politicians and civil society live in fear of government reprisal in speaking about war crimes and the post war conduct of the military government in the northern and eastern provinces...The urgent task is to bring the Sri Lankan government to a war crime tribunal and undertake humanitarian work urgently. All attempts must be made to demilitarise the military zones and decentralise the governance and the administrative function to the Northern Province. Under the current jubilant and chest beating mood of the Rajapakse government changes have to be initiated externally and through international bodies.

Further points made in the report:

Our many talks and meetings with the various categories of people, support the conclusion that there is an attempt by the Sri Lankan government to inflict maximum social damage on the Tamils. Even if there is no more LTTE threat or resurgence, the government wants to keep this threat alive to justify the military presence everywhere in the North. Although the war is over, the conflict is not over and civilians who may not have any part in the war are being punished severely.

There is also widespread, planned 'genocide' of the Tamil people as girls and women are raped and mutilated so as to prevent them from conceiving in future.

Meanwhile we were told that in Jaffna hospital alone five-six girls go in for abortions daily.

Women cadres (LTTE) who have been released from rehabilitation camps are subjected to the worst of atrocities and many of these women are still in their late teens and early 20s...

Due to the lack of income women are forced into prostitution to make ends meet and the only male presence in the villages are the police or military. The only interactions these women have are with the military. Many of these women have more than four children... To get money mothers sleep with the military or police personnel and even when they don't need the money they are forced to sleep with the military.

... There now lives a whole population of widowed women, fatherless children who are all victims of trauma. Their emotional stability has not been addressed, there have been no avenues of release or dealing with it and if it proceeds to go unaddressed, the next generation will carry the conditioning of the war. Repercussions of this conditioning can be seen in violent and abusive or withdrawn characteristics and substance abuse.

... More than 30,000 children were orphaned and with the lack of orphanages and proper schooling they are forced into the labour sector... Sexual abuse is also rampant in the orphanages.

There is a clear distinction between being returned and being resettled... women and men were forced to return back to nothing with nothing and to return to normalcy. One is not sure what normalcy means to these people anymore.

Resettlement homes include tin sheets and wooden plank infrastructure. This structure was meant to be for only a period of six months. This was in January 2010; presently June 2011 there are still no toilets, wells or even flooring for these temporary transition homes. The government to date has no housing scheme in place.

Over 300,000 people are in these camps with little or no hope of returning to their original homes. Most homes are destroyed and many Tamil lands are now being resettled by Sinhalese people. Buddhist temples are being erected in areas where there are no Buddhists.

All possible human rights violations are taking place. Activists are labelled as traitors if they seek international help and alliances. Dissent is labelled and attacked as anti-Sri Lanka. All sorts of crime is now being committed by the authorities including rapes of Tamil women and girls on a daily basis. The Sri Lankan army hates the LTTE and, by extension the Tamils. In the last month over 48 people from Jaffna went missing and are still unaccounted for.

Although the Tamils and Muslims have suffered the most, surprisingly none of them had anything bad or adverse to say about the LTTE. In fact a number of them said they felt safer when the LTTE was around.

The hostility of many Sinhalese, particularly the police, army and navy toward the Tamils led to a three-decade war, ending only with the defeat of the Tamil armed forces in 2009. The above report details the ongoing discrimination and hostility toward the Tamils by the government of Sri Lanka and its agencies. This discrimination is racially based and in the manner that it is now being expressed amounts to genocide.

Through their complete denial of human rights to the vanquished Tamils the government of Sri Lanka has validated the war fought by the Tamils against the majority Sinhalese supremacists. The Tamils always understood that this was the Sinhalese end game, that the Sinhalese always wanted to dominate and control the lives of the Tamils.

Faced with a military imbalance the breakaway Tamils had to match the state-sponsored and funded armed forces of Sri Lanka, modelled on former colonial administrator Great Britain.

In his book, The Cage, Gordon Weiss says, "On rare occasions, Black Tigers returned from their missions. They were suicide attackers only in the sense that the daring and destructive capacity of their attacks entailed almost certain death. The value they added was thus twofold: in the extraordinary courage they displayed during attacks, and in the actual destruction of their targets". The events of 9/11 saw the misappropriation of these attacks by the Sri Lankan government and its supporters into suicide attacks with all the negative connotations the US was able to weave into that phrase.

The government of Sri Lanka over the decades of conflict with the Tamils was corrupt. Many of the vital supplies and arms required by the Tamils were received in this way. But the corruption of the present Rajapaksa government and the 52 members of his family, who are also members of the government, surpasses all the governments who preceded it.

Weiss says:

By extension, anybody who criticised Mahinda Rajapaksa, the personification of the new era that would dawn in Sri Lanka following the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, also was a traitor. So too those who suggested that anything was rotten in the republic... arms deals linked to the ruling clan, the corruption and brutality of the police, the sprawling employment of hundreds of Rajapaksa relatives and cronies in government service. This ... constituted a general warning to dissenters and was backed up by the beating, death or disappearance of those proscribed online and in the press... The 'white van' syndrome pervaded the steadily reducing circles of dissent, spreading fear of the 'abyss without bottom... In under three years, Mahinda Rajapaksa's government introduced more than 20 new emergency regulations that weakened the rule of law and deepened the existing human rights crisis in Sri Lanka...

In 2009, the international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders rated Sri Lanka number 162 out of 175 countries for media freedom... The death squad threat enforces the government's writ. Opposition media and public opinion remain full of trepidation in the atmosphere of a Sinhalese supremacist ideology vindicated by the conquest of the Tamil Tigers.

On Thursday October 20 the Global Tamil Forum held an all-day conference at the Sheraton on the Park in Sydney. Delegates attended from all over the world and around Australia. The Sri Lankan High Commission made around 40 telephone calls to the hotel seeking to have the hotel withdraw the conference venue. The hotel refused, but it should have reported the conduct of the High Commission to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The High Commission continues to ring and harass members of the Tamil community in Australia; these people are Australian citizens. The AFP and ASIO continue to have close contact with the Sri Lankan High Commission in the interests of terrorism and people smuggling. In view of the ongoing activities of the High Commission this closeness of contact should cease.

Left to the Sinhalese, the future of the Tamils in Sri Lanka has no prospect. They are being subjected to great cruelty. The Sinhalese are lying as to their welfare. They are subjected to arbitrary violence and deprivation of liberty. There is no quality to their lives, no hope and no mercy from a venal and corrupt regime that displays all the qualities and attitudes of the Apartheid regime, with equal lack of care and interest over the people it has subjected to state control.

The Commonwealth heads of government are meeting in Perth from October 28 to 30. Sri Lanka has violated and continues to violate every tenet of Commonwealth membership, the most basic being genocide. On this basis alone it should be suspended.

Zimbabwe was suspended for the basic transgression of the human rights of many of its citizens; Fiji was suspended for lesser crimes and for far less than Sri Lanka is guilty.

Sri Lanka is denying all human rights to members of its minority Tamil population. It should be suspended, but that will do little to change the horrible circumstances for members of the Tamil community.

A stepped approach might work better; if Sri Lanka were to be offered the prospect of staying in the Commonwealth if it allowed a monitoring force of 3,000 to oversee and facilitate the provision of food, health and basic services to the Tamil population and oversee the withdrawal of the bulk of the Sri Lankan armed forces to military duties in areas away from the traumatised Tamil population.

The Sri Lankan military has its fangs around the throat of the defeated Tamils and they must be made to let go.

After basic infrastructure, health and other resources have been restored the Commonwealth might then use its good offices to broker a peace, allowing dignity and hope to be restored to both sides, but particularly to the vanquished Tamils.

Not to do so offers the prospect of further violence from the next generation of young Tamils, who are growing up without the benefit of formal education and against a background of deprivation and dislocation which will breed anger. Further mindless cruelty against Tamils trapped in this nightmare on Sri Lanka could also come, in time, to galvanise Tamils offshore. We don't need that.

There are people at the top of DFAT who understand this, their considerable experience and understanding must be allowed to prevail in the final run into CHOGM.

Bruce Haigh is a political commentator and retired senior diplomat who served in Sri Lanka.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3597858.html

Govt must OK Sri Lanka president's case:PM

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25 October 2011 | 01:54:55 PM | Source: AAP

A war crimes case filed against the Sri Lankan president in an Australian court cannot proceed without the federal government's consent, Prime Minister Julia Gillard says.

Sri Lankan-born Australian citizen Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran has lodged a war crimes indictment against President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

The move comes as Mr Rajapaksa is due to arrive in Perth for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

But Ms Gillard on Tuesday made it clear no case could proceed without the government's say-so.

"No such legal action can be taken on an issue like this without the consent of the attorney-general," Ms Gillard told ABC Radio in Perth.

"And the attorney-general hasn't received any request in relation to this matter."

Mr Jegatheeswaran's lawyers say they have written to Attorney-General Robert McClelland to alert him to the case.

Mr McClelland's spokesman says he has not received any request for consent in relation to the matter, but federal police are looking into it.

"The AFP has received a request to investigate the matter, which it is evaluating," the spokesman said.

He also noted that Australia has obligations under international law which extends immunity to visiting heads of state.

Ms Gillard reiterated her government was concerned about the persistent war crimes allegations.

"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," she said.

The indictment was filed under the Australian criminal code and is now set for hearing on November 29.

A series of reports have accused Sri Lanka of committing war crimes during its final 2009 offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The offensive crushed the Tigers - who have also been accused of atrocities - and brought the decades-old civil war to an end.

Mr Rajapaksa also was cited in a separate brief of evidence prepared by the International Commission of Jurists' Australian branch and handed to the Australian Federal Police earlier this month.

That brief also reportedly levels allegations against Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia Thisara Samarasinghe.

Both men strenuously deny the claims.

Australian National University international law expert Donald Rothwell says proponents of the cases face a significant challenge in proving that serious war crimes can overrule diplomatic immunity.

"While there may be sufficient grounds upon which to launch a war crimes prosecution, both High Commissioner Samarasinghe and President Rajapaksa would be able to claim immunity from prosecution which would bar the matter from proceeding in an Australian court," Professor Rothwell said.

Mr Jegatheeswaran's lawyer, Lucien Richter, said he did not believe diplomatic immunity was an issue in this case.

"There is some authority to suggest that where crimes are of a substantial and international nature, such as war crimes or crimes against humanity, then effectively the authority of being head of state doesn't grant him immunity from those things," Mr Richter said.

"Certainly the ICJ (International Commission of Jurists') in their submission have come to a simple conclusion that immunity would not be a barrier to this prosecution."

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1599391/latest-from-wire/

அவுஸ்திரெலியா உறவுகளே இன்று மாலை, இரவு செய்திகளை அவுஸ்திரெலியா தொலைக்காட்சிகளில் (குறிப்பாக ABC, SBS )பாருங்கள். முக்கிய அவுஸ்திரெலியா ஊடகங்கள் இன்று திரு.ஜெயகதீஸ்வரன் அவர்களை பேட்டி எடுத்திருந்தார்கள்

இன்று காலை வந்த 'The Australian' பத்திரிகையில்

Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran files war crimes indictment against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa

A SRI Lankan-born Australian citizen who has filed an indictment for war crimes against the Sri Lankan president says the leader should be held accountable for the "massacre of thousands".

Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran said he filed an indictment against President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday.

Mr Rajapaksa, who is due to be in Perth today for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country's civil war.

The indictment was filed under the Australian Criminal Code and has been set down for hearing on November 29, Mr Jegatheeswaran said today.

"I am a living testimony of the massacre that happened to the Tamil people in the final days of the war in Sri Lanka," Mr Jegatheeswaran said.

"This alleged war criminal is coming to my country, Australia, and I want to make sure he is held accountable for the massacre of thousands of Tamils in 2009."

Free trial

Former Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Bruce Haigh, said CHOGM must consider the issue of Sri Lankan war crimes.

"More importantly, however, the issue of the ongoing genocide of the Tamil people by the government of Sri Lanka needs to be considered urgently and CHOGM is the forum in which to do it," Mr Haigh said in joint statement with Mr Jegatheeswaran.

Mr Rajapaksa, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, has reportedly been cited in a separate brief of evidence compiled by the International Commission of Jurists' Australian section, which was given to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) last week.

Sri Lanka's 2009 offensive crushed the Tiger Tamil rebels, bringing the decades-old civil war to an end. The Tigers have also been accused of atrocities.

Mr Jegatheeswaran will address the media in Sydney this morning.

25ம் திகதி ( நேற்று ) ABC தொலைக்காட்சி 10.30 மணிக்கு ABC LATELINE வந்த காணொளியினைப் பார்வையிட

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2011/s3348007.htm

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 25/10/2011

Reporter: Hamish Fitzsimmons

The Federal Attorney-General has used his discretion to kill off three war crimes charges filed by a 63-year-old Sydney man against Sri Lankan president Mohindra Rajapaksa.

Transcript

ALI MOORE, PRESENTER: Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser says the Federal Government must put more pressure on Sri Lanka to address war crimes allegations.

Mr Fraser made the comments after Lateline revealed last night that a 63-year-old Sydney man has filed three war crimes charges against the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

However today the Federal Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, used his discretionary powers to kill off the charges.

Hamish Fitzsimmons reports.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS, REPORTER: When he was prime minister, Malcolm Fraser used CHOGM to push for Rhodesia's independence as Zimbabwe.

MALCOM FRASER, FORMER PRIME MINISTER: If I single out Robert Mugabe for a particularly warm welcome, it's because his presence here is a tangible reminder of the effectiveness of the modern Commonwealth.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Some things don't work out as planned. But Mr Fraser still believes the Commonwealth Forum can and must be used for change.

MALCOLM FRASER: People forget that at the time it was hailed as a success: for over 10 years Mugabe governed reasonably, and it was only after that that there has been a steady and terrible decline with atrocities and brutality and thuggery taking over. So the Commonwealth has, in the past, done substantial things, and it can do it again.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Last night, 63-year-old Sydney man Jegan Waran told Lateline he'd filed war crimes charges against Sri Lankan Mahinda Rajapaksa as head of the armed forces during the civil war which ended in 2009.

Jegan Waran was working as a volunteer in Tamil-held areas, and says Sri Lankan armed forces deliberately attacked clearly marked civilian infrastructure such as hospitals.

JEGAN WARAN, FORMER VOLUNTEER: Patients were killed, and patients who were in the hospital were killed, and there were other patients waiting for treatment - they were killed. And there was a medical store where they kept the medicines. Those were destroyed - scattered all over the place you can see. Ambulances was destroyed. So I have seen that personally.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Today the Federal Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, refused to give the necessary consent to allow the charges to proceed.

A spokesman said Mr Rajapaska has diplomatic immunity, and proceeding would be in breach of domestic law and Australia's obligations under international law.

The Sri Lankan high commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, declined Lateline's request for an interview, but told 7.30 last week when he was accused of war crimes the allegations are completely without substance.

THISARA SAMARASINGHE, SRI LANKAN HIGH COMMISSIONER: I would categorically say it is not the learning of Sri Lankan military to fire at a hospital. That has never happened in our military.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: He says by defeating the Tamil Tigers, or LTTE, the Sri Lankan military in fact saved Tamil civilians.

THISARA SAMARASINGHE: My most important achievement in the military was saving these civilians who were under the clutches of terrorists. So there is no base logic to target civilians. I reject that.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: In April this year, a United Nations panel of experts appointed by Ban Ki-moon found credible reports that both government forces and Tamil rebels committed war crimes towards the end of the civil war.

The government of Mahinda Rajapaksa dismissed the report but the Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper says he will boycott CHOGM in Sri Lanka in 2013 if the country doesn't address human rights issues - a position Malcolm Fraser believes Australia should emulate.

MALCOLM FRASER: I do believe there needs to be a fuller and better inquiry into actions of the government and of the Tamils, because the reports that have come out from not only the UN Human Rights Commission but also from the International Crisis Group suggests that there've been major atrocities by both sides in this conflict.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The Australian Government has also called on the Sri Lankan government to address the issues raised in the report.

JULIA GILLARD, PRIME MINISTER: We have called consistently for Sri Lanka to address the reports of human rights violations, particularly the reports from the end stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka, and we will continue to do that. We will continue to call on Sri Lanka to address those claims of human rights violations.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Malcolm Fraser says stronger action needs to be taken, but doesn't think suspending Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth is the answer.

MALCOLM FRASER: Under current circumstances, holding the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka in two years' time is quite inappropriate. I wouldn't rub Sri Lanka out. I'd say postpone it if other business has to be cleared up first. And we might need more time to do that.

So let's tentatively write Sri Lanka in for, say, two years further on. Allocate 2013 to some other country willing to host the conference. And there'd be a number who would.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The former Liberal prime minister is attending CHOGM in Perth, and believes the Federal Government has failed to take a strong enough stance against alleged human rights abuses on both sides of the conflict in Sri Lanka.

MALCOLM FRASER: To this point I think we've got one leg each side of a barbed wire fence. That's a rather uncomfortable position to be in you've ever tried it.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: CHOGM officially begins on Friday.

Sri Lankan envoy welcomes crimes case halt

The federal government has quashed a war crimes case filed in an Australian court against Sri Lanka's visiting president.

Sri Lanka-born Sydney man Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran lodged an indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

The move coincided with Mr Rajapaksa's visit to Perth this week for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

The case would have needed federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland's consent to proceed to prosecution.

But Mr McClelland quickly made it clear that was not going to happen.

"The attorney-general has refused to grant this consent as continuation of the proceedings would be in breach of domestic law and Australia's obligations under international law," Mr McClelland said through a spokesman.

Commonwealth laws extended immunities to heads of state and heads of diplomatic missions, he said.

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

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, himself the subject of unproven war crimes claims, welcomed the government's decision.

"We are very thankful," he told AAP.

"We continue to reject any allegations whatsoever by any individual or any organisation."

Mr Rajapaksa's office had earlier shrugged off the legal challenge.

"It's hilarious to file charges against a head of state who has defeated terrorism in Sri Lanka," Rajapaksa's spokesman told the AFP news agency.

A series of reports have accused Sri Lanka of committing war crimes during its final 2009 offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The offensive crushed the Tigers - who have themselves been accused of atrocities - and brought the decades-old civil war to an end.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says her government is concerned about the persistent war crimes claims.

"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," she told ABC radio.

Mr Jegatheeswaran, also known as Jegan Waran, said he wanted Mr Rajapaksa to be held accountable for the "massacre of thousands" during the civil war.

The 63-year-old has lived in Australia since 1987 but says he witnessed attacks on Tamil schools, hospitals and orphanages while working as a volunteer in Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2009.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1599303/Sri-Lankan-envoy-welcomes-crimes-case-halt

நேற்று SBS தொலைக்காட்சி 6.30 செய்தியில் (காணொளி) பார்வையிட

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/video/2159776775/sri-lanka-war-crimes-charge

இன்றைய ABC தொலைக்காட்சியில் செய்தியில் சிறிலங்கா சனாதிபதிக்கு எதிராக வழக்கு தொடர முடியாது என்ற செய்தியினால் தமிழர்கள் ஏமாற்றம் அடைந்தார்கள்

காணொளியினைப் பார்வையிட

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-26/tamil-community-upset-at-sri-lanka-decision/3600588?section=world

War crimes case decision upsets Tamils

The Australian Tamil community says it feels betrayed by the Federal Government's decision to stop a war crimes case against the Sri Lankan president proceeding in Australia.

Tamil man Jegan Waran, 63, has filed charges in the Melbourne Magistrates Court against Mahinda Rajapakse, who is in Perth for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Attorney-General Robert McClelland's permission is required for the proceedings to go ahead, but he has ruled it out.

Mr McClelland says the president is legally entitled to diplomatic immunity.

Australian Tamil Congress national spokeswoman Sam Pari says the decision is disappointing.

"We actually have a magistrate who has set a date for the hearing and to think that the Australian legal system will allow this to take place but for a politician to then say that these proceedings can't go forward is very, very disappointing," she said.

"We also feel quite betrayed as well. We have an eyewitness who has found the courage to step forward."

Former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh says Mr McClelland is wrong to claim he would have breached international law if he allowed a war crimes case against the Sri Lankan president to proceed in Australia.

Mr Haigh says it is clear Mr McClelland's decision has been purely based on politics.

"He doesn't want to do anything that would upset the apple cart as far as CHOGM's concerned," he said.

"But in terms of international law and in terms of Australian law, no, he would not be in breach.

"He hasn't looked at the law but he's reacted politically to the situation because it's CHOGM."

He says CHOGM should be a time to discuss human rights issues.

Harrowing claims

Jegan Waran, who lives in Sydney, was working as a volunteer in Tamil-held areas, and says Sri Lankan armed forces deliberately attacked clearly marked civilian infrastructure such as hospitals.

"Patients were killed, and patients who were in the hospital were killed, and there were other patients waiting for treatment - they were killed," he told Lateline on Monday night.

"There was a medical store where they kept the medicines. Those were destroyed - scattered all over the place you can see. Ambulances were destroyed. So I have seen that personally."

Sri Lanka's government has repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes.

The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, declined Lateline's request for an interview, but told 7.30 last week when he was accused of war crimes the allegations are completely without substance.

"I would categorically say it is not the learning of Sri Lankan military to fire at a hospital. That has never happened in our military," he said.

He says by defeating the Tamil Tigers, or LTTE, the Sri Lankan military in fact saved Tamil civilians.

"My most important achievement in the military was saving these civilians who were under the clutches of terrorists. So there is no base logic to target civilians. I reject that," he said.

Fraser weighs in

Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser is attending CHOGM in Perth, and believes the Federal Government has failed to take a strong enough stance against alleged human rights abuses on both sides of the conflict in Sri Lanka.

"To this point I think we've got one leg each side of a barbed wire fence. That's a rather uncomfortable position to be in you've ever tried it," he said.

When he was prime minister, Malcolm Fraser used CHOGM to push for Rhodesia's independence as Zimbabwe.

"If I single out Robert Mugabe for a particularly warm welcome, it's because his presence here is a tangible reminder of the effectiveness of the modern Commonwealth," Mr Fraser said at the time.

Some things do not work out as planned, but Mr Fraser still believes the Commonwealth forum can and must be used for change.

"People forget that at the time it was hailed as a success; for over 10 years Mugabe governed reasonably, and it was only after that that there has been a steady and terrible decline with atrocities and brutality and thuggery taking over," he said.

"So the Commonwealth has, in the past, done substantial things, and it can do it again.

"I do believe there needs to be a fuller and better inquiry into actions of the government and of the Tamils, because the reports that have come out from not only the UN Human Rights Commission but also from the International Crisis Group suggests that there have been major atrocities by both sides in this conflict."

Mr Fraser says stronger action needs to be taken, but he doesn't think suspending Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth is the answer.

"Under current circumstances, holding the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka in two years' time is quite inappropriate," he said.

"I wouldn't rub Sri Lanka out. I'd say postpone it if other business has to be cleared up first. And we might need more time to do that."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-26/tamil-community-upset-at-sri-lanka-decision/3600588?section=world

மகிந்தாவுக்கு எதிராக வழக்கு தொடர முடியாது என்ற செய்தியை வரவேற்ற போர்க்குற்றவாளி திசரா சமரசிங்க

Sri Lankan envoy welcomes crimes case halt

The federal government has quashed a war crimes case filed in an Australian court against Sri Lanka's visiting president.

Sri Lanka-born Sydney man Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran lodged an indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.

The move coincided with Mr Rajapaksa's visit to Perth this week for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

The case would have needed federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland's consent to proceed to prosecution.

But Mr McClelland quickly made it clear that was not going to happen.

"The attorney-general has refused to grant this consent as continuation of the proceedings would be in breach of domestic law and Australia's obligations under international law," Mr McClelland said through a spokesman.

Commonwealth laws extended immunities to heads of state and heads of diplomatic missions, he said.

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

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, himself the subject of unproven war crimes claims, welcomed the government's decision.

"We are very thankful," he told AAP.

"We continue to reject any allegations whatsoever by any individual or any organisation."

Mr Rajapaksa's office had earlier shrugged off the legal challenge.

"It's hilarious to file charges against a head of state who has defeated terrorism in Sri Lanka," Rajapaksa's spokesman told the AFP news agency.

A series of reports have accused Sri Lanka of committing war crimes during its final 2009 offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The offensive crushed the Tigers - who have themselves been accused of atrocities - and brought the decades-old civil war to an end.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says her government is concerned about the persistent war crimes claims.

"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," she told ABC radio.

Mr Jegatheeswaran, also known as Jegan Waran, said he wanted Mr Rajapaksa to be held accountable for the "massacre of thousands" during the civil war.

The 63-year-old has lived in Australia since 1987 but says he witnessed attacks on Tamil schools, hospitals and orphanages while working as a volunteer in Sri Lanka between 2007 and 2009.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1599303/Sri-Lankan-envoy-welcomes-crimes-case-halt

ரெடியோ ஒஸ்ரெலியா என்ற அவுஸ்திரேலியா வானொலியில் வந்த செய்தியைக் கேட்க

http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201110/3347994.htm?desktop

ரேடியோ ஒஸ்ரேலியா இணையத்தளத்தில் வந்த செய்தி

Two views of Sri Lanka's war

War crimes allegations against leading figures in the Sri Lankan government, and their diplomatic representatives in Australia, stem from the war against the Tamil separatists, the LTTE, which ended in 2009.

Under Australian law, war crimes prosecutions cannot go ahead without the consent of the nation's top legal officer, the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland.

But Mr McClelland has refused to grant this consent, saying proceedings would be in breach of domestic law and Australia's obligations under international law which give both diplomats and heads of state immunity from arrest and prosection.

Retired admiral Thisara Samarasinghe is the present Sri Lankan high commissioner to Australia, and a former commander of naval forces in the north of Sri Lanka, where some of the bloodiest fighting took place in 2009.

Unsubstantiated

He is now almost certain to avoid facing charges while in Australia, and denies the allegations against him.

"They are incorrect, untrue and unsubstantiated. I reject any such allegations," he told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific program.

A United Nations report this year found it was "unable to accept the version of events held by the government of Sri Lanka".

It said the government deliberately shelled no-fire zones where it had encouraged civilians to shelter, as well as attacking the UN food distribution lines and Red Cross ships rescuing the wounded.

The report also heard credible allegations that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) committed war crimes, including using civilians as human shields.

As many as 40,000 civilians lost their lives in the final stages of the war

Mr Samrasinghe maintains the military's actions were irreproachable.

He said the "Sri Lankan government and military ensured human rights and democratic values . . . This was seriously threatened and thousands of civilians deliberately targeted and killed by terrorists".

The envoy said the government under President Mahinda Rajapakse had met the threat and defeated the terrorists.

President Rajapaksa is now in Perth, Western Australia, for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting and can enjoy his visit without fear of arrest.

http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201110/3347994.htm?desktop

The Australian பத்திரிகையில்  வந்த செய்தி

Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser backs call to bar Colombo

FORMER prime minister Malcolm Fraser has added his weight to a push for Commonwealth action against Sri Lanka, calling on summit members to postpone its proposed hosting rights for the 2013 CHOGM until it has answered allegations of war crimes.Mr Fraser criticised the federal government for putting its desire to stop Sri Lankan boatpeople from reaching Australia ahead of its obligations to speak out against alleged human rights violations and war crimes.But the former prime minister stopped short of supporting Sri Lanka's suspension from the Council of the Commonwealth, warning that such a penalty would only remove Sri Lanka from the organisation's sphere of influence."I would not like to see suspension at this point but I think a lot of pressure should be brought to bear for an adequate investigation under the international criminal court," Mr Fraser told The Australian yesterday.A broad alliance of high-profile Australians, including lawyers, activists, former diplomats and academics, yesterday released a petition calling for Australia to support Sri Lanka's suspension from the Commonwealth until it agreed to an international warcrimes investigation, and for Sri Lanka to be barred from hosting the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.Among the signatories are author Thomas Keneally, barrister and human rights advocate Julian Burnside QC and former NSW attorney-general John Dowd QC.The group has appealed to Julia Gillard to follow the lead of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has vowed not to attend a 2013 Sri Lanka CHOGM if there has been no progress on human rights and an independent war crimes investigation.The petition came out of a roundtable convened by Greens senator Lee Rhiannon last month to explore ways to pressure the Australian government to take action on the issue.Ms Rhiannon warned yesterday the federal government would "set a horrific precedent if it rolls out the red carpet for Sri Lankan officials at CHOGM while allegations of war crimes remain unanswered". Mr Fraser said he supported the Canadian Prime Minister's position that it was "quite inappropriate to have the council meeting in SriLanka, and this meeting ought to revisit that issue". He criticised the government for failing to speak out on allegations that the Sri Lankan military committed crimes against its own people during the last months of the civil war against the Tamil rebels because it feared such criticism could alienate the Rajapaksa government, whose help it needed to stem the flow of asylum-seekers to Australia."We should not place a desire to stop boats and get the co-operation of the Sri Lankan government above the need to seek justice in Sri Lanka He described as "outrageous" then foreign minister Stephen Smith's visit to Colombo in November 2009, six months after the war's end in May 2009, with an $11 million grant in return for Sri Lanka's undertaking to help prevent boatloads of undocumented refugees from seeking asylum in Australia."By giving financial support to the Sri Lankan government we were virtually saying, 'What you have done is all right so long as you stop boats'," Mr Fraser said."You can't have principles which are important and then throw them over when it's expedient. There's been too much of that in Australia over the past 10 to 15 years."An investigation by a UN-appointed panel earlier this year found as many as 40,000 mostly Tamil civilians were killed in the final months of the war in 2009 as government forces moved against the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.The panel found evidence both sides committed war crimes, but the Sri Lankan government strongly denies the allegations.http://www.theaustra...a-1226176660539

Edited October 25, 201114 yr by கந்தப்பு

அவுஸ்திரெலியா முன்னாள் பிரதமரும் தற்போதைய வெளிவிவகார அமைச்சருமான கெவின் ரட்டின் கருத்து

Wait for report on Sri Lankan crimes: Rudd

The Australian government will be keen to learn the findings of a Sri Lankan report addressing issues of war crimes, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says.

The federal government has called on Sri Lanka and its President Mahinda Rajapaksa to address allegations of human rights abuses during the war against Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009.

Mr Rudd told reporters in Perth on Tuesday that he had so far only exchanged pleasantries with the Sri Lankan foreign minister.

But he said the issue was likely to come up during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this week.

Mr Rudd said a United Nations report into the controversy mentioned the possibility of potential war-crimes trials against the Sri Lankan government and the president.

"That is why we have called on the Sri Lankan government, together with other governments around the world, to respond to each of the matters that affects them in their reconciliation commission report," he said.

"What we will all be looking at carefully is the content in that report once it is delivered and how it deals with specific matters and allegations contained within the earlier UN report."

Sri Lanka is due to host the next CHOGM in 2013 but Canada has already threatened to pull out of the summit.

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Wait-for-report-on-Sri-Lankan-crimes-Rudd-MYFTJ?OpenDocument&src=hp7

Australia presses Sri Lanka over war crimes claims

PERTH, Australia — 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.

Sri Lanka has persistently denied that its troops committed atrocities while battling the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who were crushed in an offensive that ended in May 2009, bringing the 26-year conflict to a close.

But Prime Minister Gillard said the allegations were a concern.

"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," she told Perth radio.

Rajapakse is due in Perth this week to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and the issue is likely to be prominent on the agenda.

Rights groups say CHOGM has a moral and legal responsibility to hold the Colombo government to account.

Gillard's comments came as a Sri Lankan man who says he is "living testimony" to the massacre of Tamils in the conflict filed a war crimes case in Melbourne Magistrates Court against Rajapakse.

"I am a living testimony of the massacre that happened to the Tamil people in the final days of the war in Sri Lanka," said Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran, an Australian citizen.

"This alleged war criminal is coming to my country, Australia, and I want to make sure he is held accountable for the massacre of thousands of Tamils in 2009."

Gillard made it clear that no case could proceed without the government's say-so.

"No such legal action can be taken on an issue like this without the consent of the attorney-general," she said. "And the attorney-general hasn't received any request in relation to this matter."

She also noted that Australia has obligations under international law which extends immunity to visiting heads of state.

But Jegatheeswaran's lawyer, Lucien Richter, said he did not believe diplomatic immunity was an issue in this case.

"There is some authority to suggest that where crimes are of a substantial and international nature, such as war crimes or crimes against humanity, then effectively the authority of being head of state doesn't grant him immunity from those things," he said.

"Certainly the ICJ (International Commission of Jurists) in their submission have come to a simple conclusion that immunity would not be a barrier to this prosecution."

Australian police are reviewing a dossier submitted by the ICJ containing testimony from citizens who say they were attacked by government forces in the war's final days.

Jegatheeswaran, 63, a retired engineer and ethnic Tamil, returned to his homeland in 2007 to volunteer in Tamil hospitals, schools and camps for displaced persons, where he claims to have witnessed attacks by government forces.

"Patients who were in the hospital were killed and there were other patients waiting for treatment, they were killed," he told ABC television.

Rajapakse was not available to comment on the war crimes case, but in an interview with the official programme for CHOGM said his country was trying to build unity.

"This includes the Tamil people who were deprived of all democratic, fundamental and human rights by the terrorist organisation that claimed to be their 'liberators'," he said.

"Instead they caused such brutality to them, to our country, and also posed a threat to our region."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iUDLpS3DF75tQsOEXb1F2_z6dWNA?docId=CNG.6923d88135d8fdfc621b7d5a366496a2.531

Fraser supports call for Sri Lanka war crimes inquiry

MALCOLM Fraser has added his voice to calls for an international investigation into allegations of widespread war crimes during the Sri Lankan civil war, on the same day the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, touches down in Australia.

Mr Rajapaksa, who arrived last night ahead of Friday's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, has been under pressure to allow an international investigation into the final months of the war in 2009 against the Tamil Tigers.

According to the United Nations, up to 40,000 civilians were killed when government forces moved against the insurgents. ''There ought to be a proper investigation and if that leads to indictments before the International Criminal Court or the War Crimes Tribunal, so be it,'' Mr Fraser told The Age yesterday.

Last week the International Commission of Jurists handed a brief of evidence to the AFP that recommended that Mr Rajapaksa and others be investigated for war crimes. But yesterday the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, announced he was refusing permission for an investigation of Mr Rajapaksa under the Commonwealth criminal code.

The request for an investigation had been sparked by a Tamil living in Australia, Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran, who said he was seeking justice for thousands who perished in aerial bombardments and ground attacks. Mr McClelland refused permission because the request was ''in breach of domestic law and Australia's obligations under international law,'' he said.

Mr Fraser said the Gillard government appeared to be more interested in ensuring partnership with Mr Rajapaksa to prevent Tamil asylum seekers coming to Australia. ''If the government is taking a very soft approach because of its concern about asylum seekers, I think it is forgetting what it ought to be doing.

''It ought to be supporting moves for a proper inquiry, which could lead to indictments … if the information is sufficiently strong to stand up in the ICC,'' he said.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/fraser-supports-call-for-sri-lanka-war-crimes-inquiry-20111025-1mi3w.html

Sri Lankan PM will not answer war crimes claims

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa remains untouchable in Australia over local allegations he committed war crimes during his country's civil war, which ended in 2009.

Late yesterday the Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland rejected a request to prosecute Mr Rajapaksa over claims by an Australian citizen that he had seen firsthand the atrocities committed by Mr Rajapaksa's army.

Australian civil engineer, Arunachalam Jegapheeswaran, said he had been working as an aid worker in his former home nation of Sri Lanka from 2007 to 2009 when he saw the bombing of civilian populations and clearly-marked Red Cross field hospitals.

On Monday Mr Jegapheeswaran filed an indictment in a Victorian court against Mr Rajapaksa, declaring he was seeking justice for thousands who perished in aerial bombardments and ground attacks on shelters, schools, hospitals, orphanages and community centres.

Mr Rajapaksa recently arrived in Perth for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting but Mr Jegapheeswaran denied his motive was to embarrass the president during CHOGM.

''People are still suffering because of what he did and I think the world should know,'' Mr Jegapheeswaran said on Monday.

''I've seen all of these things. I can't bear that the person who is responsible for all of this - who is the commander-in-chief - is coming to my country and getting off scot-free.''

The indictment filed under the Australian criminal code with the Melbourne Magistrates Court was set for hearing on November 29.

But for the case to proceed against Mr Rajapaksa it required the consent of Mr McClelland, who received the request through his office yesterday afternoon.

Mr McClelland's office also confirmed that a similar request was made to Australian Federal Police to investigate the matter, which it was evaluating.

However later that night, a spokesman for the Attorney-General said the request had been refused "as continuation of the proceedings would be in breach of domestic law and Australia's obligations under international law".

"Australia has obligations under international law including the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations which extends immunity to visiting Heads of State," he said.

"The Foreign States Immunity Act 1985 extends immunities of heads of diplomatic missions applying under the Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act 1967 to Heads of States.

"Those immunities include personal inviolability including from any form of arrest or detention and immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving state.

"This derives from Australia's obligations under international law and the principles of state immunity."

Lawyer Lucien Richter, whose firm represents Mr Jegapheeswaran, said they were extremely disappointed by the decision.

"It is an issue we had hoped to get more careful consideration of but it seems there has been no effort to mount an investigation into these atrocities," he said.

He said it appeared that diplomatic expediency was put ahead of human rights and there was little more they could do, with the exception of a High Court case.

Mr Jegapheeswaran's lawyer Robert Stary yesterday told ABC's WA radio that he expected Mr McClelland to treat his client as a bona fide witness.

"We expect that both the Australian Federal Police and Commonwealth Attorney General must take this complaint seriously and must conduct enquiries in accordance with the law," Mr Stary said.

"We're not asking that any person be arrested or remanded in custody, and all those things are possible. We're simply saying that while he's here and whilst this complaint is a bona fide complaint and it must be one before it can be issued by the courts.

"Whilst he's here he should be spoken to or interrogated in a way that any other suspect in a serious crime might be interrogated."

Mr Rajapaksa, who strenuously denies any wrongdoing, has already been cited in a separate brief of evidence compiled by the International Commission of Jurists' Australian section and handed to the AFP.

The brief recommends that he be investigated for alleged war crimes, along with Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, and other military and political figures.

Mr Samarasinghe has also denied committing war crimes and cast himself as a uniter of the Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Australia.

Mr Stary said there was plenty of evidence against those accused.

"The Canadian Prime Minister, a conservative prime minister, has said that he will not visit CHOGM in Sri Lanka in 2013 unless the human rights records are addressed," he said.

"John Dowd who is the former Liberal Party Attorney General and leader of New South Wales of the International Commission of Jurists had said there must be an inquiry and it must start now.

"So these are not radical fringe claims these are mainstream conservative organisations that say a great atrocity has been committed in Sri Lanka and it requires investigation.

"Australia can play an important part; it can play a leadership role in that process."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard refused to be drawn on the issue indicating it was a matter for the Attorney General.

- with Michael Gordon, smh.com.au.

http://www.smh.com.au/wa-news/sri-lankan-pm-will-not-answer-war-crimes-claims-20111025-1mi4c.html

Gillard rules out Sri Lanka CHOGM boycott

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.

Canada has foreshadowed it could boycott the next CHOGM if Sri Lanka does not respond appropriately to the allegations.

Ms Gillard says the issue does need to be properly resolved.

"There's no intention to revisit the question of hosting the next CHOGM meeting," she said.

"On the question of human rights abuses and allegations of those abuses in Sri Lanka, the Government's position is we have have consistently raised our concerns about human rights questions in the end stage of the conflict.

"These need to be addressed by Sri Lanka."

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has again urged Sri Lanka to confront the allegations.

"You will note statements already made by various prime ministers on this matter, including the Canadian prime minister," he said.

"It will be a matter for individual governments, but I think our friends in Sri Lanka are mindful that there are a range of views on this across the Commonwealth, and as I said, the agenda makes it possible for individual governments to raise these matters both in the next two days but also when the heads of government meet as well."

Ms Gillard is holding talks with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa this evening in Perth to discuss claims of human rights abuses.

Meanwhile, the International Commission of Jurists Australia says it has given fresh evidence of Sri Lankan civil war crimes to the Australian Federal Police.

The organisation has joined with the New South Wales Greens in calling for the issue to be raised by Ms Gillard when she meets Mr Rajapaksa.

Both parties have also asked for Sri Lanka to be suspended from the Commonwealth.

Commonwealth changes

Leaders from the 54 Commonwealth member countries have started arriving in Perth for this year's CHOGM, but foreign ministers are already there for a two-day meeting.

They are considering two reports on ways the Commonwealth can change, including stepping in earlier if democracy is under threat in a member nation.

Senior officials met until the early hours of this morning on a draft communique, but have now referred the sticking points to the foreign ministers' meeting.

A spokesman will not give details about disagreements, saying the issue is mostly about the language rather than the content.

The final decision, including whether to set up a commissioner for democracy and human rights, will be taken by the leaders on the weekend.

Mr Rudd says Australia backs the idea of early intervention, saying the Commonwealth could be involved sooner rather than acting after a crisis happens.

"There is potency to the argument that there is a danger in the Commonwealth simply being reactive rather than proactive," he said.

Blunt instrument

"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 (CMAG) that real difficulties are emerging which may point in that direction.

"However, how other foreign ministers respond to CMAG, the group's own recommendations for reform, will be determined in the days ahead."

At the moment the Commonwealth's main power is to suspend a nation after a breach of democracy, like the military coup in Fiji.

The economic crisis in Europe will also dominate the two-day foreign ministers' meeting.

Mr Rudd says what happens in Europe shapes what happens everywhere and is of fundamental relevance.

"I think it would be unusual in the extreme for 50 or so heads of government gathered in Perth, including the prime minister's of the United Kingdom and others, not to be on the record on the importance of Europe dealing with the crisis which we are all too familiar with in this room," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-26/gillard-rules-out-sri-lanka-chogm-boycott/3601970/?site=newcastle

No plans to move 2013 summit from Sri Lanka: Australia

Australia on Wednesday assured Sri Lanka there were no plans to strip it of hosting rights to Commonwealth talks in 2013 over war crimes allegations, but called for a UN probe into the claims.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard raised the accusations in bilateral talks with President Mahendra Rajapakse in Perth ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which opens Friday.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Gillard told reporters: "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."

As a lawyer's group said it had new evidence showing Sri Lankan troops committed war crimes in 2009, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the UN Human Rights Council must examine whether atrocities occurred.

He also said Sri Lanka, which strongly denies any wrongdoing by government forces, should investigate the claims as part of its own Reconciliation 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."

The war crimes claims centre on Sri Lanka's final push against Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009, when it is alleged government forces killed tens of thousands of civilians.

Commonwealth countries such as Australia and Canada have been vocal in their calls for Sri Lanka to investigate, 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 Colombo in 2013, unless Sri Lanka takes action.

Gillard declined to back Harper's boycott call and said there were no plans to relocate the 2013 meeting.

"My understanding is there is no intention to revisit the question of hosting of the next CHOGM meeting," she said.

Rudd said all countries attending the meeting of mainly former British colonies in Perth were free to raise concerns with Sri Lanka individually.

The International Commission of Jurists' Australian chapter said Wednesday it had received fresh photographic evidence of atrocities, including the alleged execution and degradation of female victims.

"(It) deals with executions, it deals with (crimes) such 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," IJC Australian chief John Dowd told reporters in Sydney.

Dowd said the photographs, collected by an Australian union official, had been forwarded to police.

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.

http://news.yahoo.com/australia-wants-un-rights-body-probe-lanka-062136769.html

Commonwealth leaders to discuss succession and Sri Lanka at Perth summit

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 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.

Member nations have been presented with a seminal 205-page report compiled by an Eminent Persons Group they commissioned in 2009, which sets out more than 100 recommendations for leaders to consider.

"This will be a CHOGM focused on resilience, reform and renewal," said Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma.

The leaders will discuss proposals to change the rules of succession for the British throne, with the issue taking on new momentum since the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton in April.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has written to the leaders of the 15 other Commonwealth realms where the Queen is head of state to propose allowing first-born daughters and heirs who marry Catholics to inherit the throne.

A spokesman for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said: "I don't have any indications (from Commonwealth nations) that there is much opposition to this."

Human rights is also set to be a banner issue, especially after a suppressed report into the failings of the Commonwealth warned that it was losing relevance and credibility because of the failure to tackle abuses by member states.

The report, found that the Commonwealth was no longer the standard-bearer of human rights, a reputation it enjoyed in the 1980s when it “led the world struggle” to achieve the rule of law, according to The Times.

To rectify this failure to engage with problem countries, the report proposed a “Commissioner for Democracy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights”.

Australia, Britain and Canada favour a stronger focus on human rights, but other countries resent outside influence.

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse is in Perth and rights groups says CHOGM has a moral and legal responsibility to hold his government to account over war crimes claims during its 2009 offensive against the Tamil Tigers.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the CHOGM host, has said the allegations were a concern.

"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," she said.

However, she noted that Australia has obligations under international law which extend immunity to visiting heads of state.

Harper has made clear there should be an independent investigation into the allegations and has threatened to boycott Sri Lanka's hosting of CHOGM in 2013 if there is not more accountability.

Climate change was a key theme of the last meeting in Port of Spain and with small island states and 19 African countries Commonwealth members, it is again seen as playing a major part.

Rising sea levels threaten several Commonwealth countries, including tiny Tuvalu in the Pacific, while drought and record high temperatures are hitting crop yields and agriculutural productivity in other nations.

Commonwealth officials told AFP that South African President Jacob Zuma wants the issue at the forefront of talks in Perth ahead of his country's hosting of the UN climate summit in Durban in November.

Most Commonwealth leaders will be in Australia for the summit, although Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has pulled out without giving a reason while Cameron will arrive late so he can attend eurozone debt crisis talks.

Fiji is also absent after it was suspended from the grouping following a coup in 2006.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8849666/Commonwealth-leaders-to-discuss-succession-and-Sri-Lanka-at-Perth-summit.html

PM raises war crimes with Sri Lanka leader

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.

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/pm-raises-war-crimes-with-sri-lanka-leader/story-e6frfku0-1226177694578

Australia mounts pressure on Sri Lanka over war crimes

PERTH (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.

(Additional reporting by Rob Taylor and James Grubel in Canberra; Editing by Nick Macfie)

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/10871753/australia-mounts-pressure-on-sri-lanka-over-war-crimes/