Australian Greens push for SL High Commissioner to be recalled

by admin
Mar 15, 2012
Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon has called upon the Australian Government to send back Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia Admiral TSG Samarasinghe, until an independent international investigation into war crimes on the island has commenced.

In a statement released by the Australian Greens, Senator Lee Rhiannon said,
"It is not enough for Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia Admiral TSG Samarasinghe to claim Sri Lanka is conducting its own investigation into the later stage of the civil war.”

"It is becoming more widely recognised that claims claim that Sri Lanka makes about investigating its own war crimes are a farce.”

"It is time that the Gillard government backed calls from the UN Secretary-General's Panel of Experts, Amnesty International, the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch for war crimes to be properly addressed.”

"Australia should also support a resolution being put by the US to the UN Human Rights council this week calling for greater accountability. While the draft resolution falls short of calling for an independent war crimes investigation it represents a constructive step forward."

"The Australian Greens reiterate calls for Prime Minister Gillard to ask the Sri Lankan government to recall the Sri Lankan High Commissioner pending an independent international war crimes investigation for incidents detailed in a submission made by the International Commission of Jurists Australia to the government."

"If the Sri Lankan government is unwilling to do this, Admiral TSG Samarasinghe should be expelled."
See our earlier posts:

'Doing the right thing' (21 Oct 2011)

Growing calls for prosecution of Sri Lankan envoy to Australia (17 Oct 2011)

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