Last week, the Australian government decided not to co-sponsor a UN inquiry into human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government praised its "bold" decision, and defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa posed for a celebratory shot with Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison as the former handed the latter a premium box of Dilmah tea.
The deal – which is essentially the Australian government turning a blind-eye to the torture of Sri Lankan citizens, among other abuses – has been criticised as placing Australia "on the same team as China, Russia and the Congo in opposing the investigation". The agreement is apparently based on the excellent relations between the two countries, which – of course – doesn’t justify it in any shape or form.
The news comes a few months after Prime Minister Tony Abbott defended Sri Lanka’s human rights record by stating that "sometimes in difficult circumstances difficult things happen”. That ethical apathy wasn’t exactly surprising from a man whose government has been adopting an increasingly militarised stance towards “defending” the country from anyone with brown skin, locking refugees and asylum seekers away in offshore detention camps.
Many of the alleged human rights abuses took place during the Sri Lankan civil war, which ended in 2009 when government forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; widely known as the Tamil Tigers) after more than two decades of conflict. The end of the fighting also ended the Tigers’ hope of establishing an autonomous – or, at least, semi-autonomous – Tamil state in the north and east of the island. Full story...
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The deal – which is essentially the Australian government turning a blind-eye to the torture of Sri Lankan citizens, among other abuses – has been criticised as placing Australia "on the same team as China, Russia and the Congo in opposing the investigation". The agreement is apparently based on the excellent relations between the two countries, which – of course – doesn’t justify it in any shape or form.
The news comes a few months after Prime Minister Tony Abbott defended Sri Lanka’s human rights record by stating that "sometimes in difficult circumstances difficult things happen”. That ethical apathy wasn’t exactly surprising from a man whose government has been adopting an increasingly militarised stance towards “defending” the country from anyone with brown skin, locking refugees and asylum seekers away in offshore detention camps.
Many of the alleged human rights abuses took place during the Sri Lankan civil war, which ended in 2009 when government forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; widely known as the Tamil Tigers) after more than two decades of conflict. The end of the fighting also ended the Tigers’ hope of establishing an autonomous – or, at least, semi-autonomous – Tamil state in the north and east of the island. Full story...
Related posts:
- Australian silence on human rights is our gift to Sri Lanka...
- Sri Lanka’s Tamils are still facing torture and sexual attacks...
- Sri Lanka: new video evidence of grotesque violations...
- Reign of terror continues in Northern Sri Lanka...
- Sri Lanka security forces 'raping and torturing' ahead of Commonwealth...
- Scandal of Sri Lanka’s disappeared...
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