The Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka has been criticised after handing out certificates to alleged Tamil rebels who went through two years of military led rehabilitation, The Age reports.
Kathy Klugman took part in a much publicised ceremony, celebrating, what was termed as, the reintegration of 1800 former rebels, along with US ambassador Patricia Butenis, British High Commissioner John Rankin and Indian High Commissioner Ashok Kantha.
The President of the International Commission of Jurists in Australia, John Dowd has slammed the move, accusing the Australian government of lending legitimacy to a regime which is accused of war crimes and which refuses to allow an investigation into the countless human rights abuses it is accused of committing.
See our previous report on the rehabilitation:
Rajapaksa's self-congratulation (Sep 2011)