There is a saying that has become common amongst those in the United Nations Human Rights Council. When a tense stand-off arises someone will say "Let’s not play the naming and shaming game – let’s try and work together." Perhaps this "game" played in the most elite policy circles is counter-productive – but it does allow history to identify those in positions of power who were complacent, cowardly, and indecisive at a moment when hundreds of thousands of civilian lives were on the line. In the case of Sri Lanka, there is no shortage of those to blame, and the footage from the civilian carnage in recent weeks should put all of us to shame.

Received wisdom for some years has been that Washington has developed a close understanding with Delhi on security issues relating to Lanka, and to put it loosely, had subcontracted its interests in this respect to India.

Britain has enabled the violent oppression of the Tamils. Now it must compel Sri Lanka to cease its genocide

Sri Lankan President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday, April 24, appointed Chief-of-Staff of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri as the Competent Authority Officer in charge of resettlement of Tamils from Vanni in alleged barbed-wire 'internment camps' and 'villages' in the North.

The mass of Tamil women and children struggling to walk out of Sri Lanka's war zone were so emaciated that an aid worker thought he was seeing a horror movie.

The Sri Lankan Government which was able to fire thousands of shells per day into the so-called safety zone to capture the civilians, doesn't have the means to feed them when they are captured according to Sri Lankan foreign minister who appealed to the international community for assistance.

A separate Tamil Eelam is the only solution that will permanently put an end to the problems of the Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka, said Tamil Nadu former Chief Minister and principal Leader of the Opposition, Jayalalitha Jayaram at an election rally in Salem city.

Protests, hunger strikes and shut downs in support of Eelam Tamils continued and political parties upped their pro-Eelam rhetoric in the southern state of Tamil Nadu amidst election campaigning for the May 13 Lok Sabha polls gained momentum.

Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK president Muthuvel Karunanidhi said he believed Sri Lankan president Rajapakse would keep his word and not resume combat operations against Tamil Tigers, despite the Sri Lankan military declaring there is no ceasefire in place.

Despite Sri Lanka’s indifference to international calls to not fire at civilians and mounting civilian casualties, China has publicly declared its support for the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to wipe out the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

Continuing its policy of building relationships with non-western states that are willing to provide aid despite its horrific human rights violations, Sri Lanka has formed full diplomatic ties with Libya and borrowed $500 million.

Millions of pounds of British aid are being channelled by the Sri Lankan Government into controversial internment camps where it plans to hold and screen up to 200,000 civilians fleeing the conflict with the Tamil Tigers, reported The Times newspaper in London on Tuesday.

A hunger strike by 6 Tamils in Australia, calling for the immediate halt of atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka that began on 11 April at 5:00 p.m. was concluded 17 April with an unprecedented rally in the capital city of Canberra where more than 8500 diaspora Tamils took part.

Parameswaran Subramaniyam continues his fast unto death undettered, placing five demands including an immediate stop of the inhuman killings of innocent Tamils in Vanni by Sri Lanka armed forces.