“Again today, I spoke out loudly and clearly on the issue of human rights in Sri Lanka, including on our concerns on the lack of accountability for the serious allegations of war crimes, the lack of reconciliation with the Tamil community and with the events that have taken place since the end of the civil war.

“As the Prime Minister has stated very clearly, we expect our concerns to be addressed seriously by the Government of Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, given the current circumstances in Sri Lanka and the lack of substantial progress to date, it would be difficult for the Government of Canada to fully participate.

After an intense battle with the High Court, a last minute injunction was placed on the deportation of a Tamil family to Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Supreme Court, announced in a ruling today, that land powers in Sri Lanka were vested with the Central Government and not with the Provincial Councils.

Sri Lanka’ s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ravintha Aryasinaha, rejected the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s March 2014 deadline for Sri Lanka to address concerns regarding the investigation of rights violations.

Speaking at the United Nations Human Rights council, Arayasinha said,

“The UN rights chief decried a worsening situation in Sri Lanka and listed past and present problems that contradict official ‘Commonwealth values,’”

“The Commonwealth should not bury its head in the sand and ignore Sri Lanka’s serious human rights problems.”

Sri Lanka faced intense scrutiny at the 24^th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council , as Navi Pillay’s oral update on Sri Lanka was delivered by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, today.

Download full statement here.

Noting the heavy militarisation of the North-East 4 years after the end of the war, the update expressed concern about reports of actions undertaken by the Sri Lankan government to deceive the Human rights commissioner, stating,

“The High Commissioner has identified, however, a number of factors impeding normalization, which – if not quickly rectified – may sow the seeds of future discord. Four years since the end of the war, the military presence in the north remains considerable. The High Commissioner received information that a number of military checkpoints and barriers were removed just before her arrival and reinstated after her departure.”

Disappointed at Sri Lanka’s attempts to credibly investigate allegations which had been of concern to the Human Rights council, the statement read,

“The High Commissioner stressed that appointing the armed forces to investigate itself does not inspire confidence in a country where so many past investigations and commissions of inquiry have foundered.”

The British authorities plan to deport a three year old autistic child born in the UK, along with his Tamil parents and siblings who are all suffering mental health problems on the 26^th of September 2013.

Lawyers have stressed that the parents are too mentally distressed to support their children who have already been traumatised by earlier attempts to deport them.