A group of Australian academics, politicians and human rights campaigners is calling for Sri Lanka's suspension from the Councils of the Commonwealth until the government agrees to cooperate with an international investigation into war crimes.

“Commonwealth nations have to take [their institution] seriously or otherwise it just becomes another gentleman's club where everyone slaps everyone on the back and says nice things.

The Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has suffered a major split and a new party has been formed according to reports in The Island.

The dissidents led by Dimuthu Atygala, Pugbudu Jagoda and Waruna Rajapakse are said to have walked out a Committee meeting on Monday after announcing the breakaway.

The breakaway faction, who claim to have the support of more than half of the JVP’s 24-member committee, are expected to register a new political party soon.

Sri Lanka’s trade, currency and debt quandary

The International Monetary Fund suspended its programme of supplying Colombo with credit in exchange for reform on Monday after Sri Lanka refused to follow advice and abandon a policy of actively intervening in foreign exchange markets to support the value of the Rupee.

Earlier this month Brian Aitken, the IMF’s head of mission in Colombo, warned that Sri Lanka’s policy of selling dollars to maintain the value of the rupee “does not seem to be in line with the fundamentals in the economy”’ and that the policy was rapidly depleting foreign currency reserves.

He pointed out that Colombo’s “non-borrowed reserves.. have steadily declined, reflecting foreign exchange sales by the central bank.”

Speaking at an event held to mark International Day of Peace, John Rankin, the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, stressed that the absence of war does not necessarily equate to peace and that peace "means different things to different people.

Sixteen Human Rights organisations, including Amnesty International, FORUM-ASIA, Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group and International Commission of Jurists undersigned a letter addressed  to the High Commissioner of the Human Rights Council, Navi Pillai, appealing for

Sri Lanka’s ambassador has urged the US to pass the GSP programme in a joint letter sent to the Senate on Monday.

Sri Lanka was joined by the 9 other members of the Coalition of Generalized System of Preferences in advocating for the renewal of the GSP program, which will be discussed in the Senate later this week.

The letter details the adverse effect the suspension of the program has had on the members’ respective economies.

''It is likely these asylum seekers will be treated harshly when all they have done is exercise a legal right.

People who are desperate to get away from Sri Lanka know that it is a dangerous enterprise coming by sea. We Australians praise ourselves as great humanitarians - this is hardly an example of compassion.''

Australia's Greens launched a campaign to call for the suspension of Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth until a credible independent invesigation into alleged war crimes takes place, reported The Australian.

Greens senator, Lee Rhiannon, reportedly expressed hope of 'building bipartisan political support' for the suspension of Sri Lanka.

The Greens have the backing of several human rights activists and jurists.

John Dowd QC, a member of the International Commission of Jurists and former New South Wales attorney-general explained,

"If Sri Lanka is used as a host, it ignores the fact that war crimes have been committed. The Commonwealth has to realise it can't keep being polite when one of its members is guilty of (such) crimes."

Senator Rhiannon added,

"We will be looking at whether delegates of the Sri Lankan government may be refused a visa to visit Australia for CHOGM if it can be proved they do not meet the 'character test' and 'public criteria test'."

A British Tamil man has been arrested and held in Sri Lanka for over four years without charge under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), reports the Guardian.

Father of two, Viswalingam Gopithas, from South London has been under Sri Lankan custody since April 2007, accused of trying to supply night vision equipment to the LTTE.

Reports have also emerged of other British Tamils, including a fifty-one year old woman, Vasugi Kaunanithy, being held by Sri Lankan security forces under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, since August 2011.

“We must be clear about the fact that Sri Lanka is a rogue nation. It has carried out genocide against the Tamil people, and we must do all that we can to stop the persecution of the Tamils once and for all.”

“We must make a distinction between murder and genocide—genocide is scientific, organised killing”.

“Britain must take a brave and principled lead—just as we did in Kosovo and, with France, in Libya—and do all that it can to ensure that a full independent international investigation of war crimes takes place.

Those of us who believe in justice want the people responsible to be held to account, just as all of us would agree about Colonel Gaddafi, Radovan Karadzic and Charles Taylor.

We cannot allow the international community to slip back to the cosy days of 2009, when the UN disgracefully ignored calls for a war crimes investigation, or when the Secretary-General spoke of Sri Lanka’s ‘tremendous efforts’.”

“The allegations of war crimes and other human rights violations committed by both sides in the military conflict are of great concern to us.

The UK has consistently made its position clear: Sri Lanka needs to address accountability through an independent, thorough and credible process that meets international standards and allows the people of Sri Lanka to move towards reconciliation and lasting peace and security.”