Sri Lanka is among the highest-risk financial systems in Asia’s emerging markets, said a report by a credit ratings agency, citing the rapid growth in credit.

"Hong Kong and China were joined by Indonesia and Sri Lanka in the December 2011 assessment [of high-risk financial systems], although Vietnam dropped out as credit growth eased," said a report by Fitch Ratings.

The higher credit leveraging by banks and growing asset prices were cited as reasons for the revised risk warning.

Though Fitch upgraded Sri Lanka’s credit rating in July 2011, the agency ended the year warning that “foreign direct investment has been surprisingly slow to recover after the end of the country’s long civil war in 2009.”

Fitch also expressed concern about the devaluation of the Sri Lankan rupee in November 2011.

The LLRC report "falls short of addressing the evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity" said the British All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T), adding, "it is important now that the international community holds Sri Lanka to their obligations under international law to allow for an international independent investigation".

Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa has slammed the Tamil National Alliance for criticising the LLRC report and calling for an international investigation.

Talking to reporters on Tuesday morning, the president accused the TNA for still harbouring an ‘LTTE mentality’ and denounced the call for an international investigation as ‘treacherous’ and harmful to the country.

"They think and act like the LTTE. The LTTE behaved similarly. They came to talks (with the government), put conditions and withdrew," Rajapaksa said.

The Sri Lankan high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Chris Nonis, has presented Sri Lanka’s controversial LLRC report to selected British Parliamentarians at the houses of parliament on Tuesday.

According to the official government news portal, www.news.lk, Chris Nonis explained ‘that the holistic approach of the LLRC is entirely consistent with restorative justice embedded with accountability.’

Several MPs and Lords attended the meeting, but unlike the US state department and human rights organisation like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, no criticism of the LLRC was reported.

An official statement by the British foreign office regarding the LLRC is yet to be made, however parliamentarians and others who spoke at the event, displayed incredible ignorance about Sri Lanka and its history of inquiries into itself.

The Tamil National People Front (TNPF) - stated there was an "urgent need" for an international, independent investigation, and urged international action of the continuing "genocide" of the Tamil nation, reported Tamilnet on Tuesday.

During a press briefing in Jaffna, Vice President of the TNPF, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said,

"The report places the blame on the LTTE and other tamil groups. We can no longer remain patient.

There is urgent need for the International Community to conduct an independent investigation. What happened is genocide.

While the war ended two and a half years ago, structural genocide against Tamil people is continuing, and International community should not hesitate to raise its voices."

"While Colombo regards any independent investigation into war crimes as a threat its sovereignty, we demand that all dastardly crimes and instruments of oppression carried out against the Tamil people from 1948, the year of independence, need to be presented as evidence before an independent panel, and perpetrators of the crimes should be brought to justice."

Speaking on Monday, Nuland

Detailing the "lack of security" faced by Tamil women across the North-East, in the aftermath of the armed conflict, International Crisis Group (ICG) detailed how "the heavily militarised and centralised control of the north and east – with almost exclusively male, Sinhalese security forces" raises problems for Tamil women in terms of their "safety, sense of security and ability to access assistance", in a report published Tuesday.

See here for report - Sri Lanka: Women’s Insecurity in the North and East - in full.

Extracts reproduced below:

"Women in Sri Lanka’s predominantly Tamil-speaking north and east are facing a desperate lack of security in the aftermath of the long civil war."

"Today many still live in fear of violence from various sources. Those who fall victim to it have little means of redress. Women’s economic security is precarious, and their physical mobility is limited. The heavily militarised and centralised control of the north and east – with almost exclusively male, Sinhalese security forces – raises particular problems for women there in terms of their safety, sense of security and ability to access assistance."

"They have little control over their lives and no reliable institutions to turn to. The government has mostly dismissed women’s security issues and exacerbated fears, especially in the north and east. The international community has failed to appreciate and respond effectively to the challenges faced by women and girls in the former war zone. A concerted and immediate effort to empower and protect them is needed."

"The fact that women must rely on the military for everyday needs not only puts them at greater risk of gender-based violence, but also prevents them from building their own capacity within communities."

The Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma, said on Tuesday that he hoped the LLRC report would "advance the cause of accountability", adding, 

"It is for the government and people of Sri Lanka to chart their country''s way forward after the military defeat of the forces of terrorism,"

The leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) added his voice on Monday, to the now deafening call of the Tamil nation, and human rights activists worldwide, for an independent, international investigation.

A former senior military official in the Sri Lankan army states that the army "assassinated surrendering Tamils" reports The Daily Telegraph newspaper in the UK Sunday - Sri Lankan army commanders 'assassinated surrendering Tamils' (19/12/11).

Now that Sri Lanka's farcical attempt at accountability - the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report - has finally been published, there can be no more excuses.