Thousands of non-combatants, according to the United Nations, were killed in the final phase of the Sri Lankan war this year as government forces overran the Tamil Tiger guerrillas.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, criticized the Sri Lankan Government on the issue of "accountability" and for refusing to co-operate “to our many requests for an international investigation of what we say is widespread acts of killing of civilians."

A small percentage of the Tamil refugees held in camps since May have allegedly been released amid growing international pressure on the Sri Lankan Government over its human rights record. But reports from the island suggested that the civilians were merely moved from one place of confinement to another.

WHEN Muthu Kumaran returned to Sri Lanka in February 2007, he had hoped, even expected, that his Tamil people were about to win independence.

Children held in "welfare camps".

The United States has responded after Sri Lanka protested over the US Secretary of State including Sri Lanka in a list of countries where rape is used as a weapon of war.

The fate of a quarter of a million interned Tamils is poisoning Sri Lanka’s hopes of ethnic reconciliation

As Major General Sarath Fonseka's military and political stars in Sri Lanka show signs of decline, the General may have to soon decide whether to stay in Sri Lanka and suffer ignominy under the Rajapakse brothers, or to use the lottery-won US Green Card, and seek safety with his children in the US. But safety in US may spell judicial danger.

Andrew Stroehlein, International Crisis Group's Communications Director, during his testimony to the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights on the situation in Sri Lanka Thursday, noted the poor and deteriorating conditions in the internment camps where more than 264,000 Tamils are being held by Colombo.

The Sri Lankan parliament has approved an additional 20% budget for the country's military for the remainder of this year, reported the BBC.

Colombo's victory over the Tamils shows India's power on the wane.

Sri Lanka will hold both presidential and parliamentary elections before April 2010, state radio has announced.

Why Sri Lanka ignores international outrage over the camps

A SLA soldier and explosive expert attached to Minneriya camp in Polonnaruwa was arrested by Kurunegala Police Friday, October 2, in connection with the school van bomb blast the previous Friday that killed a 11 year old girl student and injured 11 others including school children and the driver.