Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird has warned that the UN’s significance is endangered when it fails to act on its founding principles, stating Sri Lanka’s war crimes as one such issue.   

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Baird said,

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has appointed former Under-Secretary-General Thoraya Obaid to conduct the review into the UN’s activities during and after the war in Sri Lanka, as suggested by the UN Panel of Experts.

The Panel made following recommendation to the UN in their comprehensive report released in April 2011, which is now being examined by the Human Rights Council:

Catholic priest, Fr GA Francis Joseph, amongst the population being massacred by Sri Lanka's bombardment, says in a letter to the Pope sent on May 10, 2009:

“Last night's toll of the dead is 3318 and of the injured more than 4000.

The UK is preparing to deport more than 100 Tamils on Wednesday, while pressure by human rights organisations is mounting to stop all deportations until the safety of Tamils can be guaranteed.

An event on the sidelines of the Labour Party conference, organised by Freedom from Torture and Human Rights Watch, highlighted the systematic targeting of Tamils being deported from other countries.

Hosted by Channel 4’s Jonathan Miller, the event focussed on ‘the desperate need for justice and accountability in Sri Lanka and to cover lessons that can be drawn from the Sri Lanka “case” for the protection of human rights within UK foreign policy.’

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon stressed the need for a "credible national accountablity process" in a meeting with Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday at the UN General Assembly.

Drawing attention to measures previously agreed upon in a joint statement with Rajapaksa in 2009, Ban reportedly "underlined the need to find a political solution to the underlying factors of the past conflict".

“These egregious violations of international and domestic law have gone unanswered for over two years now, as survivors continue to suffer in suffocating silence on the island.

Finally, after years of waiting for someone to answer for the loss of loved ones, the voices of Tamil victims  and survivors have been granted their day in court.

Today, U.S. courts provide a forum for justice and accountability, where there would otherwise be continued impunity for Sri Lanka’s crimes against Tamils.”

"This lawsuit  seeks damages  for violations of international, Sri Lankan and domestic law under the Alien Torture Claims Act (ATCA) and Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA).

These statutes grant jurisdiction to U.S. courts  over human rights  violations committed  abroad, and serve to ensure that the U.S. does not become a safe haven for war criminals.

“When asked why can't [Tamil] refugees go back to the villages that they originally came from, the government said that it is not possible because those areas are now special economic development areas, uncleared minefields or on land the military wants to keep.”

The decision to air the documentary “Lies Agreed Upon” (and not