Academics in Australia condemned the University of Sydney's decision to acquiesce to the Sri Lankan military's demands to withdraw invitations to NGOs known to be critical of the state for a conference hosted along side the University of Colombo this week in Bangkok.

In a letter to Dr Daniella Celermajer at Sydney University, a group of lecturers and academics said her decision to withdraw invitations "threatens to bring the University of Sydney's commitment to and connection with human rights into disrepute," reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

"[The conference is at] serious risk of providing the appearance of human rights cover to a brutal regime that continues to perpetrate gross violations and is going to great lengths to silence critical voices both within Sri Lanka and in the international community".

"The only value that your conference could have would precisely lie in confronting Sr Lankan security forces with their abuses – not tip-toeing around them for fear of giving offence."

"We therefore consider it important to write to dissociate ourselves from the event and the way in which it has been conceived and managed," the group, including Associate Professor Jake Lynch and Brami Jegan who are conveners of human rights in Sri Lanka department at the university, added.

Two Sri Lankan NGOs, 'Right to Life' and 'Right Now', had their invitations withdrawn from the 'Enhancing Human Rights and Security in Asia-Pacific' conference.

See related articles:

Bangkok conference will do damage to human rights in Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka Campaign (14 Sep 2014)

NGOs uninvited from Sydney Uni conference due to SL military interference (13 Sep 2014)