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 Commonwealth is an important means of assisting the less wealthy and less powerful members of the Commonwealth, but unless they start dealing with serious breaches of human rights and rule of law and war crimes, then it will not be taken as seriously.”
- John Dowd, from the International Commission of Jurists in Australia. See Radio Australia’s interview with him here.
See also our earlier post:
Australia's Greens urge suspension of Sri Lanka from Commonwealth
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