Human Rights Watch blamed Australia and India for the final watering down of the UNHRC resolution, thus easing the pressure on the Sri Lankan government, by putting domestic political concerns ahead of human rights, The Weekend Australian reported.

Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said the original UN resolution had been watered down at the insistence of India, which had been seeking a consensus resolution that would garner Sri Lanka's co-operation. (Sri Lanka anyway rejected outright the weakened resolution.)

Roth added Australia's "belated" support for the weakened resolution - which he attributed to fear that overt criticism would prompt a fresh flood of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers - meant an opportunity was lost to persuade regional fence-sitters to support the vote.

He told The Weekend Australian:

"We know Australia fears any criticism of Sri Lanka that could turn the spigot on boatpeople, but we would hope Australia would press for an end to this impunity for mass murder.

"Frankly, Australia should not allow itself to be blackmailed by Colombo in this way.

"In the end the Australian government did the right thing by supporting the resolution, but it would have been more helpful if that support had been articulated earlier. It might have helped us to more easily overcome some of the reluctance elsewhere in the region."

Human Rights Watch yesterday said:

"[Sri Lanka's] campaign of rampant denial, distortion and intimidation should be sufficient evidence that the Sri Lankan government will never hold its forces accountable and that an independent, international investigation is needed.

"Rather than take the Council's concerns seriously, the Council has failed victims again this year."