Now that Sri Lanka's farcical attempt at accountability - the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report - has finally been published, there can be no more excuses.

The LLRC has for too long been the international community's fig leaf, used by governments across the world, including the US and the UK, to stall calls for accountability and a credible investigation into allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have slammed the LLRC report's failure to address the most serious allegations of war crimes and call upon governments to call for an international investigation.

In a statement - 'Sri Lanka: Report Fails to Advance Accountability'- HRW stated,

"The report of the Sri Lankan government’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) disregards the worst abuses by government forces, rehashes longstanding recommendations, and fails to advance accountability for victims of Sri Lanka’s civil armed conflict."

"The LLRC report provides no realistic pathway for holding accountable military and government officials implicated in serious abuses."

Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director said,

“The commission’s failure to provide a road map for investigating and prosecuting wartime perpetrators shows the dire need for an independent, international commission.”

"The commission shockingly fails to call for any criminal investigations into artillery shelling of crowded areas in which tens of thousands of civilians died."

”It is clear that justice for conflict-related abuses is not going to happen within Sri Lanka’s domestic institutions,” 

“The government has been playing for time by appointing the LLRC. That time has now run out.”

Counsel for Mahinda Rajapaksa filed a motion for "enlargement of time to respond to the complaint" at the US Dictrict Court of Columbia, reported Tamilnet.

The Supreme Court has ordered the unblocking of a website critical of the government.
Sri Lanka Mirror was one of several websites blocked by the Sri Lankan government in recent months for propagating ‘false information’.

The websites, including Lanka-e-news and Sri Lanka Guardian, are all highly critical of the ruling party.

The conditions placed on Sri Lanka Mirror by the Supreme Court include a ban on providing links to any of the websites still blocked.

The long awaited report by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has been presented to the Sri Lankan parliament today.

For full report click here or here.

In its conclusion the report stated that no civilians were intentionally targeted in the No-Fire-Zones.

Upto 50 Tamil asylum seekers in the UK are being deported to Sri Lanka on Thursday reported The Guardian newspaper.

The deportation comes despite recent reports by Freedom From Torture (a UK based torture victim NGO) and the UN Committee Against Torture detailing damning evidence of on-going torture.

A multitude of Tamil civil society groups condemned the "deception and deviatory polity" of the TNA's leadership, in a memorandum presented to the party leader's on Tuesday, reported Tamilnet.

It added that the impressive list of signatories to the memorandum, including trade unionists, community leaders, religious leaders, academics, profressionals and educationalists, urged "firmness of leadership in political stand" and asserted that "Tamils are not a ‘minority’ requesting concessions, but a nation demanding self-rule".

An organisation campaigning for women's rights in Sri Lanka has revealed there are 89,000 war widows in the north-east of the island.

Committee member for Women for Rights, Dr. Sarojini Savithri, said 12,000 of those widows were under the age of 40.

Addressing parliament on Wednesday, Foreign Minister GL Peiris asserted Sri Lanka will not allow an international investigation into allegations of war crimes.

The Sri Lankan government "is firmly for solving the country’s internal issues by itself,” he reiterated.

It is unfortunate then that this is the only aspect of the investigation of war crimes the government is firm about.

Almost a month after the LLRC report was presented to the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the dithering continues.

Amnesty International, Tamils Against Genocide and the director of 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' documentary, Callum Macrae joined others in a discussion on 'Where now after Sri Lanka's Killing Fields' on 25th November.

The event, organised by Freedom from Torture, the medical foundation for the care of victims of torture, who released a damning report into the widespread and ongoing practice of torture by Sri Lanka's security forces, was fully booked.

Yolande Foster from Amnesty International, Jan Jananayagam from TAG, the shadow minister for international development, Rushanara Ali and the journalist and director, Callum Macrae were invited to share their thoughts the allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Sri Lanka, prior to the public discussion.