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Monday, 22 August 2011
Page: 8688

Sri Lanka

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives:

This petition of certain citizens and residents of Australia brings to the attention of the House that two years ago, Sri Lanka freed itself from the separatist terrorism of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which is banned by the international community. The UNHRC commended Sri Lanka in May 2009 for ending the conflict and saving 300,000 Tamil civilians held as a human shield by the LTTE.

Tamils who faced the brunt of the war are now settling down to normalcy with democratic rights to elect their own representatives. Large scale economic development, de-mining, restoring war-damaged infrastructure, rehabilitation of LTTE cadres and resettlement of IDPs have been commended by international observers. More work is to be done and we gratefully acknowledge Australia's contribution towards these achievements.

Sri Lanka has initiated its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to investigate all aspects of the conflict with a view to ethnic reconciliation. But ignoring UNHRC's resolution and the LLRC, the UN Secretary-General has arbitrarily appointed a three-man panel of persons with known anti-Sri Lanka sentiments. Their report, based on hearsay of anonymous sources, is threatening to undermine the ongoing reconciliation process.

We therefore request the House to:

Reject the divisive report of the UNSG's arbitrary panel.

Endorse Sri Lanka's initiative to conduct its own investigations.

Increase Australian economic and humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka.

Develop mutually beneficial links between Australia and Sri Lanka.

from 1,342 citizens