Full Text of Resolution Via Parliament of Australia
SJ No 41 – 7 July 2011
The Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown) amended general business notice of motion no. 323 by leave and, pursuant to notice of motion not objected to as a formal motion, moved—That the Senate:
(a) notes:
(i) Sri Lanka’s `killing fields’, which aired on Four Corners on Monday, 4 July 2011, contained further shocking images of alleged war crimes committed during the civil conflict in Sri Lanka, and
(ii) that British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron, said in response to the program on 15 June 2011 that, `the Sri Lankan Government needs that to be investigated, and the UN needs it to be investigated. We need to make sure that we get to the bottom of what happened, and that lessons are learned’;
(b) calls for allegations of war crimes committed by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to be investigated and verified;
(c) urges the Australian Government to press the Government of Sri Lanka to take steps for meaningful accountability in Sri Lanka for alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law; and
(d) calls on the United Nations Human Rights Council to review its 2009 resolution on Sri Lanka.
Question put and passed.