Gary Anandasangaree, a Toronto lawyer, recent graduate of Osgoode, and member of the Canadian Tamil Congress, has a piece in today’s Star on the conflict in Sri Lanka,

While Canada stood with countries like Germany, Britain and France deploring “the significant loss of human lives,” urging Sri Lanka to give full and unhindered access to humanitarian organizations and calling for an investigation of human rights violations, Sri Lanka stood with countries like China, Cuba, Russia and Iran, which resolutely defended its interests. These countries supported a draft submitted by Sri Lanka that commended the government’s actions toward the civilians in the camps and lauded its promotion and protection of human rights…

Countries that ought to champion the need for the universal application of human rights instruments have failed miserably to ensure that the world does not stay silent in the midst of human tragedy.