The Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, has said he will not attend a November summit of the Commonwealth in Sri Lanka because of what he called human rights abuses on the island.
"We remain disturbed by ongoing reports of intimidation and incarceration of political leaders and journalists, harassment of minorities, reported disappearances, and allegations of extra-judicial killings," he said in a statement on Monday.
The UN's human rights chief said last month Sri Lanka could be sliding toward an authoritarian system as the country's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, gathered power around him.
Harper is the only leader from the Commonwealth, which groups Britain and many former colonies, to announce he will boycott the November summit. Britain also has criticised human rights in Sri Lanka.
Harper said it was unacceptable that Sri Lanka had yet to investigate allegations of atrocities during and after a long civil war with Tamil rebels, which ended in 2009. Sri Lanka has denied allegations its troops committed major crimes. Full story...
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"We remain disturbed by ongoing reports of intimidation and incarceration of political leaders and journalists, harassment of minorities, reported disappearances, and allegations of extra-judicial killings," he said in a statement on Monday.
The UN's human rights chief said last month Sri Lanka could be sliding toward an authoritarian system as the country's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, gathered power around him.
Harper is the only leader from the Commonwealth, which groups Britain and many former colonies, to announce he will boycott the November summit. Britain also has criticised human rights in Sri Lanka.
Harper said it was unacceptable that Sri Lanka had yet to investigate allegations of atrocities during and after a long civil war with Tamil rebels, which ended in 2009. Sri Lanka has denied allegations its troops committed major crimes. Full story...
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- Commonwealth: Don’t attend summit in Sri Lanka...
- Canada fury at Sri Lanka choice for Commonwealth talks...
- Commonwealth urged to drop Sri Lanka venue amid rights accusations...
- In post-war Sri Lanka, one person disappears every five days...
- Sri Lanka’s regime will no longer be successful in hiding its war crimes...
- Sri Lanka's killing fields 2. Unpunished war crimes. (Graphic)
- Sri Lanka's killing fields (Graphic)
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