Breaking News

Australia rejects calls to boycott Sri Lanka meet

27 Apr 2013 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Australia has vowed not to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka over allegations of human rights violations, despite mounting calls not to attend.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr said it would be counter-productive to skip the summit in the Sri Lankan city of Hambantota in November.

"Any suggestion of a boycott would be counter-productive. It would simply isolate the country and render it defiant of international opinion," he told ABC television late Friday.

"Our challenge is to keep the pressure on to see there are further improvements, especially directed at reconciliation in the north.

"People... in the north, they've told me they have seen former Tamil Tigers -- that is fighters using terrorist means -- are now being rehabilitated, being employed, gainfully employed, being reintegrated into that community."

Earlier this week, former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser joined dozens of other prominent Australians in calling for Canberra to boycott the meeting unless there was significant progress on Sri Lanka's human rights record.

"From all the reports that we're getting, there is still continuing human rights violations in Sri Lanka," Fraser said.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has voiced similar sentiments, demanding President Mahinda Rajapakse's regime probe its troops over allegations -- denied by Colombo -- that 40,000 civilians were killed in 2009.

After nearly four decades of civil war, Sri Lanka crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

Backed by India, the United States and European nations, the UN Human Rights Council last month called for an investigation into suspected war crimes including the alleged indiscriminate killing of civilians at the conflict's climax.(AFP)

Breaking News

Australia rejects calls to boycott Sri Lanka meet

Most Popular Articles

2026 FIFA World Cup Schedule in Sri Lankan Standard Time

Breaking Down the Israel–Iran Conflict: What We Know So Far - Day 108

’’Cut out the noise, focus on your game’’; Sri Lanka great reaches out to Sooryavanshi

Mother wins three-decade legal battle over property against son

Struggling Pizza Hut chain to be sold for $2.7bn

Heavy rain expected as El Niño conditions set to develop globally after February: Officials

Latest News

Daily vehicle import bill drops below USD 4Mn

Medicine prices set to surge

Trump threatens to resume bombing campaign if Iran does not ’’behave’’

DVT emerging as ‘silent killer’ among young due to sedentary lifestyles, doctors warn

Iran sends tankers loaded with oil past US military blockade