Labour joins calls for immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka

Labour's Associate Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Grant Robertson today joined the UN Secretary General's call for a ceasefire in the conflict in Northern Sri Lanka, amid reports of thousands of civilian casualties.

"While lack of access for relief agencies makes it difficult to get verifiable numbers, the UN is reporting that there have been thousands of civilian casualties in recent months, and 150,000 civilians are trapped in the war zone.  This is a humanitarian crisis and both sides need to cease fighting," Grant Robertson said.

The UN is further reporting that those who are in 'safe zones' have been the subject of shelling. Conditions in the safe zones are reported to be squalid, and there is a lack of food and medical supplies.

"There is an urgent need for true safe havens to be established and for international relief agencies to be able to enter them to deliver basic food and medical supplies.

"As the conflict has escalated in the last few months we have heard barely a peep from the National Government. Murray McCully needs to make sure that New Zealand's voice is heard, and that we play whatever part we can in averting the emerging humanitarian disaster in Sri Lanka," Grant Robertson said.

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