30 September 2016

Call out Sri Lanka’s empty promises

The Green Party is calling on John Key to have an open and honest discussion about human rights with the Sri Lankan Prime Minister at their meeting tomorrow.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be meeting with John Key at Government House in Auckland this Saturday for bilateral talks, the first meeting between the two leaders since the latter took office in January 2015.

“New Zealand should offer support to help Sri Lanka’s leadership act swiftly on accountability for civil war crimes, which the new Government promised to tackle nearly two years ago, but has since reneged on,” said Green Party MP Jan Logie.

“Human rights abuses in Sri Lanka are not just a thing of the past. The Prevention of Terror Act, which enables the government to indefinitely detain people without charge, remains in place.

“Acts of torture, disappearances and displacement are still widespread in Sri Lanka, particularly in the military-occupied North, where Tamil people are struggling to survive.

“Platitudes about Sri Lanka’s new Government are not good enough. The people of Sri Lanka are looking to the world to keep up the pressure to ensure genuine progress on human rights and true accountability.

“John Key needs to accept there are complications in expanding trade with a country still reeling from civil war and state-sponsored violence. Key should commit to having difficult but necessary talks about human rights,” said Ms Logie.

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