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Australia rejects calls to boycott
Sri Lanka
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 Lanka 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.
"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."
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 & United States, 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.
Australia rejects calls to boycott Sri Lanka meet | Breaking News
Sri Lanka
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 Lanka 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.
"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."
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 & United States, 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.
Australia rejects calls to boycott Sri Lanka meet | Breaking News
Congratulations Sri Lanka
