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David Cameron has condemned Sri Lanka's failure to investigate allegations of "chilling and appalling" war crimes as he flew to the Commonwealth summit in Colombo promising a diplomatic showdown with the host country.
The prime minister landed in Sri Lanka late on Thursday for a gathering of 54 world leaders, having pledged to visit the country's warn-torn northern Tamil areas, tackle its president about continuing allegations of human rights abuses and demand an independent inquiry.
During a meeting with Mahinda Rajapaksa, he will also raise concerns about attacks on Christians and Muslims, intimidation of journalists and discrimination against Tamils.
However, the encounter is likely to provoke a diplomatic battle after the Sri Lankan president insisted his country had nothing to hide and resisted calls for further inquiries into its 25-year civil war, which ended in 2009.
Late on Thursday, Cameron used his strongest language yet to criticise Sri Lanka's human rights record after watching a Channel 4 documentary about atrocities allegedly committed by state forces in the last months of the war.
After speaking to the UN on Thursday, the prime minister said images of war crimes had been independently verified.
"The images in that film are completely chilling. It's an appalling set of allegations and of course these allegations have been backed up by the work of the UN special rapporteur who has had them verified. There are legitimate accusations of war crimes that need to be properly investigated. That is actually what the Sri Lankan government itself found … but it hasn't effectively answered them. They need to be answered."
The UK Tamil community is also pressing Cameron to tackle Rajapaksa on allegations of torture, the disappearance of government opponents and intimidation of the media since the end of the war. It is understood Cameron is likely to shake Rajapaksa's hand when they meet.
On Thursday, Cameron agreed there were "some very serious questions that need to be answered, questions about human rights violations today in Sri Lanka, the fact that there are so many people who have disappeared, there aren't proper rules for a free press".
During his trip to the north, he will go to Jaffna to meet its new chief minister, a Tamil, and newspaper editors who have been intimidated. After that, he will return to Colombo to see Rajapaksa.
A No 10 source said Cameron would push for specific goals, including "quick wins" such as lifting a bar on singing the national anthem in Tamil.
Going into the meeting, he will have five goals, including a political settlement with the National Tamil Alliance. He will also raise concerns about the impeachment of the chief justice, indefinite detention and the failure to bring to justice the murderer of the British national Khuram Shaikh. The source said Cameron also had worries about "increasing attacks on Christians and Muslims and the signs that extremist Buddhist nationalists [are] acting with impunity".
The Freedom from Torture human rights group said the "burning question" Cameron must put to Rajapaksa was "why certain categories of ethnic Tamils travelling back to Sri Lanka from the UK are being tracked down and subjected to branding, rape and other forms of torture".
The group, one of the UK's largest torture rehabilitation centres, said it had received at least 50 referrals for individuals detained and interrogated about the activities of Tamils in the UK after returning to Sri Lanka.
However, Rajapaksa on Thursday hit back at international criticism, saying his country was very open about its past and had a good legal system to deal with allegations. "We have a legal system in Sri Lanka," Rajapaksa said in a Colombo news conference. "If anyone wants to complain about the human rights violations in Sri Lanka, whether it is torture, whether it is rape … we have a system.
"If there [are] any violations, we will take action against anyone. So we are open. We have nothing to hide."
He confirmed he had agreed to meet Cameron, and suggested his response would be combative. "I will be meeting him … I will also have to ask some questions," he said.
Earlier, Sri Lanka's media minister Keheliya Rambukwella warned that Cameron could not make demands of the county as though it was a colony. He told the BBC: "We are a sovereign nation. You think someone can just make a demand from Sri Lanka. It can be a cordial request. We are not a colony. We are an independent state."
Cameron is planning to push for an independent inquiry into the human rights accusations, with international oversight if Sri Lanka cannot commit to making progress during the summit. However, Labour has called for the prime minister to boycott the meeting entirely in protest at Sri Lanka's record, like the Indian and Canadian leaders.
Writing in the Tamil Guardian, Ed Miliband also urged Cameron to push for Rajapaksa to be stripped of his automatic two-year chairmanship of the Commonwealth after hosting the summit.
This ceremonial role means he will play a key part in next year's Commonwealth games in Glasgow, hosted by the Queen. It is understood Cameron has not ruled out pushing for this sanction but considers the international inquiry a greater priority. Whitehall sources also pointed out this would have to be agreed by a consensus of Commonwealth leaders.
Speaking from India, Cameron defended his decision to go to Colombo in order to "shine a light" on Sri Lanka's human rights record.
"For my own part, I am going to the north of the country, to Jaffna. I'll be the first not only prime minister of Britain but any prime minister anywhere in the world who's going to the north of that country since 1948."
Before the summit, some Tamil media outlets have reported that campaigners have been prevented from travelling to Colombo to protest about relatives who have disappeared.
A Channel 4 crew has also said it was blocked from reaching a former war zone in the north for filming as pro-government protesters stood in the way of their train. Among the journalists on board was Callum Macrae, whose documentary No Fire Zone: the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka was released before the summit.
David Cameron condemns Sri Lanka's failure to investigate alleged war crimes | Politics | The Guardian
The prime minister landed in Sri Lanka late on Thursday for a gathering of 54 world leaders, having pledged to visit the country's warn-torn northern Tamil areas, tackle its president about continuing allegations of human rights abuses and demand an independent inquiry.
During a meeting with Mahinda Rajapaksa, he will also raise concerns about attacks on Christians and Muslims, intimidation of journalists and discrimination against Tamils.
However, the encounter is likely to provoke a diplomatic battle after the Sri Lankan president insisted his country had nothing to hide and resisted calls for further inquiries into its 25-year civil war, which ended in 2009.
Late on Thursday, Cameron used his strongest language yet to criticise Sri Lanka's human rights record after watching a Channel 4 documentary about atrocities allegedly committed by state forces in the last months of the war.
After speaking to the UN on Thursday, the prime minister said images of war crimes had been independently verified.
"The images in that film are completely chilling. It's an appalling set of allegations and of course these allegations have been backed up by the work of the UN special rapporteur who has had them verified. There are legitimate accusations of war crimes that need to be properly investigated. That is actually what the Sri Lankan government itself found … but it hasn't effectively answered them. They need to be answered."
The UK Tamil community is also pressing Cameron to tackle Rajapaksa on allegations of torture, the disappearance of government opponents and intimidation of the media since the end of the war. It is understood Cameron is likely to shake Rajapaksa's hand when they meet.
On Thursday, Cameron agreed there were "some very serious questions that need to be answered, questions about human rights violations today in Sri Lanka, the fact that there are so many people who have disappeared, there aren't proper rules for a free press".
During his trip to the north, he will go to Jaffna to meet its new chief minister, a Tamil, and newspaper editors who have been intimidated. After that, he will return to Colombo to see Rajapaksa.
A No 10 source said Cameron would push for specific goals, including "quick wins" such as lifting a bar on singing the national anthem in Tamil.
Going into the meeting, he will have five goals, including a political settlement with the National Tamil Alliance. He will also raise concerns about the impeachment of the chief justice, indefinite detention and the failure to bring to justice the murderer of the British national Khuram Shaikh. The source said Cameron also had worries about "increasing attacks on Christians and Muslims and the signs that extremist Buddhist nationalists [are] acting with impunity".
The Freedom from Torture human rights group said the "burning question" Cameron must put to Rajapaksa was "why certain categories of ethnic Tamils travelling back to Sri Lanka from the UK are being tracked down and subjected to branding, rape and other forms of torture".
The group, one of the UK's largest torture rehabilitation centres, said it had received at least 50 referrals for individuals detained and interrogated about the activities of Tamils in the UK after returning to Sri Lanka.
However, Rajapaksa on Thursday hit back at international criticism, saying his country was very open about its past and had a good legal system to deal with allegations. "We have a legal system in Sri Lanka," Rajapaksa said in a Colombo news conference. "If anyone wants to complain about the human rights violations in Sri Lanka, whether it is torture, whether it is rape … we have a system.
"If there [are] any violations, we will take action against anyone. So we are open. We have nothing to hide."
He confirmed he had agreed to meet Cameron, and suggested his response would be combative. "I will be meeting him … I will also have to ask some questions," he said.
Earlier, Sri Lanka's media minister Keheliya Rambukwella warned that Cameron could not make demands of the county as though it was a colony. He told the BBC: "We are a sovereign nation. You think someone can just make a demand from Sri Lanka. It can be a cordial request. We are not a colony. We are an independent state."
Cameron is planning to push for an independent inquiry into the human rights accusations, with international oversight if Sri Lanka cannot commit to making progress during the summit. However, Labour has called for the prime minister to boycott the meeting entirely in protest at Sri Lanka's record, like the Indian and Canadian leaders.
Writing in the Tamil Guardian, Ed Miliband also urged Cameron to push for Rajapaksa to be stripped of his automatic two-year chairmanship of the Commonwealth after hosting the summit.
This ceremonial role means he will play a key part in next year's Commonwealth games in Glasgow, hosted by the Queen. It is understood Cameron has not ruled out pushing for this sanction but considers the international inquiry a greater priority. Whitehall sources also pointed out this would have to be agreed by a consensus of Commonwealth leaders.
Speaking from India, Cameron defended his decision to go to Colombo in order to "shine a light" on Sri Lanka's human rights record.
"For my own part, I am going to the north of the country, to Jaffna. I'll be the first not only prime minister of Britain but any prime minister anywhere in the world who's going to the north of that country since 1948."
Before the summit, some Tamil media outlets have reported that campaigners have been prevented from travelling to Colombo to protest about relatives who have disappeared.
A Channel 4 crew has also said it was blocked from reaching a former war zone in the north for filming as pro-government protesters stood in the way of their train. Among the journalists on board was Callum Macrae, whose documentary No Fire Zone: the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka was released before the summit.
David Cameron condemns Sri Lanka's failure to investigate alleged war crimes | Politics | The Guardian
