AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
11 November 2013

Amnesty International calls for New Zealand to take a stand against Sri Lanka chairing the Commonwealth

Prime Minister John Key announced this morning on TVNZ’s Breakfast programme that a decision has not yet been taken about whether NZ will support Sri Lanka’s bid to chair the Commonwealth for the next two years, a term that would run from the end of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) next weekend.

While welcoming the New Zealand government giving serious consideration to this question, Amnesty International says that there is more than enough evidence already on the table to show that Sri Lanka is not upholding Commonwealth values and is therefore not fit to be its chair.

“There is already a vast amount of documented evidence pointing to massive human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Violations that occurred not just during the civil war, but continue to happen to those who speak out in dissent. An independent international inquiry is urgently needed, and until this happens no country should support Sri Lanka becoming chair of the Commonwealth”, said Amnesty International New Zealand’s executive director Grant Bayldon.

“The news on Sunday that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has followed Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper in pulling out of the meeting over human rights concerns is significant for CHOGM’s credibility. It sends a clear message that both countries do not condone Sri Lanka’s human rights abuses”, adds Bayldon.

Over the weekend British Prime Minister David Cameron also stated that “he has serious questions to put to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa”.

Amnesty International has also welcomed Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully’s trip to northern Sri Lanka, a region where the UN estimates at least 40,000 civilians we killed in the final stages of the war in 2009. However, it warns that getting a true picture may be difficult for Minister McCully.

“In an environment where killings and disappearances of people critical of the government remain rife, it’s going to be very difficult for people to speak to Minister McCully without endangering themselves”, said Bayldon.

In August the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay visited Sri Lanka, and noted that Sri Lankans who came to meet her were harassed and intimidated by security forces, treatment she considered in her official report “extraordinary to be meted out” during a such a visit.

Amnesty International also commented on the detention of New Zealand MP Jan Logie in Sri Lanka on Sunday night, while on a fact-finding mission there - reportedly for not having the correct visa to hold a press conference.

“We don’t have all the facts in yet”, said Mr Bayldon, “but the Government’s actions appear consistent with a widespread pattern that Amnesty International, the United Nations and other groups have documented of Sri Lanka attempting to shut down critical voices within the country.”

ENDS/

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