David Cameron has defended his decision to attend a Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka despite allegations of human rights abuses by the south Asian country’s government.
Flying to capital Colombo on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm), Mr Cameron insisted he would use the visit to challenge President Mahinda Rajapaksa over the “chilling” claims, telling reporters: “You can’t make the arguments unless you are there.”
Mr Cameron aims to travel to the conflict-scarred north of Sri Lanka to meet journalists and campaigners from the Tamil community who have complained of abuses by security forces during and after the bloody repression of a 26-year civil war in 2009. The United Nations estimates that at least 40,000 were killed during the suppression of the Tamil Tiger separatists.
The biennial Chogm meeting is being boycotted by the prime ministers of Canada, India and Mauritius over human rights concerns. Labour leader Ed Miliband, who previously called on Mr Cameron to stay away, said that the prime minister should join other Commonwealth members to block Mr Rajapaksa from taking up the two-year chairmanship of the 53-nation group.
But the president fended off criticism, telling reporters in Colombo: “We have nothing to hide. If anyone who wants to complain about human rights violations in Sri Lanka, whether it’s torture, whether it is rape, we have a system. If there is any violations, we will take actions against anybody, anybody.”
In a round of broadcast interviews in India, Mr Cameron promised “a frank exchange of views” with Mr Rajapaksa.
He said it was better to “get involved” than stay away. Mr Cameron said: “You can’t make the arguments about the future of the Commonwealth unless you are there. You can’t make the arguments about what is happening in Zimbabwe, about the importance of free trade, about how we tackle poverty in our world.”The run-up to the Chogm summit has seen UK journalists obstructed from reporting on the human rights situation in northern Sri Lanka. A Channel 4 News team, including the maker of the No Fire Zone documentary, was forced off a train to the north by a mob of protesters who blocked the tracks, accusing them of being in the pay of the Tamil Tigers. Mr Cameron described the images of abuse in the documentary as “completely chilling” and said there were “legitimate accusations of war crimes that need to be properly investigated”.