By Mark Kennedy, Postmedia News October 15, 2011
Two weeks before a Commonwealth summit that could be marred by divisions on the issue, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is pressing forward with demands that Sri Lanka show "progress" on accountability for alleged human-rights violations that occurred at the end of the civil war in 2009 with the Tamil Tigers.
Harper will bring his case to the upcoming Oct. 28-30 summit of leaders in Perth, Australia, and is saying that unless he is satisfied with the actions of Sri Lanka, he will boycott the next biennial Commonwealth meeting, which is being held in that country.
"We do expect a discussion at the Commonwealth on this and the prime minister will make his position clear," Harper's associate director of communications, Andrew Mac-Dougall, said in an interview Friday.
Moreover, MacDougall said the prime minister has not wavered from the concerns he outlined in a round table discussion he had a month ago with some Canadian ethnic media.
At that session, Harper was responding to questions about Canada's stance on whether Sri Lanka should be permitted to host the next Commonwealth summit in 2013 and whether there should be an international investigation into allegations of human rights violations by the government.
In response, Harper was clear.
"I intend to make clear to my fellow leaders at the Commonwealth that if we do not see progress in Sri Lanka in terms of human rights and some of the issues that you raised, I will not as prime minister be attending that Commonwealth summit (in 2013)," he said.
"And I hope that others will take a similar position, but I hope that this will pressure the Sri Lankan government to take the appropriate actions. We are concerned about the situation."
Harper said that Sri Lanka needs to "make progress" not only in terms of what it did to the Tamil Tigers, but also needs to show advances in the areas of "political reconciliation, democratic values and accountability."
Furthermore, the prime minister said he supports calls for an international investigation of the issue following a report done by an expert panel earlier this year for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon which found "credible allegations" that government forces and the Tamil Tigers committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the final months of the civil conflict.
Specifically, that report concluded there were credible allegations that the government killed civilians through "widespread shelling," including at hospitals, that it denied humanitarian assistance and that it tried to silence the media and critics through intimidation tactics such as the use of white vans to abduct people who would then disappear.
PRIME MINISTER WARNS UKRAINE OF 'SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES' OVER TYMOSHENKO CASE
Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned Ukraine's government there could be "serious consequences" after the country's main opposition leader was sentenced to seven years in prison this week.
"Our government is very concerned about the path the government of Ukraine appears to be taking," Harper said in remarks prepared for a Ukrainian-Canadian event in Toronto on Friday night.
Harper will bring his case to the upcoming Oct. 28-30 summit of leaders in Perth, Australia, and is saying that unless he is satisfied with the actions of Sri Lanka, he will boycott the next biennial Commonwealth meeting, which is being held in that country.
"We do expect a discussion at the Commonwealth on this and the prime minister will make his position clear," Harper's associate director of communications, Andrew Mac-Dougall, said in an interview Friday.
Moreover, MacDougall said the prime minister has not wavered from the concerns he outlined in a round table discussion he had a month ago with some Canadian ethnic media.
At that session, Harper was responding to questions about Canada's stance on whether Sri Lanka should be permitted to host the next Commonwealth summit in 2013 and whether there should be an international investigation into allegations of human rights violations by the government.
In response, Harper was clear.
"I intend to make clear to my fellow leaders at the Commonwealth that if we do not see progress in Sri Lanka in terms of human rights and some of the issues that you raised, I will not as prime minister be attending that Commonwealth summit (in 2013)," he said.
"And I hope that others will take a similar position, but I hope that this will pressure the Sri Lankan government to take the appropriate actions. We are concerned about the situation."
Harper said that Sri Lanka needs to "make progress" not only in terms of what it did to the Tamil Tigers, but also needs to show advances in the areas of "political reconciliation, democratic values and accountability."
Furthermore, the prime minister said he supports calls for an international investigation of the issue following a report done by an expert panel earlier this year for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon which found "credible allegations" that government forces and the Tamil Tigers committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the final months of the civil conflict.
Specifically, that report concluded there were credible allegations that the government killed civilians through "widespread shelling," including at hospitals, that it denied humanitarian assistance and that it tried to silence the media and critics through intimidation tactics such as the use of white vans to abduct people who would then disappear.
PRIME MINISTER WARNS UKRAINE OF 'SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES' OVER TYMOSHENKO CASE
Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned Ukraine's government there could be "serious consequences" after the country's main opposition leader was sentenced to seven years in prison this week.
"Our government is very concerned about the path the government of Ukraine appears to be taking," Harper said in remarks prepared for a Ukrainian-Canadian event in Toronto on Friday night.
A Ukrainian judge handed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko a seven-year prison sentence and a $188-million fine Tuesday for brokering a deal between Russia and her country in 2009.
President Viktor Yanukovich's government has alleged the deal forced Ukraine to pay exorbitant prices for Russian gas, an assessment the court agreed with.
However, there have long been allegations the charges were brought against Tymoshenko, one of the masterminds behind the Orange Revolution in 2004, to sideline her in advance of parliamentary elections next year and presidential elections in 2015.
In his speech, Harper said he met Tymoshenko during his visit to Ukraine last year "to show Canada's support for democratic debate," and that he had written directly to Yanukovich after the sentence against the popular opposition figure was handed down.
"I am ... deeply concerned by recent developments in your country, in particular by the apparent political motivation behind the trial of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko," Harper wrote in his letter, which was released to Postmedia News.
"I cannot overstate the potential negative impact of the current judicial proceedings against Yulia Tymoshenko both on Ukraine's future relations with Canada and others, and on Ukraine's long-term democratic development."
President Viktor Yanukovich's government has alleged the deal forced Ukraine to pay exorbitant prices for Russian gas, an assessment the court agreed with.
However, there have long been allegations the charges were brought against Tymoshenko, one of the masterminds behind the Orange Revolution in 2004, to sideline her in advance of parliamentary elections next year and presidential elections in 2015.
In his speech, Harper said he met Tymoshenko during his visit to Ukraine last year "to show Canada's support for democratic debate," and that he had written directly to Yanukovich after the sentence against the popular opposition figure was handed down.
"I am ... deeply concerned by recent developments in your country, in particular by the apparent political motivation behind the trial of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko," Harper wrote in his letter, which was released to Postmedia News.
"I cannot overstate the potential negative impact of the current judicial proceedings against Yulia Tymoshenko both on Ukraine's future relations with Canada and others, and on Ukraine's long-term democratic development."
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