New Zealand's Green party wants Key to discuss rights issues with PM Wickremesinghe

The Green Party in New Zealand is calling on the country's prime minister John Key to have an open and honest discussion about human rights with the  Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at their meeting tomorrow, a statement by the group said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be meeting with John Key at Government House in Auckland this Saturday for bilateral talks, the first meeting between the two leaders since the latter took office in January 2015.

“New Zealand should offer support to help Sri Lanka’s leadership act swiftly on accountability for civil war crimes, which the new Government promised to tackle nearly two years ago, but has since reneged on,”  Green Party MP Jan Logie said in the statement.

“Human rights abuses in Sri Lanka are not just a thing of the past. The Prevention of Terror Act, which enables the government to indefinitely detain people without charge, remains in place.

“Acts of torture, disappearances and displacement are still widespread in Sri Lanka, particularly in the military-occupied North, where Tamil people are struggling to survive.

“Platitudes about Sri Lanka’s new Government are not good enough. The people of Sri Lanka are looking to the world to keep up the pressure to ensure genuine progress on human rights and true accountability.

“John Key needs to accept there are complications in expanding trade with a country still reeling from civil war and state-sponsored violence. Key should commit to having difficult but necessary talks about human rights,” said Ms Logie