RUTHFULLY YOURS

Tony Abbott and other commonwealth leaders are under pressure to raise concerns about Sri Lanka’s human rights record at the Colombo summit, which is already being boycotted by leaders from Canada, India and Mauritius.

But, speaking on the eve of the 53-member group’s summit, Mr Rajapakse said: “We are very open, we have nothing to hide.”

Mr Rajapakse said he was ready to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss allegations that up to 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed by Sri Lankan forces in the closing stages of the civil war in the island’s north.

“I will be meeting him and we will see what, I will also have to ask some questions,” he said.

Mr Rajapakse, who was elected president of the former British colony in 2005, mounted a stout defence of his administration’s handling of allegations of rights abuses.

“We have a legal system in Sri Lanka,” he told a press conference. “We have a human rights commission, now the commonwealth is ready to strengthen it.

“If anyone wants to complain about a human rights violation in Sri Lanka — whether it be torture, whether it be rape — we have a system.

“If there are any violations, we will take actions against anybody.”

The 67-year-old leader said his administration deserved credit for managing to bring an end to the conflict between minority ethnic Tamils and the majority Sinhalese which erupted four decades ago.

“People were getting killed for 30 years, at least after 2009 we have stopped it.

“There is no killing in Sri Lanka today.”

Mr Abbott flies to Colombo tonight after the Senate today passed a resolution calling on the Prime Minister to “raise the matter of an independent investigation into allegations of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law” with Mr Rajapakse.

Mr Abbott said he did not know what action would be taken at CHOGM, but he was committed to human rights.

“Australia is an enthusiastic participant in all the international organisations to which we belong,” he told Fairfax radio.

“The commonwealth is an important association of a very diverse group of countries, but we have a commitment to the values, the best values, of the former British empire.”

A Sri Lankan information ministry spokesman said the commonwealth leaders had been invited to his country for CHOGM – not to raise issues with his government.

Journalists in Colombo have reported incidents of being followed or harassed by Sri Lankan security forces and the hotels are understood to be routinely passing on passport details to police.

Australian Greens senator Lee Rhiannon, who was detained in Sri Lanka last weekend, said she had found evidence of “ongoing abuses of human and legal rights” during her visit.

International civil rights groups say up to 40,000 civilians were killed and many more tortured or raped in the final months of fighting in 2009, but the Sri Lankan government disputes this.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is already in Colombo to meet with her Commonwealth colleagues.

She has held bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of Britain, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Papua New Guinea as well as Caribbean community leaders.

AFP/AAP