Gillard raises human rights concerns with Sri Lanka

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has told Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa that Australia wants to see his country deal with the alleged human rights abuses committed during the civil war.

During talks with Mr Rajapaksa last night, Ms Gillard underlined Australia's view of the need to deal with the issue through the reconciliation process.

Today the spokesman for the Sri Lankan president, Bandula Jayasekara, told News 24 there was no truth to the allegations of breaches of human rights.

"These are heresays, these are mere allegations, but we have ended 30 years of terror and no-one has asked of the suffering the Sri Lankans went through for 30 years."

He saaid a human rights report would be handed to the president later this year.

Today at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Ms Gillard will hold talks with more of her counterparts, including the prime ministers of Malaysia and Canada.

The failed asylum seeker swap deal is expected to be raised with Malaysia's prime minister, although Ms Gillard has already said she has kept Malaysia informed about the shelving of the plan.

Commonwealth leaders are playing down any expectation that heads of government will endorse major changes to the way the CHOGM forum operates.

Ms Gillard has been discussing proposed changes to the Commonwealth with other heads of government, aimed at giving the Commonwealth more powers to support democracy and human rights.

But any change can only happen if it is agreed to by all the leaders.

Today's meeting has a strong business focus with senior representatives of most major mining companies mingling with delegates.

It will kick off with a breakfast meeting focused on extending the mining links between Australia and Africa.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd has called on other Commonwealth countries to boost funding for education.

He says 67 million primary school-aged children across the world do not have access to education - with a significant proportion of those in Commonwealth countries.

Mr Rudd says research shows each year of additional schooling results in a 10 per cent increase in a person's working income.

"If all students in low-income countries left school with basic reading skills, 171 million people in the world would be lifted out of poverty - this would represent almost a 15 per cent reduction in global poverty," he said.


(2011-10-27/abc.net.au)