{"id":87019,"date":"2013-05-16T00:30:51","date_gmt":"2013-05-15T19:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=87019"},"modified":"2013-05-21T15:51:23","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T10:21:23","slug":"there-will-be-consequences-if-the-conduct-of-the-sri-lankan-authorities-does-not-change-nick-clegg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/there-will-be-consequences-if-the-conduct-of-the-sri-lankan-authorities-does-not-change-nick-clegg\/","title":{"rendered":"There Will Be Consequences If The Conduct Of The Sri Lankan Authorities Does Not Change &#8211; Nick Clegg"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I think that we all accept the controversy and unease about this matter, but by attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka we will be using the opportunity to cast a spotlight on the unacceptable abuses there. As I said earlier, of course there will be consequences if the conduct of the Sri Lankan authorities does not change. The Commonwealth matters to us all, and it is based on a number of values.&#8221;\u00a0Nick Clegg the\u00a0Deputy Prime Minister of the UK said today.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/there-will-be-consequences-if-the-conduct-of-the-sri-lankan-authorities-does-not-change-nick-clegg\/clegg1\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-87020\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-87020\" title=\"clegg1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/clegg1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"460\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/clegg1.jpeg 460w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/clegg1-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><\/a>Nick Clegg made above remarks at the\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.parliament.uk\/business\/publications\/hansard\/commons\/todays-commons-debates\/read\/unknown\/7\/\">Prime Minister\u2019s Questions<\/a><\/span> today.\u00a0As David Cameron is currently overseas, PMQ\u2019s was conducted by Nick Clegg. The questions and answers from Hansard are available below.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.parliament.uk\/biographies\/commons\/Simon-Hughes\/194\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (LD):<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I have to tell my friend that I cannot support the decision of the Prime Minister to go to the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Sri Lanka because of the human rights record of the Sri Lankan Government. What can the Deputy Prime Minister tell us about how we can respond to that terrible regime\u2019s record? What can we do to make sure that in future the Commonwealth does not just say it believes in human rights, but does something about it?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.parliament.uk\/biographies\/commons\/Nick-Clegg\/1563\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>The Deputy Prime Minister:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We are all aware that the decision that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary will attend the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka is controversial, especially in the light of the despicable human rights violations during the recent civil war. But I assure my right hon. Friend that the Government condemn those violations, the way in which political trials, regular assaults on legal professionals and suppression of press freedom continue, and the fact that too many recommendations of the lessons learnt and reconciliation commission have not been implemented. If such violations continue, and if the Sri Lankan Government continue to ignore their international commitments in the lead up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, of course there will be consequences.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.parliament.uk\/biographies\/commons\/Siobhain-McDonagh\/193\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab):<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In answer to the question the right hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) asked on Sri Lanka, the Deputy Prime Minister gave a long list of atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan Government. Why, then, are his Government going to the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Sri Lanka, why are they announcing that six months ahead of time, and why do they want to see an alleged war criminal as Chair of the Commonwealth?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.parliament.uk\/biographies\/commons\/Nick-Clegg\/1563\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>The Deputy Prime Minister:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I think that we all accept the controversy and unease about this matter, but by attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka we will be using the opportunity to cast a spotlight on the unacceptable abuses there. As I said earlier, of course there will be consequences if the conduct of the Sri Lankan authorities does not change. The Commonwealth matters to us all, and it is based on a number of values. Where I accept the hon. Lady\u2019s implicit criticism is in relation to this point: all Commonwealth Governments should do more to not only talk about those values, but ensure that they are properly monitored and enforced.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":87020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>There Will Be Consequences If The Conduct Of The Sri Lankan Authorities Does Not Change - Nick Clegg - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/there-will-be-consequences-if-the-conduct-of-the-sri-lankan-authorities-does-not-change-nick-clegg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"There Will Be Consequences If The Conduct Of The Sri Lankan Authorities Does Not Change - 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