Japan under pressure over Sri Lanka aid
An international human rights group is lobbying Sri Lanka’s top donor Japan to exert greater pressure on the island nation to address spiralling violence.
But Tokyo said it has no plans for now to slash aid and follow the lead of Sri Lanka’s former colonial ruler Britain and Germany, which have frozen debt relief due to rights concerns.....
....“What we have asked Japan to do is take advantage of this position and its considerable leverage to firmly, strongly and regularly remind not just the government but other players involved of the obligations that they have to protect the civilians and human rights in general.”
Japan said, however, it was not considering slashing aid.
“Japan is not planning to reconsider its aid to Sri Lanka,” a foreign ministry official said.
He said that Tokyo’s peace envoy to Sri Lanka, former UN assistant secretary-general Yasushi Akashi, would return to the island on a new mission by early June.
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