British Shadow Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Stephen Kinnock, has called upon ministers to “defend the rights of minorities in Sri Lanka” as he laid out the Labour party’s new foreign policy agenda yesterday.
In this statement, he raises concerns over the treatment of minorities across Asia and called on the British government to impose Magnitsky sanctions against senior Chinese officials due to the continued persecution of Uyghur Muslims. He further called for more robust actions “the appalling treatment of the Rohingya people in Myanmar” and for the defence of minorities in Sri Lanka.
Kinnock further maintained that Labour’s foreign policy would put “the rule of law, democracy and human rights at the very heart of our agenda”. A key focus of this will be on religious freedom which he maintains “must be universally upheld”.
This statement follows international condemnation of Sri Lanka’s policy of forced cremation which has infringed upon the religious freedom of Muslims in Sri Lanka.
Read his full statement here.
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