‘Nice people, nice country’, says Reigning Miss Earth–Air 2013:

West should not judge Lanka over human rights

Reigning Miss Earth – Air 2013, Katia Wagner said that the West should not judge Sri Lanka over its human rights situation and that she did not see “anything bad” during her visit to Sri Lanka.

Asked about her opinion on the constant criticism of Sri Lanka’s human rights situation by European and Western nations, Wagner said, “I have to tell the Europeans that it’s not for us to judge Asian countries and it’s not for us to judge human rights in Sri Lanka.” “Everyone has its own culture and probably Europeans have their own culture that maybe Sri Lankans don’t understand,” she said in an interview with TV Derana.

The beauty queen said she felt Sri Lanka is a very nice country with very nice people and that she “didn’t see anything bad here in Sri Lanka.” Wagner said that she will have a bond with Sri Lanka forever. Wagner was here on a special invitation by TV Derana to crown Derana Veet Miss Sri Lanka for the Miss Earth 2014 grand finale at Waskaduwa yesterday. The Sunday Observer was the print media partner for the event.

The twenty-five-year-old beauty queen represented Austria at the Miss Earth 2013 pageant which was held in the Philippines last year. At the final coronation, she was awarded the title Miss Earth Air 2013, given to the first runner-up at the pageant. The radiant and humble beauty queen from Austria thus made her country proud by the achievement in one of the most prestigoius pageants of the world last year. The multi-talented Katia is fluent in German, English, French, Russian and Bahasa Indonesia and has also studied Latin. She is accompanied by Ms. Peachy O Veneracion who is the Vice President and Project Director of Miss Earth Organisation.