{"id":77334,"date":"2013-03-15T07:58:03","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T07:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=77334"},"modified":"2013-03-15T08:43:04","modified_gmt":"2013-03-15T08:43:04","slug":"commonwealth-struggles-for-unity-amid-sri-lanka-hr-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/commonwealth-struggles-for-unity-amid-sri-lanka-hr-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Commonwealth Struggles For Unity Amid Sri Lanka HR Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Frances Harrison<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Frances Harrison<\/p><\/div>\n

Canada\u2019s special envoy for the Commonwealth Hugh Segal is on his way to Sri Lanka as pressure\u00a0mounts<\/a>\u00a0to relocate the Commonwealth\u2019s heads of government meeting<\/a><\/span> being held in Colombo later this year because of concerns over deteriorating human rights.\u00a0 Canada\u2019s Prime Minister has said he has no plan to attend the meeting if it\u2019s held in Sri Lanka. Britain says it has yet to decide, though a parliamentary foreign affairs select committee recommended the Prime Minister stay away and there are unconfirmed reports that the Queen, who heads the Commonwealth, will not attend.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka<\/a><\/span> stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the end of the civil war in 2009, killing between 40,000 to 70,000 of its own citizens, according to the United Nations. In the four years since the fighting stopped the President and his family have concentrated power and resources in their hands, refused to offer even the most modest political solution to Tamils, outraged the international community by the way they impeached the country\u2019s Chief Justice<\/a><\/span> and presided over disappearances, torture and rape in custody as well as increasing attacks on Muslims<\/a><\/span>. The international community has struggled to find signs of post-war progress \u2013 only able to point to the construction of new roads.<\/p>\n

Canada leads a group within the 54-nation block, which negotiated much needed reforms and believes Sri Lanka is a test case for them and the new charter championed by the Queen<\/a><\/span>. \u201cThe risk is people will conclude the new formulation of values and enforcement actually don\u2019t mean anything at all,\u201d says Senator Segal, who will meet both Tamils in the former war zone and the President during his fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Holding the Commonwealth\u2019s main gathering in Colombo rubber stamps the Rajapaksa regime<\/a><\/span>, endorsing its extreme Sinhala chauvinist agenda and whitewashing war crimes. As the host, Sri Lanka will \u00a0head the 54-nation body for two years and automatically sit on the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, which is tasked with taking action on thorny issues like democracy and rule of law. Observers say if Sri Lanka were not hosting the Heads of Government meeting this November it would have already been referred to the Ministerial Action group for discussion. Concern over the logistics of relocating or postponing the event \u2013 rather than core values \u2013 has obscured the issue. For Canada\u2019s special envoy, \u201cthe notion of pretending as if nothing is going on in Sri Lanka that justifies a CMAG meeting is untenable\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Ministerial Action Group meets on April 26\u00a0but it\u2019s still not clear if it will even discuss Sri Lanka, let alone ask for its temporary suspension. The Commonwealth Secretary General can raise an issue \u2013 or a consensus of members can do so. About 15 Commonwealth countries are said to support a Canadian bid to have Sri Lanka put on the meeting\u2019s agenda; more may join once a US sponsored resolution passes at the United Nations Human Rights Council<\/a><\/span> in Geneva a week from now.\u00a0 Under new procedures any Commonwealth nation can ask for Sri Lanka to be discussed \u2013 not just those sitting on the Ministerial Action Group.<\/p>\n

But the Commonwealth likes to operate by consensus and it\u2019s paralysed by division on the issue of Sri Lanka. Some argue the emphasis on human rights is a preoccupation of Western nations \u2013 the old white commonwealth. Others say Sri Lanka is a watershed moment for the organisation\u2019s relevance and commitment to democratic values. The Commonwealth\u2019s Secretary General is one of those who believes in engagement with Sri Lanka; he was seen in public at a recent official dinner in London warmly embracing the Sri Lankan Ambassador which raised some eyebrows.<\/p>\n

For months there has been discussion about what might happen to the November meeting. Some say there are precedents for relocating commonwealth meetings but that\u2019s rapidly getting late for such a large-scale event with a host of side meetings. There\u2019s a suggestion that the event could be scaled down considerably and held in Delhi. Postponement is another option being discussed.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s at stake is the reputation of the Commonwealth \u2013 a diverse group of nations united by shared values. Soon it will be led by a country that committed war crimes on a scale that the UN says, \u201crepresented a grave assault on the entire regime of international law\u201d.<\/p>\n

*This article is first appeared in Asia Correspondent<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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