{"id":84053,"date":"2013-04-25T19:37:20","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T14:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=84053"},"modified":"2013-04-29T02:33:38","modified_gmt":"2013-04-28T21:03:38","slug":"why-commonwealth-sg-sharma-must-show-leadership-on-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-commonwealth-sg-sharma-must-show-leadership-on-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Commonwealth SG Sharma Must Show Leadership On Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Callum Macrae<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Callum Macrae<\/p><\/div>\n

This is a vital moment in the ongoing campaign for truth and justice in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow, Friday 26th<\/sup> April, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group<\/a><\/span> will gather in London.\u00a0 There they will discuss growing calls for the next meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM<\/a><\/span>) to be taken away from Sri Lanka. \u00a0CHOGM is scheduled to be held in Colombo in November this year.<\/p>\n

The idea that CHOGM should be hosted by a regime accused of such serious war crimes is abhorrent to most people who believe and hope the Commonwealth should be a force for good \u2013 a community of nations working towards human rights and justice.<\/p>\n

That the Sri Lankan government would then become the chair of the Commonwealth for the next two years is even more disturbing.\u00a0 A regime embroiled in an increasingly desperate and dishonest campaign to delay and deny the serious evidence of war crimes – and the growing international determination to call them to account \u2013 is in no position to defend the core values of the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

At this critical time for the Commonwealth attention will focus increasingly on the role of the Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Many will be looking to him to provide the kind of leadership which can strengthen the Commonwealth\u2019s role in encouraging human rights, justice and an end to impunity.<\/p>\n

He can ensure that this issue is confronted. Indeed many would argue he has a clear duty to do that.\u00a0 If the Commonwealth drifts blindly into allowing itself to be headed by a regime accused of such appalling war crimes and crimes against humanity it would be catastrophic.\u00a0 But I see no signs so far that Mr Sharma has any intention whatsoever of acting to prevent that happening. \u00a0I hope I am wrong.<\/p>\n

There is a curious Commonwealth procedure which provides for the Secretary General to exercise his \u201cgood offices\u201d to resolve this kind of situation before serious action is taken.\u00a0 It is suggested that a two month period be allowed for that.\u00a0 Mr Sharma has been formally exercising his \u201cgood offices\u201d for considerably more than two months now.\u00a0 And in that time things in Sri Lanka have got worse, not better. \u00a0Repression of Tamils in the north has increased.\u00a0 Tamil newspapers have been violently attacked. \u00a0A journalist from the Sunday Leader \u2013 whose founding editor was assassinated four years ago \u2013 has also been shot.<\/p>\n

Now violently ultra-nationalist groups led by extreme Buddhist monks\u00a0 – tacitly endorsed by the President\u2019s brother, the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span> – have launched attacks on minority Muslims<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 The country\u2019s judiciary is in crisis following the politically motivated impeachment of the country\u2019s Chief Justice.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka is rapidly sinking into a despotic morass \u2013 it is increasingly seen as a pariah state.<\/p>\n

On Friday Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma will report on the question of Sri Lanka\u2019s hosting of CHOGM to the members of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) committee.<\/p>\n

He owes it not just to the future of the Commonwealth, but also to its values of truth and justice \u2013 to ensure that CMAG discusses taking CHOGM away from Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

On the webpage of the commonwealth\u2026<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thecommonwealth.org\/subnewsarchive\/191183\/231999\/ask_sharma\/<\/a><\/p>\n

…we \u2013 the citizens of the commonwealth \u2013 are invited to put a comment or a question to Mr Sharma, by sending a message, with \u2018Ask Sharma\u2019<\/strong> in the subject line, to this address:<\/p>\n

asksharma@commonwealth.int<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I suggest that as many of us as possible do that over the next 24 hours. Let\u2019s make sure that today we ask him \u2013 politely and respectfully \u2013 what he intends to do about Sri Lanka and CHOGM.\u00a0\u00a0 And if he believes that a regime accused of such terrible war crimes \u2013 and likely to be embroiled ever more seriously in such allegations over the next two years \u2013 is really fit to lead the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

The calls from around the world are growing.\u00a0 Last week 900 Commonwealth lawyers meeting in South Africa called for Sri Lanka to be suspended from the Councils of the Commonwealth due to its breaches of the rule of law and of the independence of the judiciary, as well as the gross harassment of members of the legal profession.<\/p>\n

That call has now been endorsed by the Law Society of South Africa and echoed by the International Bar Association<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The tide is turning \u2013 the calls for justice growing.\u00a0 The Commonwealth must not be left behind.<\/p>\n

*Callum Macrae – \u00a0director,\u00a0\u201cNo Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka<\/a><\/span>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":74185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Commonwealth SG Sharma Must Show Leadership On Sri Lanka - 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\/why-commonwealth-sg-sharma-must-show-leadership-on-sri-lanka\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Commonwealth SG Sharma Must Show Leadership On Sri Lanka - 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