Written By: Shagana Thangarajah, Director – Human Rights Advocacy Council
“We, the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth, meeting in Port of Spain in this the 60th anniversary year of the modern Commonwealth, take pride in our collective achievements over the past six decades and, as we look to the future, reaffirm our strong and abiding commitment to the Commonwealth’s fundamental values and principles.” The Affirmation of Commonwealth Values states this as number one on their list. Looking at the prospective however, it does not seem as though the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) are living up to their words.
International peace and security, democracy, human rights, tolerance respect and understanding, separation of powers, rule of law (enhanced by ethical conduct of governing), freedom of expression, development, gender equality, access to health and education, good governance and civil society…Most of these, if not all, have been abused by the Sri Lankan government. This continuing act of breach has been significant enough to be discussed by the CHOGM as Sri Lanka remains an unsafe country for Tamil civilians to rightfully reside.
During the meetings that happened in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Tobago, back in 2009, it was decided by the heads of the meeting that Sri Lanka will host the meeting that is scheduled to happen in 2013. This was then later reaffirmed in the 2011 meeting that occurred in Perth, Australia. As Sri Lanka uptakes the chance of hosting the CHOGM towards the end of this year, they will also receive the power of becoming leaders of Commonwealth for the following two years. This means that Sri Lanka will be held at the place of “Commonwealth’s highest consultative and policy-making body”, as stated on their website. Quoting Francis Harrison during one of her interviews, “This is not your average human rights problem in a developing country. This is way beyond that. And so to reward them and rubber-stamp them by having world leaders go there and endorse them is really shocking”.
As the committee goes ahead and gives a thumbs up to this decision of approving Sri Lanka as the place for the 2013 CHOGM to be held, they are completely ignoring the values and principles previously agreed upon. It is some what hypocritical to grant credibility to a country who has corrupted the system developed by the Commonwealth, to be hosting their meetings itself in the future. In doing so, the committee tears apart and breaks the vows that they have promised to uphold.
In between all of this, it was indeed reassuring and comforting to see the Canadian Foreign Minister, John Baird step out from one of the meetings and spend some time speaking to those holding signs that read “Sri Lanka must not lead the Commonwealth”. Currently, Canada seems to be the only country publicly standing in opposition, regarding the 2013 CHOGM. However other countries such as Britain have also begun to show some disappointment towards the outlook on the next summit. As mentioned in the Ottawa Citizen, Stephen Harper will not attend the upcoming Commonwealth meeting to be held in Colombo and will possibly take a step forward in boycotting the event as a whole.
The Prime Minister of Canada and the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister should be welcomed and applauded in opposing the decision to host the upcoming CHOGM in Sri Lanka.
The Government of Canada should completely boycott the CHOGM meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Canada should also encourage friendly nations of the Commonwealth not to support the Sri Lankan government that is perpetrating systematic and ongoing genocide against the Tamil Nation.
