The UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee today released a report on the role and future of the Commonwealth echoing UNA-UK's concerns about the choice of Sri Lanka as the venue for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2013.
On 21 September 2012, UNA-UK and partners sent a joint letter to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, urging him to raise human rights issues with the Sri Lankan government, which is set not only to host CHOGM, but also to assume the Commonwealth presidency in 2013. The letter outlined the serious gaps in the protection of human rights, democracy and the rule of law that still exist in the country, and also pointed to the lack of progress in terms of accountability on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the end phases of the conflict in 2009.
In its report, the Foreign Affairs Committee expressed similar concerns, concluding that:
"[C]ontinuing evidence of serious human rights abuses in Sri Lanka shows that the Commonwealth’s decision to hold the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo was wrong. The [UK] Prime Minister should publicly state his unwillingness to attend the meeting unless he receives convincing and independently verified evidence of substantial and sustainable improvements in human and political rights in Sri Lanka."
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already said that he would not attend the 2013 Commonwealth meeting unless clear improvements are seen in Sri Lanka.
