Canada was clear – staging a Commonwealth leaders’ summit in Sri Lanka would be a very bad idea. The Canadians argued strongly against it, eventually deciding to boycott it altogether, and threatening a significant withdrawal of funding from the Commonwealth secretariat. After all it was only last March that the Queen signed the Commonwealth charter committing the organisation to respecting human rights; good governance; democracy; and respect for the rule of law. Selecting a country whose government has been in spectacular breach of each of these commitments to host the first summit after the signing of the charter was bound to leave a strong stench of hypocrisy hanging over the affair.
“Is there anyone here with a question about anything other than Sri Lanka and human rights,” asked the exasperated Commonwealth spokesman in desperation. This after two of the big set piece news conferences had been dominated by discussion of war crimes allegations, disappearances, and sexual crimes committed by the country’s military. New Commonwealth commitments made at the summit to set up global youth programmes went by un-remarked.
This turned out to be the worst attended Commonwealth leaders’ summit on record: 25 of the 53 presidents or prime ministers stayed away. There were also very few Commonwealth journalists here to cover the event. The exception was from Britain where all four major television news outlets sent teams who until now had been denied visas to report the aftermath of the country’s civil war. An aftermath in which the armed forces, the president and his brother, the defence minister, stand accused by the UN of massacring some 40,000 of their own people.
(...)
Consequently boycotts, non-attendances and discussions of Sri Lanka’s alleged war crimes – and crimes against humanity – obliterated everything else. Even some of those who did attend, left early. This was, I can testify, a shambles of a meeting. Staff in the Commonwealth secretariat who had seen it all coming, were in despair by the end.
But the Rajapaksas had their day in the sun. Surrounded by whirling dancers, cascades of fruit and trinkets, and ever present poster’s portraying both brothers, they could look forward to flaunting the ensuing photographs of hand-shakes and bowing, to prove their acceptance at the top table of the family of nations. But whether the after-glow of it all will prove enough to overwhelm the furore stirred by the renewed publicity surrounding human rights abuses and alleged war crimes on the island, is very much in doubt. Full story...
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“Is there anyone here with a question about anything other than Sri Lanka and human rights,” asked the exasperated Commonwealth spokesman in desperation. This after two of the big set piece news conferences had been dominated by discussion of war crimes allegations, disappearances, and sexual crimes committed by the country’s military. New Commonwealth commitments made at the summit to set up global youth programmes went by un-remarked.
This turned out to be the worst attended Commonwealth leaders’ summit on record: 25 of the 53 presidents or prime ministers stayed away. There were also very few Commonwealth journalists here to cover the event. The exception was from Britain where all four major television news outlets sent teams who until now had been denied visas to report the aftermath of the country’s civil war. An aftermath in which the armed forces, the president and his brother, the defence minister, stand accused by the UN of massacring some 40,000 of their own people.
(...)
Consequently boycotts, non-attendances and discussions of Sri Lanka’s alleged war crimes – and crimes against humanity – obliterated everything else. Even some of those who did attend, left early. This was, I can testify, a shambles of a meeting. Staff in the Commonwealth secretariat who had seen it all coming, were in despair by the end.
But the Rajapaksas had their day in the sun. Surrounded by whirling dancers, cascades of fruit and trinkets, and ever present poster’s portraying both brothers, they could look forward to flaunting the ensuing photographs of hand-shakes and bowing, to prove their acceptance at the top table of the family of nations. But whether the after-glow of it all will prove enough to overwhelm the furore stirred by the renewed publicity surrounding human rights abuses and alleged war crimes on the island, is very much in doubt. Full story...
Related posts:
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- Commonwealth giving Sri Lanka carte blanche for human rights abuses...
- Fate of Tamil TV presenter: chilling new evidence from Sri Lanka (Graphic)
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