Canada has launched a direct assault on the authority of the Commonwealth secretary general, attacking him as a stooge for a Sri Lankan regime it accuses of serious human rights abuses.
On Tuesday Hugh Segal, Canada's special envoy to the Commonwealth, accused Kamalesh Sharma of "acting as a shill [a stooge] for the Sri Lankan leadership, defending their every mistake".
His remarks intensified the row over the Commonwealth's decision to host its biennial heads of state meeting in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo next month. Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, announced on Monday that he would boycott the summit because of alleged human rights abuses by Mahinda Rajapaksa's government, which until 2009 was engaged in a brutal civil war.
India, the Commonwealth's largest country, is undecided about whether its prime minister, Mahoman Singh, should attend.
Harper complained of "reported disappearances, and allegations of extra judicial killings. It is clear that the Sri Lankan government has failed to uphold the Commonwealth's core values, which are cherished by Canadians." Full story...
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On Tuesday Hugh Segal, Canada's special envoy to the Commonwealth, accused Kamalesh Sharma of "acting as a shill [a stooge] for the Sri Lankan leadership, defending their every mistake".
His remarks intensified the row over the Commonwealth's decision to host its biennial heads of state meeting in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo next month. Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, announced on Monday that he would boycott the summit because of alleged human rights abuses by Mahinda Rajapaksa's government, which until 2009 was engaged in a brutal civil war.
India, the Commonwealth's largest country, is undecided about whether its prime minister, Mahoman Singh, should attend.
Harper complained of "reported disappearances, and allegations of extra judicial killings. It is clear that the Sri Lankan government has failed to uphold the Commonwealth's core values, which are cherished by Canadians." Full story...
Related posts:
- Canada's PM to boycott Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka...
- Commonwealth giving Sri Lanka carte blanche for human rights abuses...
- Commonwealth: Don’t attend summit in Sri Lanka...
- Canada fury at Sri Lanka choice for Commonwealth talks...
- Commonwealth urged to drop Sri Lanka venue amid rights accusations...
- In post-war Sri Lanka, one person disappears every five days...
- Sri Lanka’s regime will no longer be successful in hiding its war crimes...
- Sri Lanka's killing fields 2. Unpunished war crimes. (Graphic)
- Sri Lanka's killing fields (Graphic)
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