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Despite international pressure to shift the venue of a major Commonwealth summit out of Sri Lanka, grouping Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma has said that the meeting will go ahead as planned in November.
The decision to hold the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka, which was made in 2009 and confirmed in 2011 would stand, Sharma said after a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) in London yesterday.
Canada, a leading Commonwealth nation had earlier lodged strong objection to Sri Lanka hosting the summit.
The Canadian Government has recently confirmed that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not attend CHOGM, unless the Sri Lankan Government makes progress on human rights and judicial independence.
Yesterday, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser had signed a petition calling on the Australian Government to join hands with Canada in avoiding the biennial summit.
CMAG was under international pressure to change the venue from Hambantota in Sri Lanka on account of allegations of human rights accountability and reconciliation concerns against Sri Lanka. But now, Sri Lanka has cleared a major hurdle in its plan to host the 54-nation event.
“Sri Lanka was not on our agenda. But we discussed Sri Lanka as we discussed many other countries. But our discussions remain confidential. The decision on the venue was taken by the heads of governments and there is no change to the decision,” said Bangladeshi foreign minister Dipu Moni, who headed CMAG.
Earlier, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has asked the Commonwealth nations to shift the CHOGM venue from Sri Lanka, unless Colombo makes prompt, measurable and meaningful progress on human rights.
HRW alleges that Sri Lanka has taken no meaningful steps to address the serious abuses by government forces in the last stages of the conflict against the LTTE in 2009.
Since 2009, the Sri Lankan Government has been responsible for a worsening human rights situation that includes clampdowns on basic freedoms, threats and attacks against civil society and actions against the judiciary and other institutions imperilling Sri Lanka’s democracy, it said.
Sri Lanka has dismisses all accusations as politically motivated, unfounded and directed by the pro-LTTE diaspora in the West.
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