Amnesty International has called on the Commonwealth to block Sri Lanka from hosting the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2013 or risk becoming “irrelevant”.
The statement was released to mark the opening of the 2011 CHOGM in Perth, where Sri Lanka has come under increased pressure to deal with issues if war crimes and human rights.
Madhu Malhotra, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Deputy Director said,
"It's absurd to even consider allowing Sri Lanka to host CHOGM as long as it fails to account for alleged war crimes".
"Today Commonwealth leaders are faced with a choice – reform the Commonwealth so that it can effectively address human rights violations by its members, or risk becoming irrelevant."
Amnesty also commented on Sri Lanka and India’s “pre-emptive attack” on proposed reforms to the Commonwealth, aimed at making the organisation more accountable for human rights and the founding principles of the group.
She went on to say,
"Sri Lanka and India's pre-emptive attack on these reforms - before they've even had a chance to be discussed - shows they would have a lot to lose if their human rights records were open to scrutiny."
See our earlier posts:
'Sri Lanka: war crimes concerns are "propaganda" and "hearsay"' (Oct 2011)
''Malaise and drift' in the Commonwealth'' (Oct 2011)
'Commonwealth at crossroads' (Oct 2011)
