Commonwealth urges Canada to drop CHOGM boycott threat

by admin
Sep 12, 2012

The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Kamalesh Sharma has requested Canada to drop the threat to boycott next year’s Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka, reported AFP on Thursday.

"My message to all leaders is to participate at this (Sri Lanka) CHOGM," he told reporters in Colombo on Wednesday, after discussions with President Mahinda Rajapakse at the end of a five day visit to the island.

"I understand a dialogue is going on between the two countries," he said, saying that he hoped the issue would be "resolved" so that Canada could attend the summit.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned in September last year that he will not attend the summit if he does not see progress on human rights issues and urged other countries to take a similar position.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also put pressure on the Sri Lankan government at last year’s CHOGM in Perth, where he said that Sri Lanka needs to show progress so they can “welcome the maximum number of countries."

See below for some recent news on Sri Lanka’s 'progress':

Fear and loathing in the Eastern elections (12 Sep 2012)

Former cadres reveal accounts of continued rape (30 Aug 2012)

The victor's tutelage (29 Aug 2012)

Tamil political prisoners attacked in Galle again, one in coma (27 Aug 2012)

Army constructs camp over LTTE's Mulliavallai cemetery (26 Aug 2012)

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