In an open letter to the Commonwealth Heads of Government, Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, urged that the choice of Sri Lanka as the venue for the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) be changed given the state's failure to achieve meaningful progress five benchmarks outlined in an open letter late last year.
See here for full letter, extracts reproduced below:
"Human Rights Watch believes that these benchmarks are reasonable and well within what any rights-respecting government—particularly a Commonwealth government committed to implementing the 1991 Harare Declaration—should voluntarily undertake. To allow Sri Lanka to host the 2013 summit without meeting these benchmarks would be to reward an abusive government with an undeserved badge of international acceptance."
"The Sri Lankan government should not receive the honor of hosting the Commonwealth summit unless it makes major progress on all the above, particularly in accountability for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious conflict-related abuses; loosening restrictions on and ending threats and harassment against civil society activists and journalists; and conducting credible investigations and prosecutions of ongoing rights violations, including extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and torture. We have seen no sign that the government intends to undertake any of these actions."
"Human Rights Watch is also deeply concerned that in addition to hosting the 2013 Commonwealth summit, Sri Lanka will also hold the chairmanship of the Commonwealth from 2013 to 2015. Handing Sri Lanka leadership of the Commonwealth at a time when democratic institutions are under direct and sustained attack by the Sri Lankan government will be an affront to the victims of rights violations in the country and around the Commonwealth."
