But rather than refer the country to its Ministerial Action Group, which deals with persistent or serious violations of the Commonwealth’s values, the 54-member body is responding to international concerns by training the country’s journalists in human rights reporting.
The move is part of a programme of constructive engagement being pursued by the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s office, which it said is producing practical outcomes.
Richard Uku, the Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the Secretariat, said there were “no discussions around relocating the 2013 CHOGM” and that “preparations remain underway” to hold the summit in Colombo as planned. Furthermore, referral to the action group, reserved for members out of step with Commonwealth principles and values was not the first option in such circumstances, Uku added.
Journalism remains a dangerous profession in a country that had seen the death of one editor, Lasantha Wickrematunge, and attacks on other reporters, the most recent on 15 February, where a journalist looking into corruption was shot and seriously wounded.
Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group have also called for Sri Lanka’s referral to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) over its delay in implementing the 2011 Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report. Both organisations recently published reports detailing alleged human rights abuses, including sexual violence, and worries over the independence of the judiciary.
The LLRC, signed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, promised greater autonomy for the Tamil population following its comprehensive defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by Sri Lankan armed forces in 2009.
The UN estimated that between 40,000 and 70,000 civilians died during the final stages of the war, and recently new photographs have emerged that appear to show the execution of a 12-year-old boy, the son of a Tamil Tiger leader. The images form part of a documentary called No Fire Zone, released to coincide with the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) meeting now taking place in Geneva. A Sri Lankan army spokesman said the country had been a repeated victim of “lies, half truths, rumours, and numerous forms of speculations”.
The US is sponsoring a resolution at the UNHCR meeting, backed by the UK, expressing concerns of continuing human rights violations and threats to judicial independence, one year after both countries backed a similar move.
Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Mary Robinson, former Irish president, together described the situation as a ‘test’ for the Council. In a jointly written article for The Times of India, they said:
“Other crises have flared in the past year: Syria and Mali . . . rightly feature high on the Council’s agenda. The case of Sri Lanka offers a different test: of the Council’s ability to hold governments accountable when global attention has turned elsewhere.”
UK Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said in a twitter Q&A last month that Sri Lanka should “live up to its commitments as a Commonwealth member”. His words drew an angry response from journalist Frances Harrison, who covered the country for four years as a BBC correspondent.
“It is shocking if the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting takes place in Colombo – it sends a message that this is a club of countries that cares not a fig about crimes against humanity,” Harrison said.
Harrison, author of Still Counting The Dead, criticised both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan army in her book for alleged abuses of international laws governing conflict.
Meanwhile Indian diplomats must calculate whether to risk upsetting Colombo by backing a strong US resolution or incur the ire of Tamil Nadu politicians by ignoring their demands.
The Commonwealth Secretariat is engaged in a ‘partnership’ that includes support for the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, and is, according to Mr Uku “exploring options to provide technical support to the HRCSL in staff training; expanding training of police personnel on human rights obligations; enhancing the training of journalists on human rights reporting; bolstering capacity to be involved in national reconciliation processes; and strengthening capacity to investigate human rights abuses”.
However, the Commission’s independence is unclear – according to the 1996 Act of Parliament that established the body, the chairman is a Presidential appointee.
A UK Foreign Office spokeswoman added that no decision has yet been made on attendance at the forthcoming Commonwealth meeting, saying that while the LLRC left a number of gaps and unanswered questions, the UK expects the Sri Lankan Government to implement its recommendations ‘in full’.
]]>By Nicole Hunt
The UN Human Rights Committee session opens on Monday in Geneva, with the situation in Iran on the agenda for the first two days.
Meanwhile, Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos begins a five day visit to North Korea, which is currently suffering through a major food crisis.
A judge in Courbevoie, France is due to rule on whether L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt should be made a ward of the state following accusations by her daughter Françoise that she is mentally unfit to manage her €17bn fortune.
South African President Jacob Zuma hosts Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Pretoria on Tuesday for a trilateral summit, expected to focus mostly on trade.
The meeting comes on the same day that fellow BRICS country China releases its third quarter GDP figures.
In London, judges reveal the winner of this year’s Man Booker Prize for Fiction; nominees include Julian Barnes, Carol Birch, Patrick deWitt, Esi Edugyan and Stephen Kelman.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh begin a 10-day trip to Australia on Wednesday, heading first to Canberra. During their visit, the royal couple will also take in Brisbane and Melbourne before heading to Perth for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on 28 October.
Greek public and private sector unions hold a 24-hour strike to protest what they say are ‘barbaric’ austerity measures being introduced as part of the Government’s efforts to meet the conditions of its €110bn bailout from the IMF, the EU and the European Central Bank.
EU Commissioner for Internal Markets Michel Bernier holds a press conference in Brussels on Thursday to present the Commission’s proposals for reforms to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and the Market Abuse Directive. The reforms are aimed at strengthening the EU regulatory system and increasing oversight in the wake of the financial crisis.
The European Space Agency is having a more exciting day in Kourou, French Guiana, where the first two Galileo satellites are being test-launched at 12:34pm. The full satellite project is expected to be operational by 2014.
News Corporation holds its annual general meeting in Los Angeles on Friday, amid calls from some shareholder groups to vote against the re-election of CEO Rupert Murdoch’s sons James and Lachlan to the company’s board in the wake of the UK phone hacking scandal.
In Abu Dhabi, Finance Ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council begin a two-day meeting where they discuss proposals for a single Gulf currency. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde attends on the second day.
Remember the apocalypse hysteria back in May? When the world failed to end, preacher Harold Camping revised his prediction, and is now confident that the world will in fact end on 21 October.
Assuming we’re still here, attention turns to Cairo on Saturday where the court hearing resumes for two police officers charged over the death of Khaled Said. The verdict in the case, which prompted widespread protests against police impunity last year, has been delayed twice, most recently from 24 September after new evidence emerged.
Unusually, there’s quite a lot going on on Sunday, beginning with the delayed European Council and Eurogroup meetings in Brussels. Predictably, Greece and the euro debt crisis are at the top of the agenda, with leaders focusing on economic governance and financial regulation.
Following an international uproar over five to 15 year sentences for Bahraini medical staff convicted of inciting hatred against the regime and attempting to topple the monarchy during anti-government protests earlier this year, a civil re-trial ordered by the country’s Attorney General begins in Manama.
There are also four elections taking place across the world: parliamentary polls in Tunisia, which were scheduled in the wake of President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali’s resignation back in January; a general election in Argentina, where incumbent Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is expected to win a second term; a presidential election in Bulgaria, where current President Georgi Parvanov is not eligible for a third term; and federal elections in Switzerland, where 13 parties are currently represented in parliament.
To top it off, the Rugby World Cup final takes place in Auckland.
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