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Sri Lanka will be hosting CHOGM in November as planned - Nonis
Apr 26, 201309:19 PM
Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, Dr Chris Nonis said that the collective decision that Sri Lanka will be hosting CHOGM in November 2013, made by all Commonwealth Heads of Government in 2009 and confirmed in 2011 still stands.
He stated that in any case that decision is a matter for the Heads, not for Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG).
Following the 39th meeting of the CMAG at Marlborough House in London today, he said that Sri Lanka, which is not on the formal CMAG agenda, had been discussed at this morning’s meeting under ‘matters of interest’ as part of the Secretary-General’s briefing on his Good Offices work in member states across the Commonwealth.
Although there had been intensive lobbying in the past few weeks by anti-Sri Lanka activist groups with collateral agendas, to pressurize the CMAG Ministers to place Sri Lanka on its formal agenda, they had not succeeded.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has announced he personally will not be attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo in November, had hinted he’d like to see this year’s summit moved out of Sri Lanka in protest at the country’s human rights record.
An international human rights group yesterday asked the CMAG to shift the venue of its November Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) from Sri Lanka, unless Colombo makes prompt, measurable and meaningful progress on human rights.
“The Commonwealth will rightly face international ridicule if it goes ahead with its summit in Sri Lanka,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
During the CMAG meeting this morning, the Commonwealth Secretary General had appraised CMAG members of the value and engagement of his Good Offices role with Sri Lanka, and the value of the Commonwealth in Sri Lanka’s progress.
CMAG also welcomed the recent adoption by Heads of Government, and signature by The Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, of the Charter of the Commonwealth, encapsulating the core values and principles of the Commonwealth.
