Canada’s foreign minister says that despite his country’s efforts, the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) have failed to utilize its biennial summit as an opportunity to address long-concerns and to catalyze meaningful change for the people of Sri Lanka.
“The Commonwealth failed to put any pressure on a regime that has so blatantly ignored international calls for change,” John Baird wrote, in an opinion article published by iPolitics.
He stated that despite CMAG’s enhanced mandate, which was based on the recommendation of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group and approval by heads of government, it refused to put Sri Lanka on the agenda to allow members an opportunity to discuss these shortcomings.
“We failed to use this when it mattered most. As a consequence, we gave this regime a free pass to continue down this path,” he charged.
He further stated that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision not to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka was based entirely on upholding the principles of the Commonwealth.
“This was not a decision taken in haste. It was carefully considered with one aim in mind: for Canada to send a message about our displeasure with an organization that has failed to stand up for its fundamental principles,” Baird writes.
He questions how an organization like the Commonwealth could reward a country like Sri Lanka, “not just with hosting a summit, but by allowing it to chair the organization for two years?”
Baird says that it was Canada’s “sincere hope” that the government of Sri Lanka would take the necessary steps to secure basic freedoms for all its people, “yet the Rajapaksa regime continues to commit abhorrent human rights violations as it actively seeks to undermine the basic freedoms of democracy and the rule of law.”
The Canadian foreign minister further says that Sri Lanka’s “authoritarian trend” needs to be addressed and charged that the Commonwealth has refused to formally confront these reports, which he termed a complete abandonment of its founding principles and an obfuscation of its responsibilities.
Harper remains the only leader to boycott the Colombo conference, and won’t even send a cabinet-level representative. Parliamentary secretary Deepak Obhrai will represent Canada at the mid-November summit.
Baird says that the purpose of Mr Obhrai’s attendance will be to enable Canada to partake in some events surrounding the summit which he says will allow Canada to shed light on “the true tragedy in Sri Lanka.”
