A former Australian diplomat who has worked in Sri Lanka says the divisions over human rights abuses that put a dark cloud over CHOGM are a good thing for the Commonwealth and there should be more of it.

The leaders of India, Canada and Mauritius pulled out of attending the meeting in Sri Lanka. Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron did attend but publicly called for Sri Lanka to address its human rights record.

“This is good, organisations need this, organisations don’t have this sort of internal debate and dissent, then they just fade away.”

“Now, what’s happened in Colombo means that CHOGM’s is not about to fade away, that people actually see it as being relevant,” Bruce Haigh, former Australian Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, said.

Haigh, has worked in South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia for the Australian Foreign Affairs Department and was the Australian Deputy High Commissioner in Sri Lanka in 1994.

He says the issues surrounding alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka led to country’s civil war, and he’s pleased that nations have used CHOGM to highlight it.

“The current regime in Sri Lanka has got nowhere to go at all, except that it’s likely to get worse. It’s corrupt, and it’s human rights record is appalling,” he said, in an interview with ABC.

On British Prime Minister David Cameron’s stance and his statement, Haigh said: “I think that he’s highlighted now the issues and he’s given it a deadline and said that he wants action before March, Of course, there won’t be any action before March.”

“The Sri Lankan government’s not going to do anything, so it will come presumably before the UN and it’s all of Sri Lanka, all of the government of Sri Lanka’s own making and they’ve got no one to blame but themselves,” he said.