Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2013 Sri Lanka.
The 23rd biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is scheduled to occur on November 15th-17th 2013 andhosted in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The choice of venue has been met with much disdain from key Commonwealth member states and Human Rights activists across the globe; notably Canada, India, Malaysia and Amnesty International. During the CHOGM of 2009 inTrinidad and Tobago, Sri Lanka was tabled as a possible host of the 2011 summit; however, due to its appalling human rights violations and renewal of the Sri Lankan civil war, some governments including the UK and Canada called for a reassessment and Perth, Australia was chosen as the 2011 host nation.
As the convocation of Heads of Government and permanent Commonwealth staff and experts, CHOGMs are the highest institution of action in the Commonwealth, and rare occasions on which Commonwealth leaders all come together. As a small but nevertheless sovereign nation and member of the Commonwealth, Dominica has a responsibility to attune itself to the affairs which concern all member states as a joint body. The human rights issues plaguing Sri Lanka right now, and which has been occurring for decades needs to be addressed. This is an opportune moment for Dominica to lend its voice which seats equal to its counterparts at the member table to openly condemn Sri Lanka and not support its nomination as Chair of the organization for the next two years.
On Wednesday November 13th, 2013, the Sri Lankan military blocked scores of family members of disappeared people, who were traveling by bus from Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province to attend the Samagi human rights festival in Colombo. Samagi is an ‘alternative CHOGM’ organized by human rights groups. The Sri Lankan authorities have taken measures to prevent public protests in Colombo during CHOGM.
Meanwhile, the government has intensified a crackdown on critics and dissenting voices in the build-up to the summit, with opposition activists, journalists and human rights defenders among those who have been harassed or threatened. International human rights experts have also been barred from entering the country. The International Bar Association Human Rights Institute (IBARHI) had to cancel a planned meeting this week after its representatives and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers were denied entry to the country.
“It may be astonishing to some that even on the eve of CHOGM; the Sri Lankan government feels free to abuse rights at the heart of the Commonwealth charter. But such government repression of civil society was expected. Commonwealth leaders must not just turn a blind eye”, said Steve Crawshaw, Director of the Office of the Secretary General who is in Colombo representing Amnesty International around CHOGM.
During a recent visit to the country, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed dismay that the surveillance and harassment of Sri Lankan civil society “appear[ed] to be getting worse”. Local human rights groups have documented a range of other measures taken by the government against civil society ahead of CHOGM. These include the closing of all Universities across the country, restrictions on journalists’ freedoms of movement, banning a range of planned civil society meetings; and threatening deportation of visiting parliamentarians, including from Australia and New Zealand, for engaging with domestic civil society.
“These developments have confirmed what Amnesty International has long argued. Given Sri Lanka’s atrocious human rights record and its refusal to address ongoing violations, the country should not have been allowed to host CHOGM in the first place”, said Crawshaw. “The Commonwealth and those attending the summit must use the coming days to highlight and condemn ongoing human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Under no circumstances should Sri Lanka be handed the chair of the organization for the next two years”.
In October 2013, the legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu passed a unanimous resolution demanding that the Indian government boycott the meeting and also sought the temporary suspension of Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth until Sri Lanka takes steps to grant what they call similar rights to Tamils as those enjoyed by Sinhalese. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced his decision to not participate in the event on account of the country’s poor human rights record. India would be represented at the summit by a delegation lead by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.
The Prime Minister of Mauritius, Navin Chandra Ramgoolam, stated that he would not attend the meeting as a protest of Sri Lanka’s alleged failure to improve human rights in Sri Lanka. Also, in Malaysia, Lim Guan Eng, Chief Minister of the State of Penang, and the Secretary General of the Domestic Action Party called on the Malaysian government to boycott the summit.
Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, stated that he would not attend the meeting as a protest of Sri Lanka’s alleged failure to improve its human rights record, as he said he would at the previous CHOGM; Deepak Obhrai, the parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will represent Canada. Harper further elaborated that Canada may cease its contribution s to the funding of the Commonwealth should no action be taken by the organization against Sri Lanka; he cited the impeachment of the country’s Chief Justice and the execution and imprisonment of journalists and political opponents of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
South African anti-Apartheid campaigner and Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu mentioned the boycott of the CHOGM could be one of the screws that the world has to apply to help the Tamil population.
The world as we know it is moving fast to a state of collapse in every sector, largely due to our unadulterated greed and insatiable appetite to grow and profit. The island nation of Dominica will be represented at the CHOGM by High Commissioner Francine Baron. No position on any of the matters to be considered has been made public by the Dominican government. As the representatives of a democratic and free people who are aware of the ethnic oppression of our own peoples and others, let us do the conscientious, compassionate and right thing to choose to stand with the oppressed and weak. This is a chance to stand and be counted. We share ONE earth, sun and moon on which we all depend. This Sri Lankan matter is not limited to its geographic borders. It is a HUMAN issue and we are obligated to act.
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What is “an alternative CHOGM”? F.J. Theodore tells us that CHOGM stands for Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting. Will there be a second Heads Of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka or elsewhere and will those Heads of Government who announced that they will be boycotting the official meeting like the Prime Ministers of Canada, India, Mauritius, etc. be attending the “alternative CHOGM? If a few human rights groups want to hold a meeting in Sri Lanka at the same time as the CHOGUM they are free to do so when once the Sri Lankan Govern Government allows them and issue visas to their attendees. Why don’t Athie, Wiltshire, and so on, pay their money and go to “the alternative CHOGM”? It is all a foolishness like our “Peoples Parliament”. Is that where F. J. Theodore is suggesting our Prime Minister should attend?
Why should Dominica condemn Sri Lanka for its human rights record? There was a 26 year long civil war between the Government and the Tamil tigers who were fighting to divide the country to create an independent state for the minority Tamils in the North and East of the country. Most western countries including Canada, the USA, UK and Australia considered the Tamil Tigers to be terrorists . The civil war was brought to an end in 2009 with a decisive victory by the government forces over the Tamil Tigers. The country is now at peace. The Indian state of Tamil Nadu sympathized with the rebel Tamil tigers and provided them with material and financial support during the 26 years of civil war much as Uganda and Rwanda are supporting the conflict in eastern Congo. The Commonwealth has a unique opportunity to work with the Sri Lankan Government to consolidate the peace and establish a democratic state with strong democratic institutions which can guarantee the democratic, civil and constitutional rights of all Sri Lankans, the majority Sinhalese as well as the minority Tamils. The agitation of the Indian State of Tamil Nadu and misguided human rights agitators in the developed countries should not be allowed to reignite the civil war which has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides. I hope F.J. Theodore will take the time to educate himself/herself before throwing hysterical tantrums about matters of Foreign Affairs he/ she does not understand.
We are not asking Dominica to condemn the Sri Lankan government; all we are asking for is a position. Why does Francine Baron have to travel all the way to Sri Lanka to say that “Dominica does not have a position” This is a blatant waste of tax payers money!! Probably you should have volunteered to go since you apparently seem to understand the Sri Lankan conflict. As Dominicans we must be honest with ourselves and stop making excuses for a government that is clueless as to where it’s going
First, you provided a very lucid account of the conflict and its resolution that I find commendable; but then you could not resist, Dominica-style to launch an ad hominem salvo in your final sentence. Theodore is the best Dominican journalist contributing to DNO today; and that’s a fact. Her opinion has merit and her world view is unclouded.
Having read the story “Dominica has no position on anything” by F J Theodore, which refers to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting CHOGM being held in Sri Lanka, I went online and found the following on the Sri Lanka Civil War (from Wikipedia) :
“The Sri Lankan Civil War was a conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka. Beginning on 23 July 1983, there was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers), a separatist militant organization which fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north and the east of the island. After a 26-year military campaign, the Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, bringing the civil war to an end.
For over 27 years, this civil war caused significant hardships for the population, environment and the economy of the country, with an estimated 80,000–100,000 people killed during its course. During the early part of the conflict, the Sri Lankan forces attempted to retake the areas captured by the LTTE. The tactics employed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam against the actions of Government forces resulted in their listing as a terrorist organization in 32 countries, including the United States, India, Canada and the member nations of the European Union. The Sri Lankan government forces have also been accused of human rights abuses, systematic impunity for serious human rights violations, lack of respect for habeas corpus in arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances.
After two decades of fighting and four failed tries at peace talks, including the unsuccessful deployment of the Indian Army, the Indian Peace Keeping Force from 1987 to 1990, a lasting negotiated settlement to the conflict appeared possible when a cease-fire was declared in December 2001, and a ceasefire agreement signed with international mediation in 2002. However, limited hostilities renewed in late 2005 and the conflict began to escalate until the government launched a number of major military offensives against the LTTE beginning in July 2006, driving the LTTE out of the entire Eastern province of the island. The LTTE then declared they would “resume their freedom struggle to achieve statehood”.
In 2007, the government shifted its offensive to the north of the country, and formally announced its withdrawal from the ceasefire agreement on 2 January 2008, alleging that the LTTE violated the agreement over 10,000 times. Since then, aided by the destruction of a number of large arms smuggling vessels that belonged to the LTTE, and an international crackdown on the funding for the Tamil Tigers, the government took control of the entire area previously controlled by the Tamil Tigers, including their de facto capital Kilinochchi, main military base Mullaitivu and the entire A9 highway,[24] leading the LTTE to finally admit defeat on 17 May 2009. Following the end of the war, the Sri Lankan government claimed Sri Lanka as the first country in the modern world to eradicate terrorism on its own soil. Following the LTTE’s defeat, pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance dropped its demand for a separate state, in favour of a federal solution. In May 2010, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president of Sri Lanka, appointed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to assess the conflict between the time of the ceasefire agreement in 2002 and the defeat of the LTTE in 2009.”
Additionally I found that the causalities for the three decades long Civil war are as follows:
On the Sri Lankan Government side 23,327 plus killed and 60,000 plus wounded, many of whom were Sri Lankan military and police
27,000 plus Tamil Liberation Tigers and other Tamil militants were killed and 11,644 Tamil Tigers captured. Additionally 1,200 out of 100,000 (1987 to 1990) Indian peace keeping forces were also killed. To understand the Indian Government position I recommend reading up on Tamil Nadu, the Indian state with over 72 million Tamils. And Mauritius whose majority population is Indian.
i take issue with that commentary,in shoving dominica,my problem is,why the hell you do not take up issue with the sri lankan criket team when they play in the west indies,you write no commentaries,you enjoy the games,you all are hypocrites,all this crap ,is in light of the up comming general elections,who you all think you all can fool of,who is paying you all,find beneficial issues that can benefit dominica to write about man.
I read with interest the piece by F.J. Theodore. While we are concerned about Human Rights in other countries, right in front of our faces, we see the Constitution is being disrespected by our leader in office. Case in point, the appointment of successive Presidents. We saw many guns, when Savarin was dictatorially imposed as President, hampering the rights of the people to assemble in order to show their disapproval. Mr. Linton, leader of the Opposition has not been given an opportunity to be heard on the National Radio Station. Maybe Theodore should concentrate his efforts on Dominica. I read, Francine Baron is Dominica’s High Commissioner, subject to correction, I am not aware of an official announcement being made by Government as regards to her appointment to the post.
Maybe the PM wants to make connections with Sri Lanka too :/ that alone he sit down doing, begging for money and foreign companies. While we have so many farmers who are suffering, why don’t we ever invest in ourselves? Build our own factories to export orange juice? We are making ourselves more dependent than ever by trying to gain foreign support..
DNO. why the extra “SSSSSSSSSSS” at the end of my bloggs are being removed? I AM IRATED MAN THAT MY FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, WHICH OBVIOUSLY should not offend anyone is being tampered with. Am I being victimized since I am giving unflinching support to the UWP?
writer your headline does not add upp
Think again
Some people have become so desperate the are making political mileage out of anything. Sad.
I have never heard F.J. Theodore taking a stand on any of the serious issues confronting our citizens here on island. Eg: the recent murders of our women, rape, child pornography, child abuse in all forms. Charity begins at home. Let us give priority to our own problems first.
I’m surprised that the writer of this piece was expecting anything of substance from the government and /or its representative(s) on matters of this caliber. These international issues are way too sophisticated for them. This is not about selling passports, or selling ambassadorships to raise money for a political campaign – this is about compassion, ethics and morality. For Francine Baron this is purely about a trip to some part of the world that she has never been, a hefty per diem, a shopping spree and guess what ? we the overtaxed working people of Dominica have to pay for Francine’s non-productive position at the British High Commission – what a waste !!!
Just look at the Countries this PM is aligning himself with.
China- Human rights violation, oppression, communism.
Cuba- Communism, human rights violation
Venezuela- Human rights violation, oppression, communism, drug trafficking.
Colombia- Drug trafficking, oppression.
Libya- State sponsored terrorism, communism.
What makes you think he will boycott a country that practices the same.
You mean the same China and Venezuela uwp would like to continue relations with?
Your friends don’t necessarily have to be mine and your enemies don’t have to be mine, either! Tell me of a Western or European nation that does not have a very long history of human rights abuse and I will tell you that you’re lying, because there is none!
You are sooo right…
1. because the United States of America has NOT ONE of the ills that these countries are ‘identified’ by.
2.because the capitalist ideals of liberty have not been rotting the moral fabric our of society with porn, superficial materialistic ideals, gay marriage, .. you can’t even watch a good movie these days, you look at ‘reality TV’… whose reality is it or should be, yours or theirs or the world’s?
3. because the great USA is not guilty of parasiting off the educated youth of our countries while we are indirectly impoverished due to the hundreds of thousands that poor struggling parents in Dca must repay for such study.. how many full US scholarships are advertised yearly for Dominican students?
4. We are still not offered a fraction of the support that ‘bad’ China and Cuba have been giving so that our educated children could have the hope of returning to ‘at least something’ to help develop their homelands.
5. We are obese and suffer from all sorts of cancers from overprocessed, artifical and GM foods that we could never in our wildest dreams manufacture and export to the US, we eat US pork and chicken and even coconut milk because it’s healthier, right? You believe so, don’t you. US is better, right, even the KFC, why? because it’s ‘KFC’ of course.
6. All of the imported junk via the TV, internet and sea ports destroy our culture, making fools like yourself believe and honor their standard of ‘ideal’, while ours is inferior and will always be.
Meanwhile basketballers, Jay-Z, Amazon, Walmart and Beyonce will continue to have more wealth than all of the OECS islands put together. Ponder on that then criticize those countries you criticized again.
that argument is so dead because even the UWP plans to maintain a few of these “diplomatic” relationships.
tell Skeritt to abandon Cuba, Venezuela and China, and then ask the students who benefitted from taht relationship whether they’d do it again?
Ask any of the other countries who have stated no support for Sri Lanka what have they done for Dominica?
Ask Canada what is its govt doing for poor people? Ask why are they violating the rights of your brothers and sisters who come there to work for them and are being discriminated against and surpressed.
when you are done tell me Dominica needs to take a stance against Sri Lanka and not against the other countries who soem way or another supress our people.
let’s not be blinded – wrong is wrong whether it be big or little
I read the entire article and i must admit I am lost as to how the writer of this article came up with the heading: ‘Dominica has no position on anything’? I mean, really?
For an educated individual like Ms Theodore I would have expected better. She spent the vast part of the article speaking about human rights in Sri Lanka and basically commended India and Canada for sending their Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice-Minister respectively, yet criticized Dominica, who actually is sending someone of a lower political rank in the person of the High Commissioner to London. Does that make any sense??
It is one thing to be political, but this level of apparent intellectual dishonesty and naivety so blatantly demonstrated in this article is certainly regrettable.
Well-said!
I think the point the author is trying to make here is that Dominica needs to be taking positions on issues that are part of the world debate …Eg what is Dominica’s position on GMO foods; Is the use of Drones a acceptable under Dominica standards of international law. Even if those countries did send representatives they made a statement on HUMAN RIGHTS what they thought. I thought the article informative … did you know that Sri Lankan authorities were holding up people from entering the country or preventing people from partaking in debate even ion the eve of the conference
It is astonishing how little one understands what they claim to have read.
It is about time that Dominicans take note that they are not alone in this world. Enjoying the comforts of modern life without consideration of the REAL costs and consequences of creating and sustaining such a life is beyond words.
The phones we use, clothes we wear etc all come at a cost. A disadvantaged person on the other side of the world is being exploited and we don’t care cause they’re not HERE in our faces to see. In times of need we call on God for help. We depend on the assistance of foreign nations yet we are oblivious to the happenings in our world.
Don’t forget the transatlantic slave trade and its consequences which lingers on. We needed someone to care. An example was William Wilberforce who gave a damn enough to fight abuse of humanity. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X et al all took the time to stand in the defense of their peoples and others who were being oppressed. The freedoms we enjoy came at a price. To become complacent and uncaring today we’ll risk losing those very freedoms tomorrow.
I encourage the writer to continue with another enlightening piece and stimulate discussion and a gradual awakening in this island nation which feels disconnected to the wider world.
Could not have said it any better!
I found you to be very biased after ready some of your articles.
Well written and to the point. Is Dominica going to make any statements on international issues like Snowden and the NSA or Wikileaks or Climate Change or refugees These are all human issues and all human beings have a right to comment. As a nation state in the international arena who derives many benefits from that status we have responsibility to state where we stand on those “human issues”. I am proud that DNO is publishing this type of article.
If Botha was still in office in South Africa Dominica would have diplomatic relations with the apartheid regime. And the worst thing is there would be Phds defending that in the name of Aid to Dominica. Dominica has no position on anything is correct.
But is Patrick John, who is now affiliated with uwp, who had relations with South Afica. Incidentally this contributed to his downfall and also is one of the reasons that Charles Savarin is being malaise. As far as I know this Labour Party was against this relationship