The recent decision by Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister to boycott the
event is an example of how a Commonwealth Member State should behave towards a
country that is accused of massive human rights violation and genocide. Canada will
instead be sending a low level team to take part in the various meetings to be held
regarding Commonwealth affairs. In his statement announcing his decision to not
attend CHOGM 2013, the Canadian Prime Minister said:
“Canada takes its membership in the Commonwealth very seriously. It is for
this simple reason that we believe in upholding the basic principles it stands
for: freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Without them, what
does the Commonwealth stand for? Despite Canada’s efforts, the
Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG),
failed to utilize this 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. 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.”
Prime Minister Harper further states “in the past two years, we have not only seen no
improvement in these areas in almost all of these areas, we have seen a considerable
rolling back, considerable worsening of the situation.” While we welcome this
decision by the Canadian Government and the message that it sends to Sri Lanka and
the Commonwealth and the hope that it sends to the Tamil people that Canada is not
oblivious to their suffering, we also believe that sending a low level team instead of
the Prime Minister weakens the message because the Sri Lankan government will
claim that it is not a full boycott.
Human Rights Watch in its statement on CHOGM 2013 stated that,
“The Sri Lankan government should be shunned – not rewarded – for failing to
hold anyone accountable for war crimes during the country’s recent conflict.
Attending a summit in Sri Lanka so soon after the UN rights chief decried a
worsening situation sends the wrong message to the government and to victims
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