the rule of law and equal opportunity. These values are relevant in the context that
most countries of the Commonwealth had fought against colonialism and imperialism
during British rule. These values were agreed upon at two CHOGMs, in Singapore in
1971 and in Harare in 1991.
The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) was established in 1995 to
oversee and protect these core values. The CMAG comprised of a group of nine
foreign ministers who would assess the nature of any infringement of the values and
would recommend measures or actions to be taken collectively by member countries.
This includes recommendations to suspend or expel a country from the
Commonwealth.
In 2007, the Committee on Commonwealth membership was established and it was
responsible for oversight of the States meeting the criteria for membership. Following
that in March this year (2013) the Commonwealth Charter was promulgated declaring
the Commonwealth principles. The Commonwealth also engages in discreet
diplomacy which it terms ‘good offices’ work through special representatives who
engage with concerned States in a spirit of dialogue to build and consolidate
democratic structures. It is this ‘good offices’ argument that we see being used by the
Commonwealth Secretariat to deflect criticisms about the choice of Sri Lanka as
CHOGM host. We argue on the other hand that Sri Lanka’s actions have proved to be
in violation of all previous Commonwealth Declarations as well as the
Commonwealth Charter of this year. It is indeed a tragedy that a Country in violation
of the spirit of the Commonwealth is allowed to host the Heads of Government
Meeting.
THE SELECTION OF SRI LANKA AS THE VENUE OF CHOGM
2013
The last CHOGM was held in Perth, Australia in 2011 under the theme ‘Building
National Resilience, Building Global Resilience’. It had earlier been agreed by
Commonwealth leaders at the 2009 CHOGM held in Trinidad and Tobago that Sri
Lanka would host CHOGM 2013 and the leaders’ retreat alongside the Meeting. The
decision was reconfirmed at CHOGM 2011 in Australia. This Meeting is the first time
in 40 years that the Queen in her capacity as Head of the Commonwealth will not be
attending and is instead sending Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales on her behalf.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHOGM 2013
CHOGM 2013 is important because leaders of all Commonwealth states are expected
to attend the Meeting. This provides much wanted publicity to the Sri Lankan
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