Sri Lanka Campaign says HRC vote means commonwealth must act
Thursday, 21 March 2013
The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice has today said that the landmark vote of the Human Rights Council means that the Commonwealth must act on Sri Lanka, and have launched a petition to that end.
The resolution criticises Sri Lanka for "not adequately address[ing] serious allegations of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law" and "the continuing reports of violations of human rights in Sri Lanka, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture and violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, as well as intimidation of and reprisals against human rights defenders, members of civil society and journalists, threats to judicial independence and the rule of law, and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief." It empowers the High Commissioner of Human Rights to investigate Sri Lanka's progress with the help of UN Experts known as "special procedure mandate holders".
The resolution was sponsored by 50 countries and passed by a vote of 25 to 13. At least six Commonwealth countries sponsored the resolution or voted in favour including St Kitts, India and Sierra Leone, Three voted against: Pakistan, the Maldives (who are currently suspended from CMAG) and Uganda. The full text of the resolution, a full voting list, and visualisations will be available here:bhttp://blog.srilankacampaign.org/2013/03/the-human-rights-council-passes-its.html
Speaking for the Sri Lanka Campaign, Fred Carver the campaign director, said, "In less than a month a key part of the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), meets. After the strong message the Human Rights Council has sent, they must take a stand and ensure that Sri Lanka is not rewarded by hosting the Commonwealth's grand summit this November - that will keep the pressure on Sri Lanka and ensure we finally get the independent international investigation Sri Lanka needs to end its cycle of murder, torture, and rape. But if the Commonwealth continues as usual then the Government of Sri Lanka will be able to use this to whitewash their crimes, and derail the process of reconciliation. The cycle of violence will continue.
"In the next month we need our leaders to show leadership, and show the Commonwealth that it must not be business as usual. They can do this by following the Canadian Prime Minister's example and announcing that if the summit happens then they will not go.
"We will be launching a series of petitions to this end in commonwealth nations. We are launching one in the UK today and we hope local organisations will soon be launching similar petitions in Malaysia, India, Australia, and New Zealand. Eventually we hope to have one in every commonwealth nation"
The petition is accessible here http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/prime-minister-david-cameron-do-not-attend-the-commonwealth-summit [1]
The petition comes against a backdrop of increasing concern about the summit. Desmond Tutu[2], Mary Robinson[2], Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper[2], Geoffrey Robertson QC[2], the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee[2], the Royal Commonwealth society President Peter Kellner[2], Bloomberg[2], the Washington Post[2], the Guardian[2], prominent Caribbean diplomat Sir Ronald Saunders[2], David Milliband[2], Malcolm Rifkind[2], Ricken Patel (the founder of Avaaz)[2], those campaigning for the murdered tourist Khurram Sheikh[3], Amnesty International[4], Forum Asia[5], the Asian Legal Resource Centre[5], Civicus[5], the Commonwealth Journalists Association[5], the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project[5], the Human Rights Law Centre (Australia)[5], Human Rights Watch[5], the International Crisis Group[5], the International Federation for Human Rights[5], Minority Rights Group International[5], the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative[5] and a number of Sri Lankan NGOs[5] have already said this summit is a bad idea.
