A Sri Lanka Summit Discredits The Commonwealth
Gideon Rachman
The world is so busy cheering on the emergence of democracy in Myanmar that it is in danger of averting its eyes from the assault on democracy in another Asian state – Sri Lanka.
In fact, the sins of the Sri Lankan government are not merely being ignored. They are about to be rewarded. This November Colombo is set to play host to the prestigious Commonwealth heads of government meeting. So far, of the 54 Commonwealth countries – more than a quarter of the members of the UN – only Canada has had the guts to say that it will not send its prime minister. But the leaders of the UK, Australia, India, South Africa and other democratic nations should feel sick about accepting the hospitality of a Sri Lankan government with a grimrecord of human rights abuses.
The manner in which the Sri Lankan government won victory in the country’s civil war in 2009 remains deeply controversial. According to the UN, up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the final onslaught on the Tamil-dominated north of Sri Lanka.
It could be argued that – even though the culmination of the war was savage – the government of PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa did Sri Lanka a service by finally ending a terrible conflict that had gone on for 29 years and cost thousands of lives. Read More
