UK And US Should Keep Up The Pressure On Sri Lanka
By Veluppillai Thangavelu -December 15, 2013 |
Veluppillai Thangavelu
Countries normally compete with one another to host international conferences to polish their image and standing. Olympics is one example. Publicity for such events brings in tourists, investments and trade.
The Commonwealth Conference of Heads of Governments (CHOGM) also serves the same purpose. The CHOGM held in Colombo last November was preceded by the Commonwealth People’s Forum, the Commonwealth Youth Forum, and the Commonwealth Business Forum. Several hundred delegates attended the Business Forum that attracted global media coverage. A high profile Business Forum was led by British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Sri Lanka by hosting this biennial conference in Colombo must have calculated that it will provide an opportunity to improve the tarnished image of the country, especially accusations regarding wide spread human rights violations, war crimes, crimes against humanity, lack of media freedom, subversion of the judiciary, undermining of rule of law etc.
Government spent millions of dollars on extensive beautification of the city. More than 50 brand new bullet-proof S400 Mercedes Benz cars were imported for the summit. A large fleet of brand new Nissan Teanas, Toyota Corollas, 100 forty-one-seater luxury buses and 60 Land Rover Defender jeeps were also imported. A few days to the summit, a shiny new 26 kilometre expressway costing 1.8 billion rupees or 14 million US dollars per kilometre, amongst the most expensive in the world, was declared opened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Where all the finance did came from? Like the other mega projects, it was mostly financed by a loan from China whose terms are unknown. No wonder Sri Lanka’s public debt has risen alarmingly to Rs. 3 trillion or nearly 80 per cent of GDP.
Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, the hosting of the CHOGM spending several billions resulted in a near total public relations disaster, its human rights record coming under intense scrutiny by the international media. The meticulously crafted efforts to ensure the right image is conveyed have backfired. Normally these biannual meetings are not controversial and ends unnoticed and unsung.
To begin with Prime Minister Stephen Harper kept his word by boycotting the CHOGM and sending only a low profile delegation headed by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for External Affairs Deepak Obhrai. After much agonizing Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh too skipped the conference at the last minute. He succumbed to the intense pressure from Thamil Nadu government and political parties of all hues to boycott the CHOGM. The boycott by India took the shine away from the CHOGM and it was a total disappointment and a bitter pill for Sri Lanka to swallow. Added to Sri Lanka’s woes, Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam announced that he will be boycott the conference.
In this back ground, only 27 out of 53 Heads of Government attended the meeting. Of the 19 countries in the African continent, only 7 attended. More than the host country the Commonwealth’s showpiece event was a disaster for the parent organisation. Read More
