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Britain should have boycotted CHOGM, must take up Sri Lanka at summit – The Independent editorial

Britain should have joined Canada in taking a principled stand” and boycotted the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka this week,” The Independent newspaper said in its editorial Monday.


Titled “The Commonwealth should not be conferring legitimacy on a regime with blood on its hands,” the editorial (see full text here) urged Mr. Cameron to take up Sri Lanka at the CHOGM summit.


 

Pointing out that “there are very real – and painful – questions to be answered about the civil war,” and that “the question marks over Sri Lanka’s human rights record are not confined to the war-torn past,” the paper said:

“Against such a background, the choice of Colombo as the venue for the Heads of Government meeting – conferring an unearned legitimacy on Mr Rajapaksa’s government – was grossly ill-judged. That David Cameron agreed to attend is also regrettable.

 

“The claims of human rights abuses, past and present, are too serious to be waved aside; Britain should have joined Canada in taking a principled stand.

 

But with the summit going ahead, and our Prime Minister to be there, the best must be made of it. Following the Channel 4 footage, Mr Cameron has promised to tell the President that if Sri Lanka does not launch an independent investigation into alleged war crimes then the international community will. That is not enough. What of the worsening repression? If even half the allegations against Sri Lanka are true, it is a stain on the conscience of the Commonwealth.

 

The Colombo meeting must be used to impress upon Mr Rajapaksa that his government’s conduct is not acceptable.”

 

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