Commonwealth ministers stumble over human rights

Mahinda Rajapaksa

PERTH, Australia, (Reuters) – Common-wealth foreign  ministers meeting yesterday were split over how tough to get  on human rights abuses in member countries, an issue which one  official said their leaders were unlikely to resolve at a summit  later in the week.

Mahinda Rajapaksa

A confidential report ahead of today’s summit on the west  Australian city of Perth has already warned leaders of the  54-member group of mostly former British colonies that unless  they deal with the issue, the Commonwealth could become  irrelevant.

A senior Commonwealth official told Reuters the sticking  point was whether to appoint a commissioner to tackle political  and human rights abuses, a move recommended by an Eminent  Persons report to the group but which some members oppose.

“The foreign ministers are deeply divided on the issue of a  human rights commissioner and will pass it on to the leaders.  But the leaders are unlikely to agree,” the official said.

Much of the focus has centred on Sri Lanka which has come  under heavy pressure to allow an independent inquiry into  allegations of war crimes during its 25-year conflict with Tamil  Tigers whom it defeated in 2009.

Canada, home to a large ethnic Tamil community, is urging  fellow members to boycott the next summit in 2013 in Sri Lanka  unless the government there improves its human rights record.
Sri Lanka has repeatedly dismissed the criticism, saying it  will wait for the results of its own investigation next month. Speaking to businessmen in Perth ahead of the summit, Sri  Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa pointed to his government’s  success in boosting the economy since the end of the civil war.

“An end to terrorist violence was absolutely essential to  move the country forward along the path of economic and social  development. We suffered for 30 years,” he said.

Thousands of civilians died in the final months of the war  with both sides accused of widespread abuses.

NERVOUS ABOUT GETTING
TOO TOUGH

One analyst said some in the Commonwealth were nervous about  getting too tough on Sri Lanka, an the Indian Ocean island state  at the southern tip of India. “There is a concern that too much pushing will push Sri  Lanka more firmly into the Chinese camp,” said Damien Kingsbury,  political analyst at Australia’s Deakin University.

“China has already got significant investments in Sri Lanka,  including the development of the Hambantota seaport, which could  very easily become a naval base.” Sri Lanka launched the port last year with the help of a  $400 million Chinese loan, with a target of handling 2,500 ships  annually, as a cornerstone of a $6 billion drive to rebuild the  country’s neglected infrastructure.
Kingsbury doubted Commonwealth leaders would take action  against Sri Lanka because of India’s concerns over China.

“India is very concerned not to see Sri Lanka go any further  towards China, as China is obviously India’s main strategic  rival,” he said.

Human rights advocate and former chief justice of the Delhi  High Court, Ajit Prakash Shah, said the summit would be judged a  failure if leaders did not adopt tough human rights measures.
“So far the performance of the Commonwealth has been really  dismal. The regime today is not able to stop the human rights  violations in several countries that are members of the  Common-wealth,” he told Reuters.