No discussion on Sri Lanka at Commonwealth ministerial meeting

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) concluded its 39th meeting in London Friday with no discussion on Sri Lanka.
Secretary to the Sri Lanka Ministry of Foreign Affairs Karunathilaka Amunugama said Thursday that any matter pertaining to Sri Lanka was not included in the agenda of the meeting. Various international groups critical of Sri Lanka's human rights record had attempted to include Sri Lanka in the CMAG's agenda for discussion asking the Group to consider shifting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Colombo in November this year. However, the CMAG meeting, chaired by Bangladesh Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Dipu Moni, reviewed developments in relation to the country currently on its formal agenda, Fiji. Sri Lanka earlier said that there is absolutely no justification to introduce any issues related to the country into the CMAG's agenda after the country had made a substantial progress in the challenges faced following the end of the war. The CMAG, which was given an enhanced mandate at the CHOGM in Perth, Australia in 2011, has the authority to suspend a member country from the association. In concluding remarks, the CMAG said it welcomes the recent adoption by Heads of Government, and signature by The Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, of the Charter of the Commonwealth, encapsulating the core values and principles of the Commonwealth. It noted that the Charter reaffirmed the Commonwealth's commitment inter alia to democracy, human rights, the rule of law, separation of powers, freedom of expression, good governance, tolerance, respect and understanding and the role of civil society. As the custodian of the Commonwealth's fundamental political values, the Group pledged to continue to promote these commonly agreed goals. The meeting was attended by the Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamlesh Sharma and CMAG's nine members including CMAG's Vice Chair, Foreign Affairs Minister of Australia Senator Bob Carr, Foreign Affairs Minister of Canada John Baird, and Foreign Affairs Minister of Maldives Dr. Abdul Samad Abdullah. Several international groups, including the New York-based Human Rights Watch, and London-based International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute, have called on the CMAG to raise the issue of Sri Lanka's suitability to hold the CHOGM and assume the Chair of the Commonwealth for the next two years. They asked the CMAG to shift CHOGM meeting from Colombo, unless Sri Lanka makes prompt, measurable and meaningful progress on human rights. Sri Lanka says the aggressive international campaign against hosting the CHOGM in Colombo and to move the international event from Sri Lanka is backed by the pro-LTTE diaspora not due to the concern for human rights but to humiliate the country and especially the present government which defeated the terrorist group in 2009.