Sri Lanka: ‘Lay Down Clear Benchmarks’ – Joint Civil Society Submission To Commonwealth Ministers

April 25, 2013 

A  joint Joint Civil Society submission on Sri Lanka was sent to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group ( CMAG) through Commonwealth Secretariat today. They urge CMAG to put Sri Lanka on its formal agenda at the earliest and lay down clear benchmarks that the country needs to fulfill before it can host CHOGM in November.

The submission was sent by Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA),  CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination (IMADR) and Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice.

Read the full submission here

Read the Annexure here

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DMK tells CMAG members to keep out of Sri Lanka meet

25th April 2013 

A delegation of Members of Parliament of the DMK on Tuesday gave a memorandum to several member countries of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) in Delhi urging them to not hold the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo slated to be held from November 15 to 17.

Speaking to Express over phone from Delhi, DMK MP and spokesperson TKS Elangovan said the Parliamentarians highlighted, among other things, the UNHRC resolution on war crimes and the reports of the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on genocide in Sri Lanka.

“We impressed upon them that many national governments, NGOs, and world organisations have come out against the genocide in Sri Lanka. We urged them that it would not be appropriate to hold the meeting there at this juncture,” Elangovan said.

On Tuesday, DMK MPs called on representatives of Trinidad and Tobago, Australia and Jamaica and are likely to call on others on Wednesday. “We don’t intend calling on Bangladesh’s representative as it supports Sri Lanka,” the DMK leader pointed out.

Elangovan, TR Baalu, A Raja, KP Ramalingam and Helen Davidson were among the MPs who called on the representatives of the CMAG.

According to the Commonwealth Secretariat, the current members of CMAG are Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Jamaica, Maldives, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago and Vanuatu. Maldives is currently not “participating” as the nation itself is under scrutiny by the group. CMAG deals with serious or persistent violations of the Harare Declaration, which contains Commonwealth’s fundamental political values