Lanka not on CMAG agenda

September 28, 2013

Sri Lanka was not part of the agenda of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), which met in New York yesterday (Friday).

The Commonwealth Secretariat said that CMAG held its Fortieth Meeting in New York yesterday. Dr Dipu Moni, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, chaired the meeting.

Human Rights groups had earlier called on CMAG to formally discuss Sri Lanka and raise concerns over the human rights situation in the country. However Fiji was the main topic discussed at the meeting while a joint statement was also issued on the Maldives.

The CMAG meeting was also attended by Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia, John Baird, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Canada, A J Nicholson, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, Mariyam Shakeela, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives, Dr Samura Kamara, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sierra Leone, Bernard Membe, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Tanzania, Winston Dookeran, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago and Nipake Edward Natapei, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Vanuatu.

Earlier Polly Truscott, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia- Pacific Director said that the CMAG meeting is an opportunity for the Commonwealth to show some real leadership on human rights. It said that CMAG has been shamefully silent so far about Sri Lanka’s human rights crisis– including the persistent lack of justice for past crimes and ongoing attacks on human rights defenders and other activists.

Human Rights Watch had also called for Sri Lanka to be discussed at the CMAG meeting in New York. (Colombo Gazette)