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Boycott Commonwealth Meeting in Sri Lanka
British T.
started this petition to
The Commonwealth Heads of Governments
It is your voice they need to hear!!!.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit (CHOGM Nov 2013) is due to be held in a country where a brutal tyrannical regime killed thousands of civilians in 2009 and continues to commit acts of murder, torture,rape and systematic attacks on Tamils and Muslims - while ignoring the core values of the Commonwealth.
Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Geoffrey Robertson QC, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, the Royal Commonwealth society President Peter Kellner, Bloomberg, the Washington Post, the Guardian, prominent Caribbean diplomat Sir Ronald Saunders, David Milliband, Malcolm Rifkind, Ricken Patel (the founder of Avaaz), those campaigning for the murdered tourist Khurram Sheikh, Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurors, Forum Asia, the Asian Legal Resource Centre, Civicus, the Commonwealth Journalists Association, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, the Human Rights Law Centre (Australia), Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, the International Federation for Human Rights, Minority Rights Group International, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and a number of Sri Lankan NGOs and a host of other human rights defenders have already expressed their revulsion to the idea of this summit taking place in Sri Lanka.
Their calls for a change of venue or boycott are further strengthened by the statement by Navi Pillay the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights following her recent visit to Sri Lanka. On 31 August 2013, in an initial media statement, High Commissioner Pillay said “It is important everyone realises that, although the fighting is over, the suffering is not”.Dr Pillay further said: “There are a number of specific factors impeding normalisation, which – if not quickly rectified – may sow the seeds of future discord.” “These are by and large to do with the curtailment or denial of personal freedoms and human rights, or linked to persistent impunity and the failure of rule of law.”
So in the next month we need world leaders to show leadership, and uphold Commonwealth values. They can do this by following the Canadian Prime Minister's example and announcing that if the summit happens in Colombo , then they will not go. This is the most effective way we can put the pressure on the Commonwealth to act. We need all the leaders of the Commonwealth countries to hear the voice of their people against hosting the CHOGM in Sri Lanka
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit (CHOGM Nov 2013) is due to be held in a country where a brutal tyrannical regime killed thousands of civilians in 2009 and continues to commit acts of murder, torture,rape and systematic attacks on Tamils and Muslims - while ignoring the core values of the Commonwealth.
Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Geoffrey Robertson QC, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, the Royal Commonwealth society President Peter Kellner, Bloomberg, the Washington Post, the Guardian, prominent Caribbean diplomat Sir Ronald Saunders, David Milliband, Malcolm Rifkind, Ricken Patel (the founder of Avaaz), those campaigning for the murdered tourist Khurram Sheikh, Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurors, Forum Asia, the Asian Legal Resource Centre, Civicus, the Commonwealth Journalists Association, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, the Human Rights Law Centre (Australia), Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, the International Federation for Human Rights, Minority Rights Group International, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and a number of Sri Lankan NGOs and a host of other human rights defenders have already expressed their revulsion to the idea of this summit taking place in Sri Lanka.
Their calls for a change of venue or boycott are further strengthened by the statement by Navi Pillay the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights following her recent visit to Sri Lanka. On 31 August 2013, in an initial media statement, High Commissioner Pillay said “It is important everyone realises that, although the fighting is over, the suffering is not”.Dr Pillay further said: “There are a number of specific factors impeding normalisation, which – if not quickly rectified – may sow the seeds of future discord.” “These are by and large to do with the curtailment or denial of personal freedoms and human rights, or linked to persistent impunity and the failure of rule of law.”
So in the next month we need world leaders to show leadership, and uphold Commonwealth values. They can do this by following the Canadian Prime Minister's example and announcing that if the summit happens in Colombo , then they will not go. This is the most effective way we can put the pressure on the Commonwealth to act. We need all the leaders of the Commonwealth countries to hear the voice of their people against hosting the CHOGM in Sri Lanka
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