Writing in the LabourList, Britain's largest weblog that supports the opposition party, Amy Lamé stated that British Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague should cancel their trip to Colombo, for the upcoming CHOGM.

Extracts from the piece are reproduced below. See the full piece here.

"It’s not all cocktails in coconut shells in Sri Lanka. President Mahindra Rajapaksa is personally accused of war crimes. In his effort to finally crush the Tamil Tigers, the 26 year civil war ended with 40,000 dead civilians. 12,000 disappearances, more than any other country bar Iraq. This includes opponents of the government, journalists and activists. In its role as Commonwealth Chair Sri Lanka would be responsible for addressing the human rights of other member states. I could see the irony if it wasn’t so chilling and tragically sad."

"Nick Clegg has promised that during the Commonwealth summit the UK Government will be highlighting the abuses that have taken place, and continue to happen, in Sri Lanka. How? Polite conversation over canapés is not only not good enough, it’s downright shameful.

And it could be a real missed opportunity for the UK Government to make a strong statement of leadership against war crimes and human rights abuse. What is missing from the UK government is a proper strategic action plan to protect human rights defenders and to prevent Sri Lanka chairing the Commonwealth for the next two years. Unless the UK are prepared to call for an international investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed by the Sri Lankan government, Cameron and Hague should put down the coconut cocktails and cancel their round trip tickets to Colombo."