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Sri Lanka announces CHOGM dates

The Sri Lankan government has announced dates for the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting due to be held in the country, amid increasing calls for a boycott of the meeting from world leaders.

Sri Lanka announced that the meeting will be held from November 15th-17th 2013 in Colombo.

The announcement comes as earlier this month, the Canadian Prime Minister reiterated his threat of boycotting the meeting unless there was "significant progress on political reconciliation, accountability and respect for human rights".

The British Foreign Affairs Committee also called for Prime Minister David Cameron to boycott the meeting unless there was “convincing and independently-verified evidence of substantial and sustainable improvements in human and political rights in Sri Lanka”.

See our earlier posts:

Canada reiterates threat of CHOGM boycott (02 December 2012)

Foreign Affairs Committee calls for CHOGM boycott from Britain (13 November 2012)

Civil society groups write to Commonwealth Sec Gen on SL (26 September 2012)

Following the completeion of the 2013 CHOGM, Sri Lanka will then serve as the chair of CHOGM for the next 2 years.

The Sri lankan government has allocated Rs 217.44 million for hosting the meeting.

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