The United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary William Hague has said in an opinion for The Telegraph that although he wants to see change in Sri Lanka, a boycott of the Commonwealth heads of Government Meeting in the country would be wrong.
Hague said that attending the summit is the “right thing to do”, saying that the international community was criticised in 2009 for “sitting on the sidelines”.
“If we are not at the table, we have no way of encouraging the Commonwealth to take a strong stand on issues that we care about deeply in Britain,” he said.
The Foreign Secretary said that Britain would be pushing for an “open and thorough” investigation into the fate of disappeared people and to urge the Sri Lankan government to ensure “justice for war crimes and to reach a sustainable political settlement that benefits all the country’s communities.”
“We should not forget, also, that this meeting is about far more than just one country. It is about the future of the Commonwealth as a whole. We want it to be a dynamic and positive force in the world, promoting democracy and human rights and creating new opportunities for trade. This requires all its members to value the organisation, to participate fully in its meetings and to work closely together. If we boycotted the summit because Sri Lanka is hosting, we would, unfortunately, be turning our back on the Commonwealth itself.”
See full opinion here.
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