British Prime Minister David Cameron should immediately call to host the upcoming Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting in London, rather than Sri Lanka, wrote Rosemary Righter, an associate editor for The Times.
Righter, the author of 'Utopia Lost: the United Nations and World Order' also applauded Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision as 'a display of leadership' stating that he was 'riding to the rescue of the Commonwealth'.
She went on to call upon Cameron to move CHOGM away from Colombo, adding it was 'hardly beyond Britain to put on this show at short notice'.
Extracts from the piece have been reproduced below. See the full piece here.
Righter, the author of 'Utopia Lost: the United Nations and World Order' also applauded Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision as 'a display of leadership' stating that he was 'riding to the rescue of the Commonwealth'.
She went on to call upon Cameron to move CHOGM away from Colombo, adding it was 'hardly beyond Britain to put on this show at short notice'.
Extracts from the piece have been reproduced below. See the full piece here.
"At last a display of leadership from America. Not from Washington, where the concept seems to have gone out of fashion, but from Ottawa. Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, is riding to the rescue of the Commonwealth. Correctly, he takes the view that this free association of nations, bound by agreed principles, stands or falls by its 1949 dedication to “freedom, democracy and respect for human dignity”."
"He (Rajapaksa) refuses to allow an independent investigation into alleged war crimes, or account for about 100,000 people who disappeared during the war... Not only is Mr Rajapaksa failing to right historic wrongs, he is generating new ones."
"It is time David Cameron woke up. It’s no good bleating that he will go, but be “clear about those aspects of the human rights record in Sri Lanka that we are not happy with” (what, pray, are the “happy” aspects?). It is hardly beyond Britain to put on this show at short notice — and the Queen, who would not go to Sri Lanka, would doubtless be delighted."
"He should hit the phones to Commonwealth leaders with an invitation to London. And he should then phone Mr Harper to thank him for doing what he himself should have done, far earlier than this."