Cameron should have boycotted CHOGM – New Statesman editorial

British Premier David Cameron should have boycotted the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka, the New Statesman magazine said in its editorial Monday, titled 'Sri Lanka is a rogue state'.

As with similar editorials Monday by the FT and The Independent, the magazine not only pointed to the huge loss of civilian life when Sri Lankan troops “mercilessly shelled” hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians in the final months of the war, but also that “since the end of the war, the Tamils have been harshly oppressed and there have been widespread human rights abuses and media censorship.”

“Mr Cameron should have done more than condemn the abuses: he should have boycotted the CHOGM in an attempt to shame the rogue Sri Lankan state into reform,” the editorial said.