Commonwealth leaders must use their summit in Colombo this week to pressure the Sri Lankan authorities to end their alarming crackdown on dissent, Amnesty International said Thursday.
Steve Crawshaw, Director of the Office of the Secretary General who is in Colombo representing Amnesty International around CHOGM, said in a press release:
“The Commonwealth and those attending the summit must use the coming days to highlight and condemn ongoing human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Under no circumstances should Sri Lanka be handed the chair of the organization for the next two years.”
“Sri Lanka is trying to use CHOGM to whitewash its despicable human rights record and hide ongoing abuses under the carpet. The Government must not be allowed yet again to get away with this.”
Referring to the Sri Lankan security forces blocking family members of disappeared people, who were travelling by bus to protest in Colombo, Crawshaw said:
“This is a blatant attempt by the authorities to stifle people's right to peaceful protest. It fits a familiar pattern in Sri Lanka, where the Government has in recent years done everything in its power to silence dissent.“The Commonwealth has been shamefully silent throughout this, and has yet to condemn the human rights violations that are still so clearly business as usual for Sri Lanka.”“Even on the eve of CHOGM, the Sri Lankan government feels free to abuse rights at the heart of the Commonwealth charter. Commonwealth leaders must not just turn a blind eye.”