Commonwealth turned down Lankan offer to host CHOGM over HR concerns – Wikileaks
November 30, 2010 07:19 am
The latest Wikileak concerning Sri Lanka reveals that in June, 2009 the Commonwealth Political Director Amitav Banerji had stated that that Sri Lanka’s offer to host the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) had been turned down over concerns about lending international credibility to the Government’s actions.
Banerji has also said that the human rights situation in Sri Lanka during
and after the recent military offensive had been raised “informally and off the
record” by the UK during the last Commonwealth
Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) meeting, forcing a difficult conversation with
the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, as Sri Lanka is currently a member of CMAG, Wikileaks cables states.
The same cable states that that heir-apparent to the British Crown, Prince Charles, does not “command the same respect” as the Queen.
Sri Lanka
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4. (C) Banerji said that the human rights situation in Sri Lanka during and after the recent military offensive had been raised “informally and off the record” by the UK during the last CMAG meeting, forcing a difficult conversation with the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, as Sri Lanka is currently a member of CMAG. Banerji said the Commonwealth continues to watch the situation in Sri Lanka and noted that Sri Lanka’s offer to host the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) had been turned down over concerns about lending international credibility to the Government’s actions.
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who had been active in Commonwealth affairs.
Succession of the Head of the Commonwealth
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6. (C) Banerji acknowledged that succession of the Head of the Commonwealth would have to be dealt with when Queen Elizabeth passes, as there is no rule stipulating that the British monarch is the head and no procedure for selecting a new head. He acknowledged that heir-apparent to the British Crown, Prince Charles, does not “command the same respect” as the Queen and said the Commonwealth was trying quietly to get him more involved in Commonwealth affairs. Banerji noted Marlborough House, the Commonwealth Secretariat’s current location, was a royal property, owned and funded by the British Royal Family, and mused that may be a factor in the discussions. He noted that succession was not actively being discussion within the Commonwealth.
LATEST: Ecuador offers WikiLeak’s founder Assange residency, no
questions asked
Ecuador on Monday offered Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who has enraged Washington by releasing masses of classified U.S. documents, residency with no questions asked.
“We are ready to give him residence in Ecuador, with no problems and no conditions,” Deputy Foreign Minister Kintto Lucas told the Internet site Ecuadorinmediato.
“We are going to invite him to come to Ecuador so he can freely present the information he possesses and all the documentation, not just over the Internet but in a variety of public forums,” he said.
An international arrest warrant was issued in mid-November against Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, on suspicion of rape and sexual molestation of two women in Sweden.
The United States, for its part, has a criminal investigation under way into the release of some 250,000 diplomatic cables, the most recent of three huge document dumps by the self-styled whistle-blower website.
The White House branded those who released the documents “criminals, first and foremost,” but so far U.S. authorities have publicly filed no charges against Assange.
The documents, obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to news organizations in the United States, Britain, France and Germany, have shone a bright light on the behind-the-scenes conduct U.S. diplomacy.
Ecuador’s leftist government is one of several in the region that have often been at odds with Washington.
Lucas said even though Ecuador’s policy was not to meddle in the internal affairs of other countries, it was “concerned” by the information in the cables because it involved other countries “in particular Latin America.” AFP reports.
