Uncommonwealth Meeting

In 1999 (when Hong Kong went to the PRC), the sun finally set on the British Empire, but every year, a wisp of nostalgia sweeps the many independent states that compromise what was once the glorious and seemingly unending stretch of jolly olde England. The British Commonwealth of Nations (53 to be exact). Some hate each other, like Pakistan feels towards its neighbor India. Others have followed a tortured path with their own citizens. This year’s summit (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting or CHOGM) was held in mid-November in Colombo, Sri Lanka, but things did not go exactly swimmingly for this small island nation. The issue is human rights and there are some very nasty accusations. The culprit is how the victorious and mainstream Sinhalese treated the defeated minority in the final stages of the conflict and after decades of civil war.

When Sri Lanka gained independence from England in 1948, the majority began a long, drawn out process that effectively treated minorities, namely Tamils (18% of the population) and Muslims (6%) as second class citizens. Buddhism was made the official state religion. Tamils are Hindus or Christians. Tamil youths faced severe unemployment, and economic opportunities eluded this ethnic and religious minority. Laws and cultural biases upheld and applied discriminatory measures such that, in 1983, a revolt from a portion of the Tamils began against the government. These rebels employed the tactics that were common in the Middle East; bombs and civilian shootings became commonplace.

They called themselves the LTTE – Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (their flag is above) – but became known primarily as the Tamil Tigers. The Tigers were labeled terrorists because of their indiscriminate tactics, and even the United States placed them on that infamous list of terrorist organizations. The war raged for 27 years, bloody and sapping the nation and the combatants of their strength and economic stability. Somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 people were killed, including lots of civilians. Peace talks failed four times.

In 1987, the Indian Army intervened. It took until 2001 to implement a cease-fire, signed a year later, but simmering hatred exploded again in 2005. The Sri Lankan government then mounted an all-out assault on the LTTE in 2006 and by 2009, the Tigers were crushed. The aftermath of the conflict was not pretty. “Both sides were accused of human rights abuses throughout the conflict, with much focus on its final stages when thousands of civilians were trapped in a thin strip of land in the north of Sri Lanka… Estimates of civilian deaths in the final months range widely from 9,000 to 75,000… The Sri Lankan government commissioned its own investigation into the war in 2011.” BBC, November 12^th.  

Tamils lost and were treated, once again, as hated second class citizens. Bitterness defined how they were viewed by the victors, who had apparently engaged in a pattern of retaliatory atrocities during the final days of the conflict (denied by the government): rape, torture and killing, according to allegations, followed by official cover-ups. The Tamils claimed the government’s investigation was a sham and demanded that international probes make an independent assessment. The government denied their requests and clamped down on protesting Tamils. Censorship was applied. All this was simmering as invitations to the CHOGM were received by the member nations.

As Commonwealth leaders admonished the Sri Lankan leadership for human rights abuses and demanded an externally-controlled inquiry, the government responded that it was a fully autonomous nation and would no more permit outsiders to investigate their conduct than would England if equally challenged. They said their own investigations had shown these allegations to be false, and that was that.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron announced he would attend, ostensibly to chastise the Sir Lankans for their actions, but the Sri Lankans responded that they would not tolerate a moral lecture from England’s PM. Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop joined in the condemnation of Sri Lanka’s seeming whitewashing of these accusations: "I hope that Sri Lanka will use the opportunity of hosting CHOGM to underline its commitment to freedom, human rights and post-conflict reconciliation and to show the world that progress has been made in these areas."

Other leaders boycotted the event. “Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam [became] the third leader to announce a boycott of [the] Commonwealth summit in Colombo over Sri Lanka's human rights record… Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper … also stay[ed] away.” BBC. The results were as expected. Nasty accusations. After the dancers, pomp and ceremony were done, the sparks flew.

“Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has repeatedly rejected criticism of his government's actions during the campaign which defeated Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009...The UK has defended its presence in Sri Lanka, with UK Foreign Secretary William Hague saying it is calling for an 'independent, thorough, credible investigation' into alleged abuses.” BBC.co.uk, November 14^th.

Charles Haviland writing for the 11-15 BBC News added: “But when rights are raised, the response has been a bullish defence of the [Sri Lankan] government's position. On two successive days President Rajapaksa has sought to turn what Mr Cameron calls the ‘spotlight’ on to the Tamil Tigers' atrocities, asserting that ‘we asserted the greatest human right - the right to life.’… His outspoken brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has said the UK is acting as if Sri Lanka is still a British colony by trying to raise war crimes allegations, adding that his country cannot act on accusations of atrocities if the accusers do not publicly identify themselves.

“Pro-government nationalists also assail Britain's own conduct. Rajpal Abenayake, editor of government paper the Daily News, told the BBC World Service the UK was guilty of ‘odious double standards,’ accusing it of committing massacres in Sri Lanka during colonial rule and suggesting former PM Tony Blair was guilty of war crimes in Iraq.”

The dark and ugly stain seems like so many other internecine struggles, genocide and atrocities lingering in the minds of all who participated or witnessed this horrific conflict. But can Sri Lanka deal with this effectively and begin a very necessary healing process? Time will tell, but this was most certainly a very rocky start.

I’m Peter Dekom, and distress based on indiscriminate violence seems to be an increasing story in a modern world of clashing cultures and dwindling natural resources.