Commonwealth Secretary-General on the Commonwealth’s core strengths and key challenges
Posted by ZoeWare - 19/07/09 at 06:07 pmWatch Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma explain the Commonwealth’s importance as a value based organisation that must continue working for cohesion and coherence in the global community.
Q. What do you think are the Commonwealth?s core strengths?
Sharma: I think the most important thing about the Commonwealth is that it is a value based organisation. And by far the most important characteristic of the organisation is how it lives up to it, how it encourages democracy and enlightened values in member states. And how it has been able, all over the world, in Africa, in the Pacific, in the Caribbean, because of what it has done, to be able to, as it were, transfer these values to other regions of the world as well.
And the second one is: it is an organisation of small states. Small states are the most marginalised, neglected component of the human community. The Commonwealth speaks for them, stands up for them, supports them, and ensures that both their voice and their interests are preserved.
Q: What are the key challenges facing the Commonwealth in the 21st century?
Sharma: You said it – the 21st century means that it is no longer the 20th century. Every institution has to make itself relevant and contextualise its contribution, in the light of what the global expectations are. So I think, in an era of globalisation, the challenge is to exercise the wisdom function, which the Commonwealth has done so well for so many decades, and always make a contribution to collective thinking which is ahead of the curve. People can see that it is a superior contribution.
We must keep on working for cohesion and coherence, in everything that the global community does, because the Commonwealth argues, and has always argued, that inclusiveness, and the principles that go with it, have to be at the heart of a sustainable global outcome.
And lastly, to use the technology that is now available to get potential partners together in the Commonwealth and out of the Commonwealth and look at new templates and formats through which partnerships can be built.
Category : The Official Commonwealth
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July 28th, 2009 at 7:00 am
”…how it encourages democracy and enlightened values in member states.”
Sir,
There has been an ethnic conflict(resulting in genocide of Tamils) for six decades.
There have been recommendations by the UN, AI, HRW, ICG, ICJ, …. to a.the Sri Lankan government to make vast changes in many areas of its governance and b.the international community to do something about Sri Lanka, for decades. Will the Commonwealth start helping Sri Lanka:
i.Sri Lanka: Briefing Paper – Emergency Laws and International Standards, International Commission of Jurists, March 2009: ”The ICJ is deeply concerned that the approach taken by Sri Lanka over several decades, and especially in recent years, has resulted in a confusing, overbroad and all-pervasive emergency law framework that fails to protect the rights of its citizens, encourages a culture of impunity for serious violations, and exacerbates ethnic tensions and political divisions.”
ii.Justice in retreat: A report on the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law in Sri Lanka, International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, 26 May 2009: ”Judicial independence, the increase in threats and attacks against lawyers filing fundamental rights applications, representing terrorist suspects and taking anti-corruption cases, and the situation of journalists are areas of particular concern.”
iii.Sri Lanka?s Judiciary: Politicised Courts, Compromised Rights, International Crisis Group, 30 June 2009:
Sri Lanka?s judiciary is failing to protect constitutional and human rights. Rather than assuaging conflict, the courts have corroded the rule of law and worsened ethnic tensions. Rather than constraining militarisation and protecting minority rights, a politicised bench under the just-retired chief justice has entrenched favoured allies, punished foes and blocked compromises with the Tamil minority.
iv.Sri Lanka: Twenty years of make-believe. Sri Lanka?s Commissions of Inquiry, Amnesty International, June 2009:
Official hostility towards critics, and antipathy expressed against international involvement in Sri Lanka, make useful collaboration with the international community on human rights issues that much more difficult. But given the profound domestic limitations on access to justice, and the grave reality of persistent human rights violations, we can see no other solution. The international community should use its significant influence to encourage the Sri Lankan authorities to investigate past violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law, prosecute suspected perpetrators in proceedings that meet international standards of fairness, ensure reparations for victims, and prevent future violations.
v.http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20090726/issues.HTM
Sri Lanka: 34 journalists and media workers killed during present government rule, 26 July 2009:
Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) express its serious concern that even after the government?s declaration of war victory and end of war, intimidation and harassment of media and journalists continue with increasing ferocity. People of Sri Lankaare deprived of their right to information and media and journalists are forced to practice an unprecedented level of self censorship.
It is in this context JDS reports with anger and great sadness that 34 journalists and media workers have been killed with no recourse to justice since the present government was formed. Out of 34 killed three were Sinhala journalists, one Muslim and 30 were from the Tamil community.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE save the Tamils and save the country. Commonwealth members have an obligation to uphold not only the principles of Harare Declaration, they are also members of the UN and thus should uphold the UDHR and as members of this world they have an obligation to uphold the international laws.
There is no need for new laws and new organisations to save the planet or to do justice to the oppressed around the world. Only member countries have to serve justice to ALL their citizens. For that we need statesmen and not just heads of governments that serve populist demands of oppressive ethnic majorities:
Ethnic Conflict and Violence in Sri Lanka – Report of International Commission of Jurists 1981:
”The fate of the Tamils in Sri Lanka remains a matter of international concern”.
The Review, International Commission of Jurists, December 1983:
“The impact of the communal violence(July 1983) on the Tamils was shattering… The evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the violence of the Sinhala rioters on the Tamils amounted to Acts of Genocide”.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/sri-lanka-camps-media-genocide
Sri Lanka – camps, media?genocide? Martin Shaw, 30 June 2009:
What kind of violence has the Sri Lankan state been committing against its Tamil civilian population as the island?s civil war ended; on what scale and with what intentions? Martin Shaw explores the difficult terrain where war, atrocity and genocide meet.
July 28th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Sir,
”….by far the most important characteristic of the organisation is how it lives up to it, how it encourages democracy and enlightened values in member states.”
Then Commonwealth may pay attention to this:
Sri Lanka: Twenty years of make-believe. Sri Lanka?s Commissions of Inquiry, Amnesty International, June 2009:
Official hostility towards critics, and antipathy expressed against international involvement in Sri Lanka, make useful collaboration with the international community on human rights issues that much more difficult. But given the profound domestic limitations on access to justice, and the grave reality of persistent human rights violations, we can see no other solution. The international community should use its significant influence to encourage the Sri Lankan authorities to investigate past violations of international human rights law and humanitarian law, prosecute suspected perpetrators in proceedings that meet international standards of fairness, ensure reparations for victims, and prevent future violations.
July 28th, 2009 at 7:10 am
And this:
Justice in retreat: A report on the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law in Sri Lanka, International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, 26 May 2009:”Judicial independence, the increase in threats and attacks against lawyers filing fundamental rights applications, representing terrorist suspects and taking anti-corruption cases, and the situation of journalists are areas of particular concern.”
July 28th, 2009 at 7:11 am
And this:
Sri Lanka?s Judiciary: Politicised Courts, Compromised Rights, International Crisis Group, 30 June 2009:
Sri Lanka?s judiciary is failing to protect constitutional and human rights. Rather than assuaging conflict, the courts have corroded the rule of law and worsened ethnic tensions. Rather than constraining militarisation and protecting minority rights, a politicised bench under the just-retired chief justice has entrenched favoured allies, punished foes and blocked compromises with the Tamil minority.
July 28th, 2009 at 7:12 am
And this:
Sri Lanka: Briefing Paper – Emergency Laws and International Standards, International Commission of Jurists, March 2009: ”The ICJ is deeply concerned that the approach taken by Sri Lanka over several decades, and especially in recent years, has resulted in a confusing, overbroad and all-pervasive emergency law framework that fails to protect the rights of its citizens, encourages a culture of impunity for serious violations, and exacerbates ethnic tensions and political divisions.”
July 28th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Dear Secretary General
300,000 Tamils have been detained for months behind barbed wire under heavy military guard in Northeast Sri Lanka with restriced access for aid agencies(and NO access for the media).
This is inconsistent with Harare Declaration of the Commonwealth. This is consistent with the UDHR of the UN to which Commonwealth members belong. This is inconsistent with international laws.
We don’t need new laws and new organisations to protect the oppressed around the world. We need countries to uphold the laws that are already there. We need statesmen, not heads of governments that respond to populist demands of ethnic majorities.
July 28th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
” …. collective thinking …. superior contribution….”
Can it prevent the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka?
Professor Francis Boyle(who single-handedly won two World Court Orders in 1993 on the basis of the 1948 Genocide Convention that were overwhelmingly in favour of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Yugoslavia to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Bosnians) of Illinois College of Law, 3 February 2009: ?It is the culmination of the long-standing GOSL policy to inflict genocide upon the Tamils in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, to which Sri Lanka is a contracting party.”
Professor Sornarajah (Faculty of Law, Singapore National University), 24 March 2009: “Every indicia of genocide is satisfied by the conduct of successive Sri Lankan governments, the oppression accentuated in intensity by the present government which has unleashed immense terror through its armed forces on a people in the name of suppression of terrorism. There is a duty incumbent on every state to ensure the protection of the Tamil people. It is important that this duty be taken seriously so that such scourges on humanity are not repeated??.
July 29th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
”We must keep on working for cohesion and coherence, in everything that the global community does”.
Just the recipe for world peace and prosperity, Sir.
The world is overflowing with laws, declarations, resolutions, reports, recommendations ……
But the oppressed contonue to be oppressed:
Sri Lanka: Free Civilians From Detention Camps, Human Rights Watch, 28 July 2009:
”The government, in violation of international law, has since March 2008 confined virtually all civilians displaced by the fighting between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in detention camps”.
July 29th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
”to use the technology that is now available to get potential partners together in the Commonwealth”:
Sri Lanka: Free Civilians From Detention Camps, Human Rights Watch, 28 July 2009:
”Inside the camps, humanitarian workers are prohibited, on threat of being barred from the camps, from discussing with residents the fighting in the final months of the conflict or possible human rights abuses.”
July 29th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
?to use the technology that is now available to get potential partners together in the Commonwealth?:
Sri Lanka: 34 journalists and media workers killed during present government rule, Sunday Leader(Sri Lanka), 26 July 2009:
”Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) express its serious concern that 34 journalists and media workers have been killed with no recourse to justice since the present government was formed. Out of 34 killed three were Sinhala journalists, one Muslim and 30 were from the Tamil community.”
August 1st, 2009 at 12:25 am
”inclusiveness, and the principles that go with it, have to be at the heart of a sustainable global outcome.”
The whole of Northeast Sri Lanka has been cut off from the rest of the country for three years and Jaffna peninsula has been cut off from the rest of the Northeast. Now 300,000 people are detained in a camp surrounded by barbed wire and heavily guarded by the Army.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/07/28/sri-lanka-free-civilians-detention-camps
Sri Lanka: Free Civilians From Detention Camps, 28 July 2009:
”Humanitarian organizations with access to the camps have been forced to sign a statement that they will not disclose information about the conditions in the camps without government permission.”