Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative calls for CMAG reform
Posted by AlexT - 21/10/09 at 02:10 pm
In an article published on Tuesday 20th October 2009, in Caribbean Net News, Maja Daruwala, Executive Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative has called for CMAG reform to be top of the agenda at the Trinidad CHOGM. CMAG is the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group – the Commonwealth watchdog on human rights abuses.
Today, CMAG must be able to deal quickly and unequivocally with situations of constant threats to human rights values by Commonwealth states and open challenges encapsulated in statements like the latest one by President Jammeh of the Gambia where he is unequivocal in his opposition to the Commonwealth’s fundamental political values when he declares on the eve of his departure to New York for the UN General Assembly meeting:
“I will kill anyone, who wants to destabilize this country. If you think that you can collaborate with so called human rights defenders, and get away with it, you must be living in a dream world. I will kill you, and nothing will come out of it. We are not going to condone people posing as human rights defenders to the detriment of the country. If you are affiliated with any human rights group, be rest assured that your security and personal safety would not be guaranteed by my Government. We are ready to kill saboteurs.”
While CMAG has its share of successes, lately there have instances where it has not lived up to expectations. For example in the case of Sri Lanka, reports of large scale civilian deaths, impunity and stifling of human rights in Sri Lanka continued to emerge throughout 2008 and 2009 but CMAG has refused to put Sri Lanka in its agenda. The additional irony is that Sri Lanka itself continues to serve as a member of CMAG during this period for a third consecutive (two year) term contrary to the 1999 Durban Communiqué that limits a country to a maximum of two consecutive terms.
CMAG has also been silent on other parts of the Commonwealth, for instance during the post election violence in Kenya in 2007, when freedom of assembly was curtailed in Malaysia in 2007, and for a long while on the Gambia where many basic human rights are heavily curtailed.
It is worrying to note that the CMAG has by and by interpreted its mandate very narrowly to focus only on the un-constitutional overthrow of governments albeit selectively. While my organisation welcomes the recent suspension of Fiji from the Commonwealth as well as the earlier suspension of Pakistan in 2007, CMAG’s non-action on Bangladesh when there was an army backed government in 2006 has left political activists and civil society organisations monitoring CMAG meetings wondering about its yardsticks.
Category : Democracy & Good Governance, Human Rights, The Official Commonwealth
Tags: CHOGM, CHRI, CMAG
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October 25th, 2009 at 3:21 am
What the Gambian President said has been put into practice in Sri Lanka, esp. in the present regime. 20 journalists have been murdered for criticising the government and none have been punished so far. Two months ago a journaalist was sentenced to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment for criticising the government. If that happened in Zimbabwe or Fiji it would have been news to the Commonwealth but as it happens in Sri Lanka the Commonwealth is mum. At the UN China blocks any questions on Sri Lanka because Sri lanka has offered it the ideal harbour in its trade route in the Indian Ocean. Intergovernmental bodies are of no help to the oppressed around the world. EVERYBODY, please read the Belgian Foreign Minister’s address to the UN General Assembly on 26 September 2009: Nothing can be created without men. Nothing can last without institutions. This means that these institutions should work efficiently …There is an urgent need to improve the efficiency of our own operations. …..In addition to the fragmentation of the UN system, two other trends stress the need for an enhanced multilateral commitment. The first is the multitude of regional and sub-regional organizations, almost everywhere in the world. Although this enhances multilateral cooperation, it sometimes leads to a lack of harmonization between the regional and global institutions. A better cooperation has to be sought so as to guarantee the best possible use of the limited resources of all. The second trend may be summed up by the words ”incomplete multilateralism”. Countries get together on an informal basis to discuss international issues, such as the economic-financial crisis. These informal groups may initially speed up the decision-making process within the international multilateral organizations but they cannot replace those organizations. Rather than being exclusive, multilateralism should be inclusive and transparent. Nothing can last without institutions. But even the best organized institutions cannot function in the absence of human will and inspiration. Even the best organized institutions are powerless when men prevent their functioning. But the worst international disorder is that millions of people are still being killed, maimed, raped in violence that occurs between and within states. The worst international disorder is that millions of people are denied a decent existence because of war, civil conflict, inter-ethnic fighting or harsh repression. This is our first and foremost challenge, because without peace, without security there is no development, let alone sustainable development. Without peace, without security, there can be no fair distribution of the wealth of our Earth. An international legal order is required. But that order can only function if it is based on states governed by the rule of law. So I come back to the need for common positions which are necessary for a world that is safer, fairer and more prosperous.
October 25th, 2009 at 4:44 am
Sri Lanka is in CMAG, the watchdog body of the Commonwealth?? It has been voted out of UNHRC on the basis of its human rights record. If Sri Lanka is in CMAG, the Commonwealth cannot question why it has been ignoring the recommendations of the UN, ICJ, ICG, AI, …in the last 3/4 decades. These are all about its human rights violations. The Commonwealth ”officially” chooses to ignore human rights violations of some countries?? Unless intergovernmental bodies are effective , they are propogating disorder in this world.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:31 am
1.’Twenty Years of Make-Believe: Sri Lanka’s Commissions of Inquiry’, Amnesty International, June 2009
Has Sri Lanka ever been(in twenty years) asked by the Commonwealth what these make-believe commissions are?
2.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.”
Over several decades??????
Who was being served injustice over several decades?
Has Sri lanka been questioned on this by the Commonwealth?
3.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: ”Many of the problems identified in the 2001 IBAHRI Report continue to affect the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law in Sri Lanka and in some respects the situation has deteriorated significantly.”
Has the CMAG ever questioned Sri Lanka what it is doing about the recommendations in the IBAHRI report?
Have the Commonwealth countries ever prodded Sri Lanka what it’s doing ”over several decades”?
4. There are decades of UN reports with recommendations …. ……
November 7th, 2009 at 11:16 am
”Sri Lanka itself continues to serve as a member of CMAG during this period for a third consecutive (two year) term contrary to the 1999 Durban Communiqué that limits a country to a maximum of two consecutive terms.”
Wake up, Commonwealth.
We don’t need intergovernmental bodies to propogate national violations of the rights of its own citizens.
November 7th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
It is ’20 years of make-believe’(AI on Sri Lanka, June 2009) from its backyard.
Sri Lanka successfully challenged the EU at UNHRC in May 2009.
That isn’t all:
”Sri Lanka itself continues to serve as a member of CMAG during this period for a third consecutive (two year) term contrary to the 1999 Durban Communiqué that limits a country to a maximum of two consecutive terms.”
What a small but smart country that can dodge the rest of the world!!
Poor Tamils – forget about any justice in the near future.
November 7th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
It’s mostly the Commonwealth countries that voted with Sri Lanka at the UNHRC session to praise Sri Lanka for its ”victory” over terrorism of the rebels.
What’s intriguing is that the Commonwealth countries and others have not been questioning or prodding Sri Lanka in its failure to implement the recommendations in the reprots of the UN and other human rights bodies. In other words state terrorism of any state is tolerated by other states at any cost.
There is no future for oppressed minorities unless the international bodies run on principles.
Therefore let us do away with the Commonwealth and have the UN running more effectively on principles.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Ooooooohhh,
”Sri Lanka itself continues to serve as a member of CMAG during this period for a third consecutive (two year) term contrary to the 1999 Durban Communiqué that limits a country to a maximum of two consecutive terms.”
I just found the following on another strand here:
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”.
I wonder how the Tamils ahve been getting on with the Sinhalese in that tiny island? trapped and boxed??
Oooohhh….
November 9th, 2009 at 5:26 am
”CMAG is the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group – the Commonwealth watchdog on human rights abuses.”
CMAG is too forgetful!!
”Sri Lanka itself continues to serve as a member of CMAG during this period for a third consecutive (two year) term contrary to the 1999 Durban Communiqué that limits a country to a maximum of two consecutive terms.”
November 9th, 2009 at 5:34 am
Maja Daruwala makes a very good suggestion to get out of the mess:
”Benchmarks for the whole Commonwealth by which year on year improvements in governance and human rights can be clearly evidenced.”
An organisation is as good as its members!!
November 9th, 2009 at 5:54 am
This is very serious:
” ….. Even as we write Sri Lanka still continues to serve as a CMAG member while hundreds of thousands of ethnic minorities remain confined indefinitely in ill-maintained internment camps amidst un-investigated claims of war crimes and reports of widespread danger to human rights defenders and dissenters. CMAG has also been silent on other parts of the Commonwealth, for instance during the post election violence in Kenya in 2007, when freedom of assembly was curtailed in Malaysia in 2007, and for a long while on the Gambia where many basic human rights are heavily curtailed. ….”
Maja Daruwala, thank you for writing the article. I only hope the members will take up this at the forthcoming conference.
If they don’t , it means they aren’t serious about human rights.
Then they should close shop.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-19790–6-6–.html
”Two years ago in 2007 at Kampala the heads of government pledged to end impunity for perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Throughout 2008 and most of 2009 numerous allegations of serious international humanitarian law violations were made against Sri Lanka, and serious doubts were raised about the way the country had conducted its campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Yet despite these doubts the country continued to sit as a CMAG member for a third consecutive term against the decision of the 1999 CHOGM in Durban that countries should be allowed to sit on CMAG for only two consecutive terms.”
Sri Lanka certainly knows how to keep ahead of ”others”!! By hook or by crook!!!!
November 9th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Behaviour of CMAG is enough to dismantle Commonwealth ane strengthen bodies at higher level, ie. UN and bodies at lower level, ie African Union, Union of South American States, etc. so that material and human resources can be used more effectively covering gaps but not overlapping. ”It used to be done this way” must go. ”This brings more effectiveness” must be in.
February 29th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
THE COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES, CANADA, MOST PRECISELY, NEEDS MORE THAN ”SOME REAL” CRIMINAL JUSTICE!!!! ”THE CRIMINAL OFFENCE OF HIGH TREASON AGAINST QUEEN ELIZABETH II AND THE ROYAL FAMILY” IS NOT, I REPEAT NOT IN THE LAW OF HUMAN RIGHTS!!!! THE HAMILTON ”PEDOPHILE HILLYARD” POLICE FORCE OF HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA, THE DISLOYAL NOT ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE-CANADA WIDE, THE CALEDONIA ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE OF CALEDONIA, ONTARIO, CANADA, THE PEDOPHILE SATELLITE OPERATORS-CHILD MOLESTERS-LOWDENS-BINBROOK, ONTARIO, CANADA, PHALENS-BINBROOK AND ST.CATHARINES, ONTARIO, CANADA, VANDENBERGS-BINBROOK AND CALEDONIA, ONTARIO, CANADA, HILLYARDS-WEST HAMILTON MOUNTAIN AND CALEDONIA, ONTARIO, CANADA, ASSOCIATES HAVE CRIMINALLY, ILLEGALLY, ”COWARDLY”, ”HIGH TREASONED QUEEN ELIZABETH II AND THE ROYAL FAMILY; BY OPERATING SATELLITES WHILE WATCHING AND LISTENING TO Q.E.II/THE ROYAL FAMILY IN PRIVACY!!!! THIS IS THE ”CANADIAN COWARDLY ACT” OF ”HIGH TREASON”!!!! ”THESE YELLOW CANADIAN PIECES OF COWARD SHIT”, ARE ALSO DOING THE SAME TO HER MAJESTY’S ARMED FORCES, ALLIED ARMED FORCES IN COMBAT OPERATIONAL AREAS; WHICH IS THE CRIMINAL OFFENCE OF ”ESPIONAGE”!!! THE CANADIAN FORCES-REGULAR FORCE/RESERVES KNOW THE THREE POLICE FORCES ARE LAUGHING ABOUT THIS, SO THE CANADIAN ”COWARD” FORCES SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE HAMILTON POLICE FORCE, OF HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA, TO SUPREME COURT FOR THIS CRIMINAL ACTION!!! THE YELLOW CANADIAN PIECES OF SHIT-”CANADIAN FORCES”; ARE NOW ”GUILTY” OF ”HIGH TREASON AND ESPIONAGE”!!!! FOR QUEEN, COMMONWEALTH AND COUNTRY OF CANADA, IS A FROLIC TO THE CANADIAN ”COWARD” FORCES!!!! BRITAIN WILL HAVE TO CORRECT, LEGALLY, ”CANADA’S COWARDICE” OF HIGH TREASON AND ESPIONAGE; AS THE CORRUPT CANADIANS MENTIONED ABOVE ARE AS REMEMBERED-W.W.II ”LORD HAW HAW’S”!!!! THESE CANADIAN COWARDS MENTIONED, PAY AS MUCH ”LOYALTY” TO THEIR QUEEN ELIZABETH II/THE ROYAL FAMILY, AS THE S.S. DID TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS!!!! THESE ”YELLOW CANADIAN PIECES OF SHIT MENTIONED ABOVE, ARE HYPOCRITICAL, COWARDS, TURNCOATS, BACKSTABBERS, ”CANADIAN PUNKS”!!! THIS ”HIGH TREASON AND ESPIONAGE” HAS BEEN ALIVE FROM 1998-ERA TO FEBRUARY 29, 2012!!!!
”CANADA” HAS TO BE CORRECTED FOR THEIR CRIMINAL COWARDICE, AS PEOPLES ALL OVER THE WORLD-COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES ARE LISTENING TOO Q.E.II/THE ROYAL FAMILY VIA AN ILLEGAL WEBSITE; IN THEIR ROYALTY-REIGN ”PRIVACY”!!! THIS IS THE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY OF ”HIGH TREASON”!!!!
SOMEONE, ANYONE, WHO HAS DIRECT CONTACT WITH Q.E.II/THE ROYAL FAMILY, PLEASE NOTIFY THE ROYAL FAMILY OF THIS CRIMNAL CANADIAN ACTIVITY; AS THE CANADIANS MENTIONED THINK IT IS A ”GAME”!!!! OUR CANADIAN MILITARY-NOT ”ROYAL” CANADIAN ”NAVY, ARMY AND AIR FORCE”, ARE ”COWARDS AND MEANINGLESS AND WORTHLESS”, TO SUPPORT Q.E.II, THE ROYAL FAMILY, COMMONWEALTH, COUNTRY OF CANADA!!! THEIR CANADIAN POLICE OFFICERS FROM THE THREE POLICE FORCES MENTIONED, THAT ARE IN THE CANADIAN FORCES-RESERVES, ARE ”YELLOW CANADIAN SHIT”!!!!! THEY THINK IT IS A GAME AND A JOKE FOR CANADA TO BE LIVING IN ”HIGH TREASON AND ESPIONAGE”!!!
PLEASE, SOME ETHICAL PERSON, WHO CAN ASSIST QUEEN ELIZABETH II/COMMONWEALTH, ADJUST THESE ”CANADIAN COWARDS MENTIONED”!!!
FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH II/THE ROYAL FAMILY, HER MAJESTY’S ARMED FORCES, I REMAIN Brian ”THE LION” Murza-R33894777, W.W.II Naval Researcher/Author, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
”THESE COWARD CANADIANS ABOVE MENTIONED” HAVE GONE TOO FAR!!!!!