CMAG needs to be reviewed and strengthened By Maja Daruwala, Executive Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 20 October 2009:
”… CMAG is the watchdog body of the Commonwealth. … 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. …”

As a Sri Lankan Tamil I’ve been utterly dejected by the inaction of Commonwealth over decades in halting the maceration of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
I’m unable to find if and when Sri Lanka was discussed at the Commonwealth conferences – I’ve scoured the Commonwealth Secretariat website but to no avail.

Can you please help me find if and when Sri lanka was discussed by the Commonwealth Heads of Governments or Ministers of Foreign Affairs?

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”.

International Dimensions of the Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka, John P. Neelsen(Tuebingen University, Germany), 20th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies, 8-11 July 2008: ”A shortcoming in international law as to internal colonialism and the right to self-determination renders the current types of international intervention not just inadequate to contribute to a negotiated solution of ethnic conflicts, but tends to inflame them.”

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) releases 12th annual list, 21 December 2009:
‘’Civilians attacked, bombed, and cut off from aid in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), along with stagnant funding for treating HIV/AIDS and ongoing neglect of other diseases, were among the worst emergencies in 2009, the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported today in its annual list of the “Top Ten” humanitarian crises.’’

Commonwealth chemistry is curious if one goes by the contents of the following article:

CMAG needs to be reviewed and strengthened By Maja Daruwala, Executive Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 20 October 2009