AUSTRALIA: Commonwealth Foreign Ministers gather for a second day ahead of a leaders summit that aims to address human rights issues and prevent the institution from sliding into irrelevance

Record ID: 559610

  • Title: AUSTRALIA: Commonwealth Foreign Ministers gather for a second day ahead of a leaders summit that aims to address human rights issues and prevent the institution from sliding into irrelevance
  • Date: 28th October 2011
  • Summary: PERTH, AUSTRALIA (OCTOBER 27, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PERTH BOATS IN RIVER VARIOUS OF SECURITY OUTSIDE CONVENTION CENTRE WHERE COMMONWEALTH HEADS OF GOVERNMENT MEETING (CHOGM) BEING HELD CHOGM SIGN VARIOUS OF COMMONWEALTH FOREIGN MINISTERS SEATED DURING MEETING AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER KEVIN RUDD FOREIGN MINISTERS AND REPRESENTATIVES SEATED CANADIAN FOREIGN MINISTER JOHN BAIRD FOREIGN MINISTERS AND REPRESENTATIVES MEETING SRI LANKAN CABINET MINISTER FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS LAKSHMAN PEIRIS SPEAKING TO AID BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY WILLIAM HAGUE SITTING VARIOUS OF FOREIGN MINISTERS AND REPRESENTATIVES SITTING DURING MEETING
  • Embargoed: 12th November 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Australia, Australia
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6QW683RT5LVQ5YEGXG9BDLZZC
  • Story Text: Commonwealth foreign ministers gathered for a second day in Perth, Australia on Thursday (October 27), as more leaders arrived for the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) set to start on Friday (October 28).
    A proposal to appoint a Commonwealth human rights commissioner to steer a more proactive rights agenda looks set to test a summit this week as the 54 member nations try to make a more lasting impact on world affairs.
    Sri Lanka, at war with Tamil Tiger rebels for a quarter of a century, rejects outside interference in its human rights affairs, an issue that could divide the summit.
    At a business conference on the sidelines of the foreign minister's meeting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa defended his country's human rights record.
    "An end to terrorism violence was absolutely essential to move the country forward on the part of economic and social development," he said without directly referring to the allegations of human rights violations.
    The U.N. and human rights groups have called for an independent inquiry into allegations of war crimes during the closing stages of the war which ended in 2009.
    The Commonwealth includes Britain and many of its former colonies. Rich members such as Australia, Britain and Canada want a stronger focus on human rights. Canada has criticised Sri Lanka over its rights record and has threatened to boycott the Commonwealth summit in 2013 in Colombo.
    "The ultimate measure of this institution's value going forward will remain the commitment asked of member governments, all member governments, to the elevation of human dignity and liberty for all their citizens. In the next few days, it is my strong hope, that the Commonwealth shall reaffirm, and reinvigorate, this great purpose," said Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
    Sri Lanka is due to hand down a human rights report in November, but rights groups believe it will be flawed because they say there is no effective witness protection scheme.
    A confidential Commonwealth "eminent persons'" report to the leaders recommends reforms to avoid a slide into irrelevance, including that the group act more decisively to uphold human rights.
    "I feel that the Commonwealth may not be relevant after a few years. It must become proactive. There is a need to revitalise the Commonwealth countries. The regime today has not really been able to stop human rights violations in several countries which are members of the Commonwealth," said human rights advocate and former Chief Justice in the Delhi High Court, Ajit Prakash Shah.
    Interest groups in the commonwealth countries have brought up various issues for the CHOGM summit to consider.
    The Royal Commonwealth Society and Plan International Australia called on Commonwealth leaders to act to end the practice of child brides, saying around 10 million girls under 18 were forced into marriages each year. They said 12 out of 20 countries with the highest rates of child brides are in the Commonwealth.
    The Commonwealth Trade Union Group said there was widespread abuse of workers' rights in the Commonwealth, naming Fiji and Swaziland the worst cases and citing incidents of arrests, beatings and deaths of workers.
    Health advocates said laws in 41 Commonwealth states making homosexuality a crime breached human rights and hindered the fight against HIV-AIDS. Many of the laws were first enacted in colonial times.
    Commonwealth states are home to 30 percent of the world's population, but represent 60 percent of the world's HIV-AIDS population, with more than 40 million infected people.
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