Sharma rejects criticism of soft pedalling MR regime on HR violations

The outgoing Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma rejected the criticism of the Commonwealth’s role and 
his leadership peaked in the lead-up to Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting  (CHOGM) 2013 in Sri Lanka. 

Human rights groups and pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam organisations in Britain accused him of soft-pedalling the human rights abuses of the Rajapaksa regime, which in turn led to some heads of government boycotting the meeting.

In a interview with the The Hindu, Mr. Sharma dismissed this criticism and said that the most important point about the Commonwealth is that it engages with member states to advance the values template,” he said. “I made five visits to Sri Lanka, but you can’t keep on talking about it in public for the reason that work has to be done below the radar to carry political conviction. The results become visible at the end.” He started the practice of issuing departure statements so that citizens were clear about why he had come and what he had achieved.

Mr. Sharma pointed to the present Sri Lankan government’s appreciation of the role the Commonwealth played, and the practical steps taken in the form of round tables on reconciliation, and in training observers for the elections: “In the case of appointments to senior judicial offices, I spelt my disappointment very clearly, and we gave a compendium to the Rajapaksa government of best practices in the Commonwealth.”