Endorsing Sri Lanka to host the next (2013) conference was a slap in the face for those calling for an independent international investigation into the 2009 massacre in northern Sri Lanka and an end to the ongoing persecution of the Tamils. To his credit, Canadian PM Stephen Harper had said he would boycott the next CHOGM if it was held in Sri Lanka.

Proposals from the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) to strengthen CHOGM’s ability to deal with human rights violations were either deferred or rejected. A key EPG recommendation had been for a new commissioner on the rule of law, democracy and human rights who would have a mandate to speak out. This was knocked on the head by some southern African and south Asian nations.

The EPG pointed out the short-comings of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), made up of foreign ministers, which has been weak in addressing human rights violations. While Commonwealth members (eg. Fiji) have been suspended after there’s been a military coup CMAG has failed to implement the 1991 Harare Declaration and condemn “severe and persistent violations of democracy and human rights.”

There is no better illustration of this than the Commonwealth’s failure to act over the atrocious human rights situation in Sri Lanka and the complete denial of accountability by the Rajapakse government for the 2009 genocide. A Canadian EPG member, Senator Hugh Segal, said the failure over Sri Lanka “speaks to the thesis of [Commonwealth] irrelevance.” Our government seems to have kept a low profile at this CHOGM, which is a pity when so much is at stake, including the very future of the Commonwealth.

This BBC film, wherever it is shown, prompts calls for an independent international inquiry into what are clearly war crimes – which is why the Sri Lankan government hates it. Pro-government Sri Lankans, in tandem with their High Commission, did everything they could to stop the film being shown in the New Zealand Parliament. But they were not successful.

The screening was hosted by three Members of Parliament, Maryan Street from Labour, Jackie Blue from National and myself from the Green Party and attended by other MPs, including Hone Harawira, leader of the Mana Party.

The film is now being shown around the country by community groups. See it if it comes your way. It’s a film you need to see, even if you don’t “enjoy” it.

The “international community” should get moving now, because the Sri Lankan government has already dismissed the report out of hand. It is embarrassed that the Panel blames the Sri Lankan army for most of the “tens of thousands” of deaths in the last months of the war.  The Sri Lankan army encouraged Tamil civilians to move into “no-fire zones” and then shelled and bombed them. The Panel also condemns the government for shelling hospitals, blocking humanitarian assistance, and violating the rights of Internally Displaced Persons, LTTE cadres, the media, and critics of government policy. The Tamil Tigers were also condemned for preventing civilians from escaping the conflict zone, and suicide attacks which killed civilians.

Getting a full international investigation won’t be easy, because countries like China will try to block any further UN action. The European Parliament’s compromise resolution makes some good points but essentially leaves it up to the Sri Lankan government to investigate further and implement the Panel’s recommendations.

However, we can’t afford to let the matter lie. As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights  Navi Pillay said “The way this conflict was conducted, under the guise of fighting terrorism, challenged the very foundations of the rules of war and cost the lives of tens of thousands of civilians.”

Images of Tamil refugees from placards displayed at a protest outside the NZ Parliament

In 2001 the Clark Government stepped in and gave a helping hand to some people in pretty dire circumstances when we accepted a number of asylum seekers fleeing Afghanistan.

Boat people fleeing the civil war raging between the Northern Alliance and the Taliban had been rescued off the coast of Australia by a Norwegian Freighter the Tampa

The Tampa had then been denied entry to Australia by John Howard’s Government.

A similar situation is playing out across the Tasman right now but this time it involves Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers fleeing from the repression in their home country in the aftermath of a civil war. Some of them are on an Australian customs ship, the Oceanic Viking, anchored off Indonesia and desperate to come to Australia.

Hundreds of thousands of Tamil’s have been displaced in the fighting and are now living in hastily put together refugee camps. These camps have been largely shut off from the outside world although there has been some limited news media access:

I asked questions of our own Government regarding the conditions in these camps a few months ago.

It is good that the New Zealand Government had made some criticisms about the Sri Lankan clampdown on the Tamils. But now we have the chance to do something more – to give shelter to some of the boat people coming to Australia. After all the proper checks of course.

Taking in Afghans  from the Tampa 2001 boosted our reputation among fair-minded Australians. And the “Tampa boys”, as they are affectionately known, have flourished here.

We can again show our Aussie cousins what a caring people we are by following the lead of our Government back in 2001.

“Unlock the Camps” has been the call of Sri Lankan Tamils on demonstrations I attended in Auckland and Wellington recently.

It is horrendous that 300,000 Tamils are still detained in camps in northern Sri Lanka. The response of the world community has been pathetic, given the scale of suffering.

Our Government hasn’t done much on the issue since May, when the war ended, if answers to my parliamentary questions are anything to go buy.

In one answer the Foreign Minister, Murray McCully, buys into Sri Lankan government propaganda that ere is an ‘agreed timetable for the safe return of displaced people to their home areas.’

Question: Is the government intending to make submissions to the Sri Lankan government over its refusal to let most of the Tamil people confined to camps in the north of the country return to their home areas; if so, what will be the nature of those submissions?

Answer Text: The Government has consistently raised concerns about conditions in the camps for internally displaced people in northern Sri Lanka.  Concerns about the plight of civilians caught in the civil war were noted in my press statements of 4 February, 22 April, 1 May, and 26 May. New Zealand expects that the Sri Lankan government will keep to its agreed timetable for the safe return of displaced people to their home areas. We have concerns about the humanitarian situation bilaterally with the Sri Lankan government at appropriate junctures and will continue to do so in meetings of Ministers and at officials level.  New Zealand will also continue make statements on this issue in the UN at appropriate occasions.

Portfolio: Foreign Affairs; Minister: Hon Murray McCully;

There is no such agreement with the Tamils; and there is nothing ‘safe’ about the camps. People are dying in their hundreds, partly because authorities are restricting the work of welfare agencies. Those detained simply want the freedom – granted under international law – to go home when they want to.