RSS Feed Subscribe to this blog

Blog

These blog postings do not necessarily represent the views of all members of the Advisory Council.

25/11/2011


Galle dialogue 2011

The recent Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice ‘Sink The Seminar’ campaign had a fantastic response from concerned individuals around the world. Over 6,000 messages were sent to the 25 invited Governments via our campaign website. They were demanding that their Governments not whitewash the reputation of Sri Lanka’s military for brutality and rights abuses – as documented in the United Nations report of the Secretary-General’s panel of experts on accountability in Sri Lanka.

23 out of the 25 invited Governments attended, with the UK and South Africa pulling out at the 11th hour; whilst Dr W Lawrence S. Prabhakar, Associate Professor Department of Political Science of Madras Christian College Chennai, declined to present a paper on "Non Military Applications in Regional Maritime Domain; Opportunities, Trends and Challenges"; although the Government claimed this was due to reasons beyond his control.

All 25 Governments received a significant number of individual demands to boycott of the seminar. The number of messages sent was as follows:

Australia – 645

UK – 594

Canada – 440

USA – 422

France – 307

India – 285

Bangladesh – 249

Japan – 233

South Africa – 240

Singapore – 222

Malaysia – 202

China – 187

Indonesia – 172

South Korea – 179

UAE – 165

Thailand – 166

Kenya – 158

Russia – 163

Iran – 150

Seychelles – 151

Maldives – 153

Oman – 148

Burma – 139

Qatar – 139

Pakistan – 134

TOTAL 6043

Despite 23 of these countries attending the conference, this campaign has highlighted that Governments can not get away with saying one thing in public and another in private. If they attend what are essentially PR events that seek to legitimise the actions of a Sri Lankan State then we will notice, and we will draw attention to it. We would like to thank our supporters for making that possible.

Want to help us run similar campaigns? Click here to find out how you can support us.


Copyright ©Sri Lanka Campaign 2010. Sri Lanka Campaign is a company limited by guarantee.

Site Design: 3sixty Creative | Powered by LiveSite Admin