The Right Honourable Stephen Harper PC MP Office of the Prime Minister 80 Wellington Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2

CANADA Dear Prime Minister, On behalf of the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, I am writing to thank you for your public statement that you do not under present circumstances in Sri Lanka intend to attend the 2013 commonwealth summit: CHOGM. As the first person to intimate a boycott of the event, you have the potential to become a leader to others, and thus reinforce the impact of your own action. Like many others, I am extremely concerned about the prospect of CHOGM conferring undeserved legitimacy on President Rajapaksa. As it happens, I was in Khartoum at the time of the 2006 African Union Summit, for which the Sudan Government had prepared lavishly, including building 40 new villas along the Nile. Even while the summit was taking place, the security service rounded up participants in a civil society meeting, both international and Sudanese, and detained them for several hours. This spectacular own goal, widely reported, may have helped to ensure the unprecedented decision not to award the AU Presidency to El Bashir. I thought at the time that this was an exceptionally brave and principled decision, and a real feather in the cap for the AU. I very much hope that members of the Commonwealth will show the same resolve. We look forward to working with you over the coming months to ensure that either there is a significant and lasting improvement in human rights in Sri Lanka, or that CHOGM is not the public relations triumph for Sri Lanka that President Rajapaksa so needs it to be. No doubt the pro-CHOGM campaign will intensify over the coming months - we look forward to working with you to build a strong alliance for a principled stand CAROLYN HAYMAN OBE Company Secretary and Board Member, Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice.