Australia was represented by Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in Sri Lanka for the “Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting” popularly known as the CHOGM SUMMIT

At this CHOGM meeting held in SRI LANKA , many countries decided to boycott the CHOGM  meet.

India’s refused to attend the meeting due to human rights concerns.

The Meet was also boycotted by Canada, and Mauritius in protest against alleged war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government.

The UK Prime Minister David Cameron also laid a ultimatum to the Sri Lankan government for a probe into the charges of human rights violations and war crimes in the island nation.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he’s boycotting the talks because of Sri Lanka’s refusal to address alleged human rights abuses by the military during the country’s civil war

What is CHOGM ?

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is a biennial summit meeting of the heads of government from all Commonwealth nations. Every two years the meeting is held in a different member state

Queen Elizabeth II, who is the Head of the Commonwealth, has attended every CHOGM beginning with Ottawa in 1973.

The last CHOGM was held in Western Australia , Perth between 28th to 30th Oct. in 2011 and the next one in 2015 is to be held in Malta.