Thursday, 5 January 2012

I just want to make sure that the British Commonwealth of "yesterday" has been replaced by the New Commonwealth of "today".


I place here for you a small account but in attachment is an article perhaps pointing out the difference. Much of the research I have done on this subjectr came about in trying to complete the questionaire for this Governments proposals on "The Role and future of the Commonwealth. My how we do take our Governments for granted at times. The Report is 206 pages long, however, the choice is yours for "to read or not to read".

Here below is a little more on the subject.

Anne

COMMONWEALTH REFUSES TO RELEASE REPORT ON REFORMS

Published On:Tuesday, October 18, 2011

COMMONWEALTH leaders are sitting on a groundbreaking report prepared by their own advisory group that has concluded the 54-nation organization will lose international relevancy and moral authority unless it institutes key reforms.


The warning comes from the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group, an 11-person panel - which includes Canadian Senator Hugh Segal - appointed by Commonwealth leaders at their last meeting in 2009.


The group was tasked with raising the profile and influence of the Commonwealth. After a major review that included public consultation, the advisory group submitted its final report, entitled A Commonwealth of the People: Time for Urgent Reform, about a month ago.

There are 106 recommendations in the report, and its direction is clear from a statement the group issued in the spring. They are proposing a Charter of the Commonwealth, and the appointment of a commissioner for democracy and the rule of law who would keep track of whether member nations are persistently violating "core values" in areas such as human rights.

Moreover, the group advocates more initiatives to battle HIV/AIDS, a stronger collective interest in the debt challenges faced by developing countries, a firm plan on climate change and measures to ensure women are treated fairly and equally.

"The Commonwealth is in danger of becoming irrelevant and unconvincing as a values-based association," the advisory group said last March. Earlier this fall, the group submitted its final report to Commonwealth leaders, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and requested that it be publicly released before they hold their biennial meeting October 28-30 in Perth, Australia.

But some countries have opposed that request and as a result, because the Commonwealth operates by consensus, the document is remaining secret for now.


That has perturbed all of the advisory group's members such as Segal, who spoke to Postmedia News Wednesday, and Sir Ronald Sanders, who delivered an impassioned speech Wednesday in London. Senator Segal wants the report released now to help generate strong public debate in advance of the leaders' summit. He notes that the last time the Commonwealth established a similar Eminent Persons Group was in 1986, when that report - issued four months before a leaders' meeting - dealt with apartheid and was credited with being a catalyst that forced South Africa to end its segregationist practices. This time, said Senator Segal, the new report is needed to kick-start crucial reforms.


"The world which the Commonwealth now serves is way different than what it was 40 or 50 years ago," he said. "Wealth is changing hands remarkably quickly. The largest democracy in the Commonwealth is now India. The change in the way in which people live their lives has been remarkable. The challenges of poverty and development are overwhelming."

Senator Segal said the organization can play a substantial role if its goals and principles are "clear" instead of being perceived as an international body that works behind the scenes. "In the end, there's no treaty or contract. (See the end of the article, it does appear to be 'binding'-Anne) It's a voluntary association of 54 countries and 2.4 billion people. You've got to keep working at it to get it right. If you become complacent about it, it will atrophy and die."


On Wednesday, Sir Ronald - a former high commissioner for Antigua and Barbuda to Britain - said he and other members of the advisory group believe the upcoming leaders' meeting will be a "defining occasion" for the Commonwealth.

"As a result of the decisions made there, the Commonwealth will either go forward, reinvigorated and resolute as a values-based organization intent on making a difference to its people and the wider international community, or it will limp along as a much devalued grouping to a future of disregard, deterioration and disappearance."


Sir Ronald said the advisory group received 330 written submissions from throughout the Commonwealth, including governments, trade unions political parties and civil society groups. He said that after 13 months of work, all the panel members remain convinced of the Commonwealth's potential "as an instrument for good".

But that will take reform, he cautioned. "If the Commonwealth continues with its business as usual, it will lose its moral authority and international respect, providing little benefit to its member states, particularly the small ones."

For instance, Sir Ronald said that in recent years a few Commonwealth countries (which he didn't identify) have "strayed away from the collective values of the association".

Apart from instances of unconstitutional coups of governments, he said, the Commonwealth has not spoken out or taken action "to bring errant countries into compliance".

"This absence of action - and the silence of the Commonwealth collectively - has severely hurt the Commonwealth's credibility. It has resulted in the accusation that the organization is hypocritical. It is an accusation that heads of government must themselves prove to be wrong.

"If they fail to do so, the Commonwealth might limp along for a while longer, but it will surely lose its influence within its own membership and in the wider international community in which it has played an important role in the past."

And here for you

The report of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) By Sir Ronald Sanders

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Thursday November 4, 2011 - The report of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) on urgent reform of the Commonwealth dominated the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth. It is now a seminal document in the Commonwealth’s history, and will remain the focus of attention for much needed change in the Commonwealth over the next few months. The fact that some of the recommendations became matters of controversy between governments in no way diminishes the significance of the Report; if anything, the controversy has served to heighten its importance.

The report is entitled, “A commonwealth of the People: Time for Urgent Reform”. Implicit in the report’s title is that the Commonwealth is an association not only of governments but also of peoples. The EPG’s report reflects the views and aspirations of more than 90 civil society and professional organisations from all over the Commonwealth set out in 330 written submissions to the Group. Now that the Report has codified these views and aspirations, it will become the benchmark for judging the effectiveness and worth of the Commonwealth as a values-based organisation concerned equally with development and democracy.

Members of the EPG knew that some of its recommendations would cause concern for some governments. That was why the EPG requested that the Report be released well ahead of CHOGM. It was hoped that early discussion would have created better understanding of the recommendations and the arguments that informed them. Understanding of the Report also suffered from no provision for the EPG to interface with key governments before CHOGM. And, at CHOGM itself, except for one brief period in which EPG Chairman, Tun Abdullah Badawi, was invited to present the Report formally, no exchange between Heads of Government and the EPG took place.

In what can best be described as a squandered opportunity, Foreign Ministers discussed the Report in their pre-CHOGM meeting with EPG members in the room, and never once sought any explanations from the Group. The EPG recommendations were broken into three segments: the Charter; the Commissioner for Democracy the Rule of Law and Human Rights; and all other recommendations. An inordinate amount of time was spent debating the first two matters, and no time at all was accorded to the remaining 104 recommendations.

Fortunately, Heads of Government handled the report differently. In their exchanges – particularly at the Retreat – Heads of Government addressed the Report as a whole and required Foreign Ministers to reconvene immediately to consider the recommendations that they had arbitrarily set aside for review at one of their meetings next year.

It is significant that all of the EPG’s recommendations on strengthening CMAG were accepted as being in line with CMAG’s own recommendations for reform of itself. In this regard, the EPG recommendation for a Commissioner forced the further empowerment of CMAG to address issues of violations of Commonwealth values that, other than the unconstitutional overthrow of a government, it has overlooked since its creation. Greater scrutiny will now be placed on CMAG to see if it carries-out its new mandate.

Additionally, the Secretary-General and CMAG have been “tasked to further evaluate relevant options” relating to the EPG’s proposal for a Commissioner and to report back to Foreign Ministers at their September 2012 meeting in New York”. In this connection, all is not yet lost. The appointment of a Commissioner (or any other name that the post is given) remains a missing but vital link in the capacity of both CMAG and the Secretary-General to evaluate conditions in a country objectively and to take remedial action before any violations become serious or persistent warranting punitive action by CMAG or Heads of Government. In the pre-CHOGM Foreign Ministers meeting, the Chairman of CMAG, the Foreign Minister of Ghana, in a robust intervention said as much. In the next few months, he will have the chance to put that case again.

The idea of a Charter of the Commonwealth has been accepted in the way that the EPG recommended. Crucial to the recommendation is that any Charter should be the subject of public consultation in every Commonwealth country with the involvement of civil society. If the Charter were to be simply a collection of existing Commonwealth values and principles into a single document, it would have added no real value. The value that it should now add is the involvement of the people in whose name governments will sign it. Of course, like the existing declarations, the Charter will have no legal obligations but, at least, people who participate in the public consultations will have a say in the values by which they will measure their governments and civil society organisations and hold them accountable.

Significantly Heads of Government also adopted “without reservation” another 30 recommendations, and further adopted 12 more subject to consideration of financial implications. Additionally, a Task Force of Ministers will be appointed to provide detailed advice on 43 other recommendations to Foreign Ministers at their September 2012 meeting in New York, as a basis for further decision by Heads. Clearly, and happily, Heads have decided to remain involved.

aware that, given the present financial austerity gripping every Commonwealth country, some recommendations could be implemented immediately and others would have to be deferred. What is extremely important is that, in the process of the Ministerial Task Force’s work, the 43 recommendations should not be abandoned. Helpfully, the Secretariat has identified them and they have been posted on its website. Monitoring them will now be relatively easy. Among the 43 recommendations that will be considered next year are: broadening elections observations to make them more effective; steps to encourage the repeal of discriminatory laws that impede the effective response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic; and action at national levels to end social victimisation of women that leads to crimes against them and their economic dis-empowerment.

This is not a pan-Commonwealth decision. It is a case of the Commonwealth being constrained by the most intractable in its midst. More progressive governments will continue to press for change, and so too will the people of all Commonwealth countries particularly those where governments cling to oppressive laws and practices.

Puzzlingly, among the 11 recommendations “deemed inappropriate for adoption” is that Foreign Ministers should hold dedicated and pre-planned meetings with representatives of CSOs and professional organisations in the years between CHOGMs to agree on recommendations for joint programmes and projects which would be submitted to the next CHOGM for endorsement and implementation. Hopefully, the rejection of this recommendation will be revisited for its goes to the heart of a serious dialogue between governments and civil society, and would go a far way to acknowledging that the Commonwealth is as much for people as it for governments.

Everything in the EPG report has not been adopted, but wise Heads prevailed sufficiently to embrace the bulk of the recommendations. And, the rest will not go away. The Commonwealth has reached its turning point. Click here to receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)

(The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sir Ronald Sanders. Sir Ronald Sandersis a member of the Commonwealth Emminent Persons Group)

Members of the Eminent Person’s Group (In the presence of Her Majesty)

AND

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/commonwealth/commonwealth-priorities/chogm/eminent-persons-group/

AND with its own flag

http://www.thecommonwealth.org/news/225943/070710commonwealth_eminent_persons_group.htm

Commonwealth Human Rights initiative

http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/chogm/info/EPG_FAQs.pdf

http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/chogm/info/EPG_FAQs.pdf

CHOGM

http://www.chogm2011.org/Resources/Latest_News/chogm-2011-final-communique

AND

http://www.chogm2011.org/

AND big meeting with Queen 2011

http://www.thecommonwealth.org/subhomepage/33247/

The 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was held in Perth, Western Australia, from 28 to 30 October. The theme was 'Building National Resilience, Building Global Resilience'.

Every two years, Commonwealth leaders meet at CHOGM to discuss global and Commonwealth issues, and to agree on collective policies and initiatives. CHOGMs are organised by the host nation in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Issues discussed include international peace and security, democracy, good governance, sustainable development, debt management, education, environment, gender equality, health, human rights, information and communication technology, law, multilateral trade issues, small states and youth affairs.
More...

CHOGM 2013 will be held in Sri Lanka.

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http://www.tribune242.com/news/10172011_Commonwealth_news_pg

Posted by Britannia Radio at 11:13