G20 agriculture ministers have agreed a 24-page action plan to combat rising foodstuff commodity prices, to be submitted to heads of government at their upcoming November summit.

Following negotiations in Paris, representatives of the world’s major economies hailed the roadmap which calls for greater transparency in “distortion free” commodity markets including a data collection system to detect future shocks.

The ministers on Thursday said they intended to “improve the functioning” of agricultural commodities’ derivatives and stressed the need for “well-functioning” markets and means to manage the risks of excessive price volatility.

In their communiqué, they called for greater and sustainable productivity and “better market information that improves transmission of market signals” as a means of improving the global supply and security of food.

A new Agricultural Market Information System, housed at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, will encourage major players in agricultural markets to share data. It will also “promote greater shared understanding” of food pricing and strengthen policy dialogue.

“We recognise the importance of timely, accurate and transparent information in helping to address food price volatility, and agree on the need to improve the quality, reliability, accuracy, timeliness and comparability of data on agricultural markets (production, consumption and stocks),” the communiqué added.

“The AMIS will involve G20 countries in the early stage and invite other main grain and oilseeds producing, exporting and importing countries, representatives from major commodity exchange markets and the private sector to participate.”

First published at gfsnews.com

Copyright: ComSec

By Will Henley

Senior legal figures recount some of the challenges faced in enforcing international women’s convention in India and Nigeria.

Exactly thirty years ago this month, at a special ceremony in Copenhagen on 17 July 1980, 64 states signed into being the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

This landmark international human rights instrument – CEDAW for short – is regarded by many as the first all-encompassing international bill of rights for women. It not only defines discrimination, but commits states to national action ensuring equality between the sexes.

The convention is important, according to Indira Jaising, a member of the UN Committee responsible for monitoring implementation, because it affords politicians a legal basis for socially progressive law making. “It paves the way,” she insists, “for government to put in place policies that are specifically tailored to ensure outcomes that are as beneficial to women as they are to men.”

Cultural and legal practices

Yet three decades on, despite today boasting 186 signatories, few countries are nearing full compliance, says Ms Jaising, a staunch defender of women’s rights and the first female in India to be appointed Additional Solicitor-General, one of the country’s six most senior legal officers.

As she explains, reconciling cultural traditions and religious and legal norms with international human rights standards has proven difficult in many nations. Discrimination against women on issues such as inheritance, marriage rights, child custody and adoption is still prevalent, even in India which has enshrined equality into its constitution and ratified CEDAW in 1993.

“Almost all countries now guarantee equality [between men and women] in their constitutions, but not many achieve equality in terms of outcomes,” she continues. “In terms of violence against women the situation is horrendous – the world hasn’t come close to eliminating it.

“In India we have a constitution which guarantees equality and our judiciary is fairly independent, but I don’t see an equality of outcomes. Women are not very well represented in the legislature and just look at literacy levels, employment law or female mortality. The practice of aborting female foetuses, too, is well known.”

Political will

In her role as Additional Solicitor-General, Ms Jaising says she expects to “refer to CEDAW” as she looks into cases of sexual harassment in the workplace and violence in the home. Yet there is a steep hill to climb, she concedes. Reconciling centuries-old cultural traditions and religious norms with international human rights conventions, while overcoming a lack of political will, is no easy feat.

“We [in India] have a lot of unequal family laws based on religion, which the government refuses to reform because it says communities have the right to preserve their traditions. They are also worried about the political fallout [of enforcing change].”

In Nigeria, another signatory to CEDAW, observers also say that implementation to date has been stymied by cultural and legal obstacles.

According to Hon Justice CC Nweze,  a Court of Appeal judge, the country’s “major problem” with respect to the implementation of the convention relates to a lack of appropriate statutory legislation to ensure the enforcement of its provisions, despite the ratification of CEDAW in 1985.

Lawmakers, he argues, have demonstrated little ambition to pass legislation to “domesticate” the convention. He claims this “legislative lethargy” has denied judges the opportunity to rely on and apply appropriate international human rights standards, especially when adjudicating on issues such as inheritance and property disputes between women and men.

The new rules direct that we must respect all international conventions whether domesticated or not

“When [politicians are elected] their tendency is to fend for themselves rather than cater for the majority of people. If we had proactive lawmakers, the provisions of CEDAW would have been reflected in statutory legislation already,” he says. “If international conventions are not incorporated into domestic law they cannot be used.”

Optimism for the future

For Nigeria’s female citizenry however, there may now be cause for cheer. New guidance on fundamental rights came into force six months ago, introduced by the country’s Chief Justice. This guidance, the so-calledFundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, give judges the power to directly apply to cases before them the provisions of applicable international human rights conventions such as CEDAW.

“The new rules direct that we must respect all international conventions whether domesticated or not,” says Hon Justice Nweze. “This means judges have a duty to consider relevant conventions including CEDAW and apply them to cases here.”

Although the impact of the rules remains to be seen, many experts are convinced that this could be a watershed moment for the implementation of all kinds of international human rights conventions ratified by the West African country.

Predicting that its courts can now expect a “flood” of new cases from women who believe they have been subjected to discrimination, Hon Justice Nweze suggests Nigeria’s women will reap “immense benefits” from the change. “This,” he says, “is a great revolution.”

Without prejudice

The experiences and insights of both Hon Justice Nweze and Indira Jaising are dealt with in a new study, Without Prejudice: CEDAW and the determination of women’s rights in a legal and cultural context, published by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The publication looks at the range of cultural and legal concerns relating to the implementation of CEDAW and features chapters by leading practitioners and academics currently engaged with the issue.

A compendium of useful Commonwealth documents, agreements and case law, the book acts as a practical guide for judges, adjudicators, lawyers and activists to advance the principles of CEDAW within Commonwealth jurisdictions.

Link here.

By Will Henley

New series of case studies details link between women and global markets and the gender impacts of trade policies.

A decade ago, Balabai Kamble was struggling to make a living for her family.

Like many skilled female artisans in India, she and her husband were saddled with the debt of a loan from a local trader, and making only enough handcrafted Indian kolhapuri sandals to buy the most essential of items.

“It was just enough to eat and pay for clothing - there was nothing much else in the house,” she says. “Our economic condition was really bad.” With a husband, daughter and two sons to support, her prospects were few and far between.

According to Madhura Chatrapathy, a trustee of Ascent, a Bangaluru-based social enterprise, Mrs Kamble’s experience is typical of female artisans from the “lowest stratospheres of society” who are taken advantage of by local traders.

Despite playing a vital role in the production process, women like Mrs Kamble are largely sidelined economically, she explains. Traders loan their husbands money, tie them to exclusive contracts, then pay them such low wages that they remain indebted and impoverished.

“They are exploited,” she says. “The whole family gets into trouble as the traders will not allow them to sell to anybody else. They get a very low return for their products and never get out of debt.”

Joining together in a collective

Ten years ago, with the help of Ascent, Mrs Kamble and around 200 fellow kolhapuri artisans decided to pool their resources and form their own business to free themselves from this form of bonded labour. With funds from the United Nations Development Programme and India’s National Leather Development Programme, the Toehold Artisans Collaborative was launched as a collection of 11 separate self-help groups.

Ascent helped the women artisans to get training in design and business skills, and through a carefully executed strategy, managed to quickly grow their business. While working mainly from home, the women found a building to share for more technical, craft making processes and were able to gain access to high-grade raw materials.

They quickly learned the value of marketing, says Toehold’s general manager, K Raghu, who was brought into the business by Ascent eight years ago. “[Before Toehold was formed] they were not getting a decent profit for their products - they were not working together, just individually and for the traders,” he says.

“They just produced for one person at a time. They didn’t know anything about marketing.”

Exporting abroad

By focusing on directly accessing new markets overseas through international trade fairs and selling products at the right price, the women, who each own a stake in the business, quickly became successful entrepreneurs in their own right.

“It’s decentalised production and centralised marketing, so we are able to get a good price from our buyers,” adds Mr Raghu. “We are able to procure good materials for production, good craftsmanship and good profit.”

Today Toehold is a major player in the international market for ethnic footwear, supplying clientele in ethnic footwear as far afield as Australia, Italy and Japan. Between 2001 and 2003, revenues quadrupled. In the past season alone, Toehold turned over $75,000.

Forty per cent of Toehold’s profits go to the individual women and their families in proportion to the quantity they have supplied to the business, while 20 per cent goes to each self-help group and 40 per cent is retained for business development.

The lives of women such as Mrs Kamble and her family have dramatically improved. She and her husband are among those that have participated in Toehold’s international exhibitions abroad. Six years ago, they represented the company at a major international trade fair in Dusseldorf, Germany.

In the space of just a few years, her income has nearly quadrupled from 2,000 rupees a month to around 7,000 (approximately UK£100).

Empowering women producers

As incomes among all the 200 women have soared, their children have also been encouraged to stay on longer at school. Home life has been made much easier too. More than 80 per cent of the families now have gas connections and improved stoves.

With greater economic prosperity, the women have also gained a newfound sense of confidence, adds Ms Chatrapathy, herself a successful businesswoman. Last year a group of the women interacted with over 200 students at one of India’s most highly respected MBA schools in Hyderabad, she notes, by way of example.

“In our socially highly hierarchical society, these women wouldn’t normally come near me. They would stay a couple of feet away out of respect. Today they come and hug me - all their inhibitions have gone.”

Mrs Kamble, too, is grateful for the way in which the collective has changed her life, adding that she hopes the example of Toehold can be of inspiration to other small-scale artisans.

“I never dreamt of this,” she says. “It would be a very good thing if this could be done for other communities inside and outside India. It could let them improve and grow financially - and socially.”

The experience of the Toehold Artisans Collective is detailed in ‘Trading Stories: Experiences with Gender and Trade’, a new publication from the Commonwealth Secretariat. Across 20 inspiring regional and country case studies, the book pulls together some of the key links between trade, gender and economic development.

By Will Henley

Commonwealth Secretariat teams up with United Nations to broker media code of conduct for Guyanese elections and beyond. 

By 2011, Guyana is set to hold presidential, national, regional and – for the first time since 1994 – local elections. The polls bring not only logistical challenges for the nation’s election commissioners, but also, according to observers, real dangers.

“I don’t want to overstate the risk,” says Enrico Woolford, Editor of Capitol News on Guyana’s Channel 7 television station, “but Guyana around election time is a volatile society because of its ethnic and political differences.”

In the decades following independence in 1966, voting in the Caribbean nation – which 20 years ago was the poorest in the region – was a harbinger of instability and violence.

With each poll came accusations of stuffed ballot boxes and election malpractice, stoked, say commentators, by biased reports from the country’s polarised media.

“You have two main ethnic groups [Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese] vying for political space,” says Mr Woolford, who describes the looming local elections as “historic”.

In 1998, tensions boiled over to the extent that a state of emergency was declared in the capital, Georgetown, and regional intervention by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was required to restore peace. In 2002, amid renewed violence, a popular TV presenter was charged with treason after reportedly encouraging demonstrators to storm the presidential complex.

“Rumours fill the air in Guyana – they can start in a minute and next you know it they are all round the country,” says Trevor Benn, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) governance analyst, who has been observing developments in the country. As Mr Benn explains, the media have a history of fuelling suspicions among political candidates and the public in general.

Building on the 2006 media code

“A number of talk show hosts spoke very loosely about what they felt might have been happening, [which] resulted in feelings of mistrust and anger among ethnic groups and the population,” he says. “It led to a number of street protests. Buildings in the main business areas were targeted and many set on fire. People were pounced on in the streets and allegations of rape were reported.

“People were living in constant fear of what to expect, wondering whether they should go out and whether they should vote.”

In the absence of any legislation to regulate the broadcast media, the Commonwealth Secretariat and UNDP were in 2005 invited by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to help agree a code of conduct between state and private media. The code which was then agreed – and supervised by a new media monitoring unit within GECOM – committed journalists and broadcasters to adhere to fair, balanced and accurate reporting at the 2006 elections.

According to international observers, the code helped contribute to a marked reduction in violence. The Commonwealth’s election team noted at the time that there was a “clear indication that the media code of conduct was being honoured”.

‘Many were sceptical’

Yet, by early 2010, with local elections fast approaching, it was felt that the code needed to be updated. Negotiations between state and private media to agree a revised code in 2009 had proven fruitless, and GECOM turned again to the Commonwealth Secretariat and UNDP to work with the parties.

Tim Neale, an expert adviser at the Secretariat – who worked on the 2006 code and recruited and trained GECOM’s media monitoring unit – was flown back into the country to meet with media bosses. “Somehow you’ve got to call the media’s attention to [the need to ensure fairness and reduce the risk of violence] just before an election,” explains Mr Neale, addressing the rationale for the new code.

“It’s a matter of making it crystal clear by reminding all the media that they are entering this key period again and that the nation is depending on them.”

Alongside UNDP and GECOM, Mr Neale brought together the owners, managers and editors from all major state and private media organisations at Georgetown’s Hotel Tower on 12 March 2010 to look anew at the document. “We took the 2006 code and put it up on a big screen,” he recalls. “Thirty people all sitting around this screen went through it sentence-by-sentence.”

‘An absolute success’

However, while getting all the parties in one room was one feat, sealing the deal was quite another.

“The problem is always to get both state media and private media to agree, because they have different perspectives. That makes it quite a challenging exercise,” Mr Neale says. “After going through the first paragraph one hour had gone by. I thought, ‘it’s going to take us several weeks to do this!’ So I told them, ‘we’re never going to do it at this rate – keep your sentences short and not too wordy.’ And, unbelievably, by the end of the day we’d got through it.”

The new code was agreed to unanimous approval the following day. It covers election reporting in the immediate pre- and post- election periods, but also – in referring to the basic principles of democratic journalism – covers the similarly crucial ‘intra-election’ period between polls.

Mr Benn is full of praise for Mr Neale’s effort, which for a second time – and after more than a year of wrangling between the different organisations – has helped deliver a code of conduct in time for Guyana’s upcoming elections. “I lift my hat off to Tim Neale,” he says. “Many were sceptical that he would be able to pull it off.”

The signing of the code “could only be deemed an absolute success”, adds Chairman of GECOM, Dr Steve Surujbally. Not only were all media players involved in crafting this piece of self-regulation, but they have “all committed themselves” to abide by it, he insists.

“For media owners and editors, it serves as a form of protection against criticism and legal action and provides a basic guarantee about the credibility of their output.”

Benchmarks on good practice

“For journalists, the code provides a benchmark against which their output and activities can be judged by others, as well as guidance for them about acceptable methods of gathering and presenting information. For the public, it provides a guarantee that the material they receive is a genuine reflection of the truth, based on information gathered fairly and thoroughly checked by those who present the information,” Dr Surujbally adds.

As for Mr Woolford, one of the editors to sign up to the revised code last month, he, too, is philosophical about the future. He says that he is “optimistic” now that the revised code is in place, though he adds that its success will depend on the commitment of the country’s media.

“I think the code does allow for fair and accurate reporting. It has benefits in terms of good practice, which is one of the reasons I signed on. News stories need to be as accurate and fair and balanced as possible. They need to show as many sides as possible so that the information is out there and can be used by the electorate to make informed decisions.”

But, as Mr Woolford insists: “To make sure there is no ethnic violence and polarisation the onus is on journalists.”

Link here.

By Will Henley

Commonwealth Day 2010 an “important milestone in Rwanda’s transformational journey”, says President Kagame during state visit to Marlborough House.

By Will Henley

English footballer and Angelina Jolie contribute to a new Commonwealth publication on the rights of the child.

“The world,” he said, “needs to stick to its promises to children and ensure that they have the best chances and opportunities in life.”

‘Serious challenges remain’

According to the publication, which offers key indicators and statistics related to the implementation of the 1989 United Nations convention, Commonwealth governments have taken important strides to protect and uphold the rights of children. All member states have ratified the convention, and infant and child mortality rates and malnutrition rates have declined in most member states.

Yet, as the publication demonstrates, the picture across the 54-member state association is not yet rosy. Child labour and child marriage remain significant challenges in many parts of the Commonwealth, as is female genital mutilation.

“Much progress has been won for the rights of children in Commonwealth countries, yet serious challenges remain,” explained the book’s editor, Dr Purna Sen, Head of Human Rights at the Secretariat. “Child labour blights too many lives, not all children enjoy a full education or access to health services, and child marriage remains prevalent in many countries.”

“While we take this opportunity to mark the anniversary and disseminate the contents of the convention more widely, this publication also highlights some excellent progress on the rights of children across the Commonwealth and notes some of the outstanding challenges that still need to be met.”

As well as featuring key statistics and testimonials, the 68-page book neatly summarises the key themes of the convention, including states’ responsibilities to ensure children’s rights to health, education and living standards and to protect against discrimination, exploitation and violence.

Kamalesh Sharma, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, welcomed the book as helping to quantify “how far we have come and how far we still have to go”. He said: “The 20^th anniversary of the convention invites us to take stock of how well the Convention is being implemented. In the end, international law is only as strong as the will and ability of governments to realise and implement their commitments to improve the lives of their citizens.”

Taking stock and implementing

American actress Angelina Jolie, also writing in the book, added: “The [convention] is a reminder to us all of our responsibilities to protect displaced children, so they can grow up in an environment of safety, protection and understanding.”

Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, said: “As Trinidad and Tobago strives towards developed country status and a culture of peace and human rights, the development and well being of our most precious human resource, our children, is a priority. I am therefore pleased that the Commonwealth is commemorating the anniversary of this convention.”

Link here.

By Will Henley

President Mohamed Nasheed claims threat is the “21st century’s greatest human rights and security issue”.

For centuries the Maldives islands have had to contend with the havoc that nature can wreak – from monsoon gales and tidal waves to the ravages of the 2004 Asian tsunami. Spread across a 90,000 sq km stretch of the Indian Ocean, they, and their people, have always stood their ground.

Yet today, with climate change, they face potentially their greatest challenge.

This week the Government of Maldives convenes its first-ever underwater cabinet meeting. This inauspicious gathering, which sees ministers don wetsuits and descend into the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, is intended to highlight the threat faced by this island nation from rising sea levels.

President Mohamed Nasheed, speaking exclusively to Commonwealth News ahead of the meeting, explains why he believes international action is needed so urgently:

Inundating the islands

“The impacts of climate change can already be felt,” remarks Mr Nasheed. “One-third of our inhabited islands are suffering from coastal erosion, in part attributed to climate change. This erosion threatens people’s property and saltwater intrusion contaminates drinking water and degrades farmland.”

But worse is set to come, says Mr Nasheed, the 42-year-old former journalist who came to power in October 2008 following elections monitored by Commonwealth election observers.

“If atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ are not quickly reduced and temperatures brought under control,” he explains, “rising seas could submerge my country.”

‘A front-line state’

But climate change is not just a problem for low lying countries such as Maldives, which is, at its highest point, just 2.3 metres above sea level. The phenomenon, claims Mr Nasheed, “is the 21st century’s greatest human rights and security issue”.

“Future generations of Maldivians face a potentially bleak future – a displaced people with no international legal protection,” he says. “But it won’t just be Maldivians who suffer. Climate change threatens to submerge the homes of tens of millions of Bangladeshis and could devastate large swathes of Africa this century.

“The Maldives may well be a front-line state, but climate change threatens us all. What happens to the Maldives today, happens to the rest of the world tomorrow.”

Going carbon neutral

Intending to lead by example, Mr Nasheed has pledged that his country – and its 300,000 citizens – aims to become the world’s first carbon neutral nation by 2020, a change propelled by switching from oil to renewable energy production.

“Going carbon neutral is not only the right thing to do – it is also sound economic policy,” he asserts.

“Electricity prices in the Maldives are already very high, which makes renewables cost-effective today. But there is also a long-term benefit. We achieve energy security and decouple our economy from the unpredictable price of foreign oil.

“If the Maldives can make these sorts of emissions cuts, other nations can, too.”

Human rights resolution

In March 2009, Mr Nasheed helped secure the adoption of a landmark United Nations Human Rights Council declaration on the relationship between human rights and climate change. The statement, ‘Resolution 10/4’, recognised for the first time that global warming fundamentally undermines the lives and rights of millions of people and vulnerable communities around the world.

Negotiated in New York, the resolution was a major milestone in gaining international recognition for the human and legal rights of those affected by climate change.

But Mr Nasheed doesn’t want to stop with the United Nations. He believes that the Commonwealth, too, can play an important role in the fight against climate change, helping small nations such as his be heard at vital negotiations.

Looking to Copenhagen

“With so much at stake, it is crucial that world leaders sign up to a tough, binding agreement at Copenhagen to slash greenhouse gas emissions,” he explains.

“The Commonwealth can assist member states make the transition towards a low-carbon future. It can also help ensure that the voices of the most vulnerable people are not drowned out in the global climate change debate.”

In the run-up to the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, where the world’s nations will gather to agree a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, Mr Nasheed believes this has never been truer.

“To reach an effective international agreement, it is imperative for negotiators to see global warming not as an abstract phenomenon,” he says, “but as an immediate threat to millions of people’s lives, livelihoods, security and human rights.”

Link here.

By Will Henley

‘We’ve lost 25 million lives and we’ve got another 6 million lives we are trying to save’ – Commonwealth conference.

Governments must not “opportunistically” use the global financial crisis to withhold funding for vital HIV/AIDS treatment programmes, a high-level conference attended by high commissioners, policy-makers and activists from around the Commonwealth heard last week.

“We face this financial crisis which is being used in the most opportunistic fashion by governments to say they can no longer afford to fund [interventions],” Stephen Lewis, former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and co-director of AIDS-Free World, claimed, insisting that greater not fewer resources are needed to tackle the pandemic.

“We’ve lost 25 million lives and we’ve got another 6 million we are trying to save,” he told delegates at the ‘Supporting the Commonwealth Response’ seminar at Marlborough House in London, UK, from 1 to 2 October 2009.

Acclaimed campaigner Mr Lewis insisted that the amount required to support sufferers was small next to the sums used to save stricken banks over the past year.

“Compare this with the trillions of dollars that have gone into bailouts and stimulus packages,” he explained, “we’re talking about a few billion to sustain human recovery.”

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Mr Lewis called for new mechanisms such as an international currency transaction levy and increased access to medicines through a patent pool to help plug an “enormous” estimated US$12 billion annual shortfall in HIV/AIDS funding.

The conference and workshops – co-organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth Foundation, the Commonwealth HIV and AIDS Action Group, and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance – addressed the need to increase access to medicines, and advancing law reforms to increase the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS responses.

The conference came just a day after a joint UNAIDS, Unicef and World Health Organization report revealed that although 4 million people are now receiving life-saving antiretroviral drugs, nearly two-thirds of those in need in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa are not.

New ways of thinking

Dr Ernest Massiah, Head of the Secretariat’s Health Section, echoed Mr Lewis’s claim that the financial crisis is “affecting drastically how programmes are to be funded”, adding that “money is now scarce and more fiercely fought over”.

“Eighty per cent of the people who need treatment are in Africa, but 80 per cent of the drugs that they need are imported,” he said in his opening remarks. “We need to think how we move forward to ensure drugs are more available and at more equitable prices.”

Dr Massiah added that the meeting was an opportunity to agree on “new ways of thinking about old problems”. It would, he said, help policy-makers to “think outside the box and to strategise on the practical solutions”.

Zackie Achmat, founder of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa, emphasised the important role of civic action in advancing law reforms and protecting the rights of those affected by HIV and AIDS.

“Every right to freedom, dignity, equality, the right to life, the right to freedom of association, all those rights, pre-exist any constitutional codification and the only guarantors of those rights are human beings,” he said.

“No-one else guarantees those rights, and the only way those rights are enforced are through collective action. The institutions we use for that collective action are our parliaments, our judiciaries, and a range of other bodies that are part of the panoply of democratic constitutions everywhere.”

Link here.

By Will Henley

August 1979: Accord on Racism and Racial Prejudice sets out Commonwealth “duty” to tackle discrimination and apartheid amid crisis in Zimbabwe.

A landmark accord establishing the Commonwealth at the forefront of the struggle against all forms of racism was reached exactly 30 years ago this week.

The Lusaka Declaration, reached at a summit of Commonwealth leaders in the Zambian capital, set the association out as a body of states specifically “committed to the eradication of the dangerous evils of racism and racial prejudice”.

Issued against a backdrop of political turmoil in Zimbabwe, the declaration was hailed as a breakthrough which helped contribute to the end of white minority rule in that country.

“Inspired by the principles of freedom and equality which characterise our association, we accept the solemn duty of working together to eliminate racism and racial prejudice,” the 39 gathered world leaders stated on 7 August 1979.

“We reject as inhuman and intolerable all policies designed to perpetuate apartheid, racial segregation or other policies based on theories that racial groups are or may be inherently superior or inferior,” they continued.

Building on Singapore principles

Lusaka expanded upon principles first outlined in the Singapore Declaration of 1971, which set out how member states of the Commonwealth must embrace equal rights for all regardless of race, colour, creed or political belief.

Crucially, it explained in greater detail the obligations that member countries face in eliminating discrimination in their own societies, including in the right to vote, in civil rights and access to citizenship, or in economic, social or cultural fields such as education, health, employment, occupation, housing, and social security.

The agreement attached special importance to “ensuring that children shall be protected from practices which may foster racism or racial prejudice” and established the principle that special measures may be necessary to help disadvantaged and indigenous groups.

The summit in Lusaka marked the first time leaders had met for a full Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Africa.

Response to the Zimbabwe crisis

The accord was prompted partly by political turmoil in Zimbabwe, then known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia under a fragile peace deal between white minority prime minister Ian Smith and black African leaders following years of effective apartheid.

At that time, Zimbabwe’s police, civil service and security forces were controlled by the white minority and Commonwealth leaders felt they needed to clarify their position following the perceived failure of previous international attempts to broker peace.

Then Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Shridath Ramphal, in his opening speech in Lusaka reminded gathered leaders that by sticking to principles they would not “fail to move closer to the goal of Zimbabwe’s true independence”.

He said: “It must be history’s mandate and a more personal challenge that as a result of our work in Lusaka no shadow shall hereafter fall between the conception and the reality of Zimbabwe’s freedom.”

Apartheid an “affront to humanity”

Following the Lusaka Declaration, which declared the “infamous policy” of apartheid as an “affront to humanity”, Zimbabwe’s leaders convened a conference at Lancaster House in the UK which paved the way for the end of white rule and full independence.

Newspapers at the time reported how the Lusaka accord marked a “breakthrough” in the Zimbabwe dispute.

“The Commonwealth succeeds where the United Nations failed,” reported one American newspaper, the Toledo Blade, on 12 August 1979. “The Lusaka summit marks a turning point in the fortunes of whites and blacks in Africa.”

Link here.

By Will Henley

“Too few people understand what the Commonwealth is for” – UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband

A global public consultation on the future of the Commonwealth was launched in London this week with a call for the 53 member-strong association to “renew and refresh” itself.

The ‘Commonwealth Conversation’, launched by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS), an international charity, comes as new polling evidence reveals worrying levels of indifference to the Commonwealth among citizens its member countries.

Danny Sriskandarajah, Director of the RCS, speaking at the organisation’s headquarters in London on 21 July 2009, said: “We will ask people all around the Commonwealth – not just in Britain, and not just among the elites or the inner circle of the Commonwealth family – what they want out of the Commonwealth, what can the Commonwealth do to become more relevant in their lives.”

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who gave the keynote speech at the launch, praised the Commonwealth’s “important mission” and called for “greater unity of focus and collective effort” in its work, particularly on issues such as climate change.

“The starting point for our Conversation has to be the world around us,” he said. “It is only by being relevant to the challenges and opportunities of the modern world that a relevant modern Commonwealth will be built.

“I believe the battle against climate change should be a unifying focus for the Commonwealth, involving not just practical exchange of ideas but political voice across barriers of region, race and religion.”

Mr Miliband stressed that the association needed “clear direction, identity and purpose” and should “re-examine” its work. He said: “If we are to renew and refresh our Commonwealth, we need to ask hard questions not just about our priorities but our structure, institutional arrangements and membership.

“We need to re-examine not just what we do, but how we do it.”

The consultation launch came as the RCS revealed the results of a global poll showing that few people around the Commonwealth know what it does. Just one-third of people could name any activity carried out by the Commonwealth, according to the survey conducted in Australia, Canada, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

However, the survey also showed that people in developing countries are twice as likely to think the Commonwealth is “important” compared to those in developed countries. People in India, for instance, value the Commonwealth more than either the USA or South Asia.

The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma, praising the launch of the consultation, said: “It is very important that there is continuing dialogue about the Commonwealth among its peoples. I therefore welcome the Commonwealth Conversation, and look forward to the new ideas that it will bring.”

The consultation will run until October and involve discussion groups and meetings organised by RCS groups across the globe. The findings will be presented to the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago in November, with a final report published in early 2010.

For more information, please visit the website http://www.thecommonwealthconversation.org/

Link here.