Commonwealth - Reform / die or Suspend Membership.
Commonwealth leaders still haggling over how to handle human rights reforms - The Globe and Mail
Commonwealth leaders talked through the day at a summit Saturday without nailing down how to deal with urgent human rights reforms deemed critical to the organization's survival.
The 54-member Commonwealth is still haggling over how to hive off various reform recommendations, despite dire warnings from an “eminent person's panel” that failure to act immediately will imperil the association.
An internal, 200-page report flatly asserted that the future of the Commonwealth is in peril if it can't credibly address human rights, democratic and rule-of-law abuses by some of its member states.
The panel's report, which officially remains under wraps but has been widely leaked, baldly asserts that possibly terminal rot has set into the Commonwealth due to its silence about abuses, including forced marriages, laws against homosexuality and political repression.
Among other things, the report calls for a new commissioner of human rights to investigate abuses, and the repeal of anti-gay laws that still exist in 41 Commonwealth nations.
The report speaks frankly of a “decay that has set into the body of the organization, and one that will occasion the association's irrelevance — if not actual demise — unless it is promptly addressed.”
The malaise was reflected in the fact that only 36 of 54 countries sent their heads of government to this year's summit, despite the attendance of the Queen.
That those leaders couldn't even agree to publicly release the report was deemed “a disgrace” Saturday by British panellist Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a former foreign minister.
“Clearly there are some people at this meeting for whom silence is the best option,” said Conservative Senator Hugh Segal, Canada's representative on the panel.
“Would silence have been a way to bring apartheid to an end?”
The Commonwealth of a previous generation was instrumental in shining an international spotlight on member nation South Africa's systemic racial discrimination.
South Africa, Namibia and India are among the countries who now object to the proposal for a rights commissioner.
It appeared late Saturday that the creation of that office, along with other key recommendations, would get punted to a future foreign minister's meeting for deliberation.
India's foreign secretary, Ranjan Mathai, was quoted by Indian media as saying his country opposes the new office because it would be a costly duplication of work already being done by the United Nations.
Mr. Mathai said there was a “lively debate” over the panel report's recommendations, and diplomatically suggested that the notion of a rights commissioner needs “further examination and clarification in many areas.”
Sir Ronald Sanders, who represents small Commonwealth states on the report team, likened any such move as having the recommendations “kicked into the high grass.”
But the pre-emptive barrage from the panel appointed in 2009 to revitalize the Commonwealth appeared to fall on deaf ears.
The leaders' talks were characterized by insiders as meandering rather than acrimonious, suggesting a puzzling lack of urgency.
And a sudden and unexpected lock-out Saturday by Australia's national airline, Quantas, over a labour dispute also taxed the resources of summit host, Australia's pro-labour Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Seventeen delegations at the meeting had booked flights home on Quantas, further throwing the conference into disarray.
The day was not, however, entirely a write-off.
Canada announced it will spend an additional $600 million over three years on sustainable agricultural development, more than doubling its original aid pledge from the 2009 G8 summit.
Harper also announced increased aid for a decade-old global polio eradication program, committing another $15 million over the next two years toward that goal, adding to the $348 million Canada has spent since 2000.
Commonwealth leaders still haggling over how to handle human rights reforms - The Globe and Mail
Commonwealth leaders talked through the day at a summit Saturday without nailing down how to deal with urgent human rights reforms deemed critical to the organization's survival.
The 54-member Commonwealth is still haggling over how to hive off various reform recommendations, despite dire warnings from an “eminent person's panel” that failure to act immediately will imperil the association.
An internal, 200-page report flatly asserted that the future of the Commonwealth is in peril if it can't credibly address human rights, democratic and rule-of-law abuses by some of its member states.
The panel's report, which officially remains under wraps but has been widely leaked, baldly asserts that possibly terminal rot has set into the Commonwealth due to its silence about abuses, including forced marriages, laws against homosexuality and political repression.
Among other things, the report calls for a new commissioner of human rights to investigate abuses, and the repeal of anti-gay laws that still exist in 41 Commonwealth nations.
The report speaks frankly of a “decay that has set into the body of the organization, and one that will occasion the association's irrelevance — if not actual demise — unless it is promptly addressed.”
The malaise was reflected in the fact that only 36 of 54 countries sent their heads of government to this year's summit, despite the attendance of the Queen.
That those leaders couldn't even agree to publicly release the report was deemed “a disgrace” Saturday by British panellist Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a former foreign minister.
“Clearly there are some people at this meeting for whom silence is the best option,” said Conservative Senator Hugh Segal, Canada's representative on the panel.
“Would silence have been a way to bring apartheid to an end?”
The Commonwealth of a previous generation was instrumental in shining an international spotlight on member nation South Africa's systemic racial discrimination.
South Africa, Namibia and India are among the countries who now object to the proposal for a rights commissioner.
It appeared late Saturday that the creation of that office, along with other key recommendations, would get punted to a future foreign minister's meeting for deliberation.
India's foreign secretary, Ranjan Mathai, was quoted by Indian media as saying his country opposes the new office because it would be a costly duplication of work already being done by the United Nations.
Mr. Mathai said there was a “lively debate” over the panel report's recommendations, and diplomatically suggested that the notion of a rights commissioner needs “further examination and clarification in many areas.”
Sir Ronald Sanders, who represents small Commonwealth states on the report team, likened any such move as having the recommendations “kicked into the high grass.”
But the pre-emptive barrage from the panel appointed in 2009 to revitalize the Commonwealth appeared to fall on deaf ears.
The leaders' talks were characterized by insiders as meandering rather than acrimonious, suggesting a puzzling lack of urgency.
And a sudden and unexpected lock-out Saturday by Australia's national airline, Quantas, over a labour dispute also taxed the resources of summit host, Australia's pro-labour Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Seventeen delegations at the meeting had booked flights home on Quantas, further throwing the conference into disarray.
The day was not, however, entirely a write-off.
Canada announced it will spend an additional $600 million over three years on sustainable agricultural development, more than doubling its original aid pledge from the 2009 G8 summit.
Harper also announced increased aid for a decade-old global polio eradication program, committing another $15 million over the next two years toward that goal, adding to the $348 million Canada has spent since 2000.
