The Commonwealth Conversation

The Commonwealth – Promises, Promises

This post is taken from an article written by R. Iniyan Ilango, a consultant with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. The full article is found here.

He writes that, despite almost every CHOGM since the 1970s making a strong commitment to human rights, the association has consistently failed to fulfil its promises:

“While the 2007 CHOGM at Kampala and the 1999 Law Ministers Meeting underlined the importance of access to information, so far only 15 Commonwealth countries have access to information laws in place.

Twelve years ago in 1997, the CHOGM at Edinburgh expressed the belief that the International Criminal Court (ICC) would be an important development in the international promotion of the rule of law, yet 23 Commonwealth countries have yet to ratify or accede to the Rome Statute.

Two years ago in 2007 at Kampala, the heads of government pledged to end impunity for perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Throughout 2008 and most of 2009 numerous allegations of serious international humanitarian law violations were made against Sri Lanka… despite these doubts the country continued to sit as a CMAG member.

The 1999 CHOGM at Durban, the 2002 CHOGM at Coolum, the 2003 CHOGM at Abuja, the 2005 CHOGM at Malta and the 2007 CHOGM at Kampala have all reiterated the importance of civil society participation. However…Human rights defenders in particular find their activities restricted and curtailed by sometimes subtle, sometimes draconian, legal regulations that target their ability to engage in activities to promote and protect human rights.”

He concludes:

“2009 to 2011 is a historic time for the Commonwealth as 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the organisation and 2011 marks the 20th anniversary of the Harare Declaration, and the Commonwealth should use this period to demonstrate that its human rights promises really do hold water.”

Category : Human Rights, The Official Commonwealth, homepage items
Tags: CHOGM
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