This conversation-starter is written by Anna Feuchtwang, Chief Executive of EveryChild.

On the 20^th November 2009, the U.N. General Assembly welcomed by consensus the Guidelines on the Alternative Care of Children, exactly 20 years on from the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Guidelines provide urgently needed guidance on how governments can develop family- based alternatives to institutional care and provide services to help keep vulnerable families together.

It will be essential for the Commonwealth to encourage its member states, which have all ratified the UNCRC, to develop action plans for the full implementation of these guidelines which involve the participation of children, families and communities.  Such action plans should not narrowly focus on child- care reform, but extend to ensure, firstly, that children without parental care are considered in social protection programmes, and, secondly,  the delivery of basic services. 

The guidelines are an essential enhancement to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly in light of the findings of a new report by EveryChild that reveals there are at least 24 million children in the world who are growing up without parental care and, due to the global recession, their number is rising rapidly. It is time to recognise the right of every child in the Commonwealth to grow up in a loving family environment.

To mark the 22nd annual World AIDS Day, Kamalesh Sharma, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, has co-authored an article in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, along with Michel Sidibe of UNAIDS and Peter Piot of Imperial College, London.

They say the Commonwealth is home to two-thirds of those people living with HIV. Advances in science and medicine, changes in funding and the courageous lobbying of sufferers means much progress has been made. We now have anti-retroviral treatments that significantly prolong the lives of HIV/AIDS patients.

But despite this great work there still exists a significant funding shortfall, with treatment unavailable for over five million people who need it.

In the article, the authors say all citizens of the Commonwealth must come together to devise the best approaches to ensure universal access to treatment. We must question whether we fully understand this epidemic, whether we are actively engaging affected communities and if we are using funds as efficiently as possible.

Is the fight against HIV/AIDS something the Commonwealth should be focusing its efforts on? Is this something the association can afford to ignore?

Muttiah ‘Murali’ Muralitharan is the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket history and Sri Lanka’s greatest player of all time. He is also a dedicated humanitarian and philanthropist, serving as a trustee of the Foundation of Goodness, which seeks to help Sri Lanka’s rural poor.

In this exclusive interview for the Commonwealth Conversation, he talks about the power of sport to unite people irrespective of race and religion and what the Commonwealth could do to help Sri Lanka build a better future.

Transcript:

What does the Commonwealth mean to you?

It’s about uniting people and getting together countries; there are so many issues that so many countries have. Sports- wise, we get together through sports, I can remember in Malaysia [the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, 1998], as cricketers we got together as athletes normally do in the Commonwealth Games, cricket was also a part in Malaysia, it happened once, and it was nice.

How does cricket, and sport more generally, unite people from different countries and backgrounds across the Commonwealth?

Cricket is a sport, and sport always unites people because people are interested to see some kind of activities going on in each of the countries, sports can unite like that, and another thing is sport doesn’t have any religion or any caste or anything, it’s all one common thing, winning and losing, and participating, and that makes people happier, makes spectators happier, so that makes us more united than anything else.

As a humanitarian, what do you think international organisations like the Commonwealth can do to help the people of developing countries like Sri Lanka?

Oh, they can do a lot of things, developing countries need a lot, especially in Sri Lanka after the war, the North and East are struggling more through that, and so many issues are there, so they can talk to the leaders of our country and come and help them. There are a lot of houses to build, a lot of people need education, so many things they can do, and that would be the ideal thing for Sri Lanka for the next few years.

53 Commonwealth leaders will be meeting in Trinidad in November for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. If you could tell them to focus on one international issue of importance in the coming years, what would that be?

Mainly poverty, especially for food and for the children and people who can’t afford it, because food- every house needs food, and if people don’t eat properly the mind doesn’t work, and if the mind doesn’t work, so many problems can be created in that environment. So if on food shortages they can concentrate, and mind development will be more, so people will see the easing of their life and everything will go more smoothly in those countries.

The Commonwealth should take a more active role in supporting and promoting local government. As an organisation it should return to what it does best: fostering partnerships and positive links. It is on a local level that the future success of the Commonwealth will be seen.

Local government is often viewed as the poor relation to its glamorous national associates, but it is through us that thriving, safer communities are developed, and the Millennium Development Goals will be delivered. It is best placed to provide basic services such as water, sanitation and primary health care for its people. It is closest to them and knows their needs and concerns. It is where involvement and consultation can be focused and effective channels for the engagement of local people and other stakeholders in the wider work the Commonwealth does can be built.

Why then is this crucial element of modern democracy all too often ignored by heads of Government in important international discussions?

Several things need to change for the Commonwealth to fully utilise the power of local government.

It must show genuine respect for the Commonwealth Aberdeen Agenda which set out the principles for good governance in local government. Better partnerships between different levels of government need to be encouraged and we must not be ignored in the big decisions made about sustainable development. On issues such as climate change and disaster management, local authorities are on the front line. But to have a big impact they must have adequate resources.

The CLGF links local authorities when they are trying to tackle common problems, and can learn from each other. We bring cities and towns together in a network which fosters collaboration, and have spearheaded a project to develop an international peer review mechanism to measure and evaluate success in local democracy and good governance. But for this to continue and develop we need more support.

The strengths of the Commonwealth, its diversity and common values and solidarity, means it is well placed to make a difference and share good practice and knowledge whatever the field. Local government must be central to this. With its network of central ministries responsible for local government, local government associations, individual provinces, town and rural councils, the Commonwealth has the potential to make real and noticeable difference to the two billion people it represents. It needs to wake up to its own potential.

Watch a video about the Commonwealth’s work on Health and Development and tell us what you think . . .

Find out more about the Commonwealth Secretariat’s work on health and development.

Do you think the Commonwealth could be doing more to assist its members achieve the Millennium Development Goals to Reduce Child Mortality and Improve Maternal Health? Given its limited resources, what do you think the association should be focusing on?