How is the Commonwealth helping children?

26 November 2009

Nandini Daby, from UK, writes:

I congratulate the Commonwealth in evolving from old British Empire governance to establishing itself as an independent entity, comparable to the European Community. However, with respect, I am anxious to see an alleviation in standards to improve poverty and all the rights of child. They are the future of the Commonwealth and my dream is to see them occupy best university positions, have best of medical health care and access to all freedoms entitled to them.

In what ways are the Commonwealth Heads of State accommodating effective measures to ensure the eradication of poverty for children and protection of a child's human rights within the Commonwealth? I am keen to hear of the avenues being exploited to ensure children of the Commonwealth are given a fair and competitive start in life, comparable to their European brothers and sisters. How can this be achieved?

Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General, replies:

Thank you for your email. This year the Commonwealth is celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Each and every government of the Commonwealth – 53 Commonwealth states – is a signatory to this convention, which upholds rights across health care, education, and legal realms. Interestingly, this is the only human rights convention to which all of our members have signed up.

That is an important achievement in its own right, but I recognise that signing a document is not enough. Governments need to act to improve the life chances of their young people. Much progress has been won for the rights of children in the Commonwealth, yet challenges remain.

This is why the Commonwealth Secretariat works hard to help its member countries achieve vital Millennium Development Goals on reducing child mortality and achieving universal primary education, and ensuring that equal numbers of boys and girls get a primary and secondary education.

In just a week’s time, the Secretariat is launching a new publication about child rights in the Commonwealth. It examines the importance of child rights and provides an overview of the key themes of the convention, as well as useful statistics and data, and I encourage you to look at it.

But we also embrace practical solutions - such as supporting economic development - aimed at lifting young people out of poverty. These solutions are aimed not only at children but youths, too.

That is why we have supported a centre for former child soldiers in Gulu, in northern Uganda, which provides vocational skills for those traumatised by more than two decades of civil war. It also explains the rationale behind our Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative, which provides loans, training, education and business support to young entrepreneurs. And it is the reason why we have helped more than 4,500 students to gain the Commonwealth’s Diploma in Youth Development Work.

The Secretariat has a dedicated Youth Programme, established more than 30 years ago, and I encourage you to visit their webpage http://www.thecommonwealth.org/youth

How does the Commonwealth act on violations of its principles?

25 November 2009

Egghead Odewale, from Nigeria, writes:

You are no doubt conversant with the letters of the Singapore Declaration. Having regards to violation of the principles of this solemn declaration, I make bold to ask what the Commonwealth institution(s) has/have done to bring its member states close to obeisance of the principles of this declaration?

Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General, replies:

Thank you for your email. The Singapore Declaration is one of a series of documents agreed over the last 60 years to define our fundamental Commonwealth principles: Singapore in ’71, Harare in ’91, Millbrook in ’95 (when we agreed ways to respond to violations of these values), and more recently Latimer House in ’03, establishing roles and boundaries for independent judiciary, executive and legislature. So I’m glad you bring attention to it. Singapore set down our commitment to equal rights, democracy, peace and international co-operation. These are our colours, and we wear them with pride.

No Commonwealth country is perfect. All are journeying to what we hope is a better future. But where we suspect that the values to which all signed up in Singapore are being, as Millbrook said it, ‘seriously or persistently violated’, then we strive to find practical solutions for their resolution.

We work with countries quietly behind the scenes in defusing political tensions. We talk directly to governments, as a respected, honest partner and broker. My Special Envoys have worked in some of the most delicate situations in national and international politics. They are deployed to see that our values are respected and implemented, in policy and practice. It takes time and admittedly much of our work goes by quietly unnoticed. But we act not in search of accolades, rather success.

You ask about other institutions: the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group has played an important role in acting where violations have occurred. Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and The Gambia and others have all over the years been on the radar screen of the Group. And we helped each of them.

Most recently the Group took action against Fiji again, after the abrogation of the constitution in April, and a failure to move towards political dialogue and democratic elections, coupled with human rights abuses – all in the wake of a military coup in 2006. Its suspension from the Commonwealth was done in sorrow, but it was a moment that demonstrated the collective will of the Commonwealth to act firmly against those who are unfaithful to our values and principles.

The essential point is that we don’t just wag a finger or criticise publicly when a member fails to live up to our values and principles. On the contrary, we offer a helping hand, and try to build the ability within each country to allow those values to thrive.

Our work goes on. At CHOGM, in Trinidad and Tobago, we will be focussing again on these all-important values, especially now that the modern Commonwealth is 60 years old, and will be looking further at the ways in which we can strengthen their application.

What is the Commonwealth's position on climate change?

26 November 2009

Dick Gold, from Canada, writes:

Thank you for the opportunity to offer some comments on the Commonwealth Secretariat. I am a strong supporter of your institution and I sincerely believe that it does very good work on a number of fronts, but for a variety of reasons does not always get the recognition it deserves. Its strengths lie, in my view, in its political programs and influence in this area as well as capacity building on the development side.

I personally think there should be more open debate on the climate change issue. The science has not been settled although the politics of this issue appears to have been. If the politics are wrong then there could be enormous costs to developing countries. But I appreciate the dilemma you are in.

Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General, replies:

Many thanks for your email, and welcome support for the Secretariat. We are in a very competitive market to achieve public recognition, and we can always do more and do better. But the quality of results on the ground for people is even more important, even if it doesn’t see the light of media day!

It is true that the science of climate change is a complicated discipline with numerable variables, many of which can only be measured over long periods of time. It is difficult to make completely accurate predictions without vast volumes of data, resources and time. However, scientists do largely agree on the general climate trends, causes and instability, and much of this is borne out by the everyday realities faced by people in developing countries.

Take Southern Africa. Climate variability there is already a source of economic vulnerability, particularly for the poor for whom even small variations in weather can spell disaster. Economic activities reliant on natural resources, such as rain-fed agriculture, are being badly disrupted by droughts and floods. If the climate change scientists are right, the increasing frequency and severity of such events will translate into increased vulnerability for scores of poorer countries.

If the predictions are correct on rising sea levels, many small island states in the Commonwealth and beyond face being wiped completely off the map. The stakes could not be higher. Therefore it would seem to me that the most responsible action would be to encourage and maintain the work of scientists and politicians, but also keep moving ahead with practical work to help those under threat.

This underlines why Heads of Government came together in Uganda in 2007 to agree the Lake Victoria Action Plan, which set out clear priorities for the Commonwealth, and why the Commonwealth Secretariat is an active participant in the climate change debate. It explains why we have funded research into the social and economic impacts of climate change, assistance for the climate change negotiators in small states, and a whole range of other projects. We must recognise that inaction, waiting for predictions of science to be confirmed, could have a terrible human cost, while the cost of early action is likely to be comparatively cheap.

I’m sure you know how important a topic climate change is at this CHOGM. Rather than expanding on it here, I direct you to our homepage. Watch out for a powerful declaration by a quarter of the world’s countries, and a commitment to more practical work for those who are most vulnerable, in the very week before the UN conference in Copenhagen