Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) was established in 1995 to examine "serious or persistent violations" of the principles outlined in the 1991 Harare Commonwealth Declaration. CMAG consists of a rotating group of Foreign Ministers, currently from Canada, Lesotho, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom and United Republic of Tanzania. Malta is also a member of CMAG in its capacity as the representative of the Chairperson in Office.

When a country is put on CMAG's agenda, the members investigate the issue and recommend action. This can be in the form of fact-finding missions and negotiations with the government and if changes do not occur, CMAG can recommend to the Heads of Government that the country should be suspended or expelled from the Commonwealth. While the Harare Declaration refers to a broader concept of human rights, unfortunately CMAG's reviews have mostly been limited to political values with a particular focus on the unconstitutional overthrow of democratically elected governments.

CMAG accepts submissions from civil society and will sometimes take representations from NGOs.