Counting down to Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting

The biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), scheduled for 25th to 27th November, in Valletta, Malta, is just around the corner. CHOGM itself is of course the only of the many Commonwealth events to be held then. A Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting will also be held in Valletta just before CHOGM as well as a string of civil society initiatives. The largest of these is the Commonwealth People's Forum, which will be held from 21st to 25th and will include a variety of smaller workshops, events and displays from across the regions of the Commonwealth.

Plans are underway for a Commonwealth Human Rights Forum and already groups from around the Commonwealth have expressed interest in attending and sharing their experiences as human rights defenders in the fight against restrictions to civil society space in a variety of Commonwealth countries. It is positive to note that the Human Rights Unit of the Commonwealth Secretariat has already held some regional workshops on Human Rights Defenders and it is hoped that some of those who participated in these meetings will attend the CHRF, as well as members of the Commonwealth Human Rights Network.

As part of lead-up to the People's Forum, the Commonwealth Foundation is organising a series of national consultations in collaboration with local civil society partners. These meetings are designed to bring together civil society and government for discussions around CHOGM. They aim to build momentum towards CHOGM, galvanise civil society around CHOGM themes and provide a focus for civil society-government dialogue on CHOGM processes and outcomes. While each national consultation is different, they are based around four key issues: the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Africa and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Since this is the first time that such consultations have been organised it will be interesting to see the outcomes across the Commonwealth and what impact they have on CHOGM.

While all reports are yet to be synthesised, some of the important emerging issues are: the difficulties faced by civil society groups if they do not have the space in-country to effectively function or are unable to access information; the need for greater emphasis, by government and civil society alike, on South-South sharing of good practice; and on better using the report of the Expert Group on Development and Democracy as so many of the recommendations have great relevance to the problems faced by many Commonwealth countries.

It is positive that the broader Commonwealth has already recognised this last point and the Secretariat is organising an important series of regional Commonwealth Colloquia on Development and Democracy.

It is hoped that these will give the impetus to member states to implement some of the recommendations of the Expert Group, including: establishing an independent human rights commission and a freedom of information commission, as well as ensuring that the police force abides by the law.

Another key recommendation is the Expert Group’s emphasis on developing a monitoring mechanism to ensure progress needs to be acted upon. Let us hope that this is the CHOGM when such a monitoring mechanism is finally developed.