APPENDIX 2
Memorandum submitted by the Commonwealth
Human Rights Initiative
1. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
(CHRI) is a non-governmental coalition of the bodies listed above,
founded in 1987, and mandated to work towards the practical realisation
of human rights within the 54 countries of the Commonwealth. Originally
based in London the head offices of the organisation moved to
New Delhi, India, in 1997 and a third office in Accra, Ghana,
is planned in the near future.
2. The CHRI's core programmatic areas of
work include: prison and police reform, the right to information,
human rights commissions, constitution-making and human rights
advocacy. Beginning in 1991 with Put Our World to Rights,
the CHRI has published biennial reports just prior to the meetings
of Commonwealth Heads of Government. Its report to the 2001 CHOGM
in Brisbane is to focus upon economic, social and cultural rights
protection and the Commonwealth record since the Harare Commonwealth
Declaration of 1991. The CHRI also conducts fact-finding missions
to Commonwealth countries facing particular human rights crises,
and has published reports of its missions to Nigeria (1995), Zambia
(1996), the Fiji Islands (2000) and Sierra Leone (2000).
3. This memorandum is presented by the Trustee
Committee of the CHRI—comprised of representatives of the
seven sponsoring organisations with some additional members—which
holds residual powers for the continuance of the CHRI and responsibilities
deriving from its location in London.
4. The CHRI welcomes the increased attention
shown to the Commonwealth in the FCO's Human Rights Annual Report
2000 compared to its reports in previous years. The CHRI see this
as a positive step towards highlighting human rights concerns
within the Commonwealth and the mechanisms available for human
rights protection within the Commonwealth framework. The attention
given by the report to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group
(CMAG) as the guardian of the Harare Declaration is also to be
commended, particularly as the proposed expansion of CMAG's remit
is under consideration by the High Level Review Group chaired
by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.
5. However, the CHRI recommends that further
consideration be given in the report to the progress, or otherwise,
of human rights concerns through Commonwealth ministerial meetings.
Such an examination would give a fuller picture of the institutions
of the Commonwealth and its capacity to influence human rights
considerations. Recent meetings of Commonwealth women's affairs
ministers (New Delhi, April 2000), law ministers (Trinidad and
Tobago, 1999) and education ministers (Halifax, Nova Scotia, November
2000) have all provided occasions for debate on and commitments
to the domestic implementation of the Harare Declaration and other
international human rights standards. These meetings also allow
for a more detailed analysis of particular areas of human rights
protection, such as the consideration given by Commonwealth health
ministers meetings to the pandemic of HIV/AIDS. As such they provide
key fora through which to assess the commitment of the Commonwealth
to human rights and fundamental freedoms.
6. The CHRI also recommends that the Human
Rights Annual Report reflects on the degree to which socio-economic
issues and questions of development are flagged during the meetings
of Commonwealth finance ministers. Whilst attention is given to
the principles of human rights and good governance enshrined in
the Harare Declaration, the development aspect of the Declaration
is often underplayed. The meetings of Commonwealth finance ministers,
who last met this September in Malta, are a key stage through
which the promises pledged at Harare toward development and socio-economic
rights could be translated into tangible policy.
7. An examination of the Commonwealth by
the Human Rights Annual Report at all its variegated levels—including
ministerial meetings. CMAG, CHOGMs and the current High Level
Review Group—would provide a more rounded analysis of both
the Commonwealth's current activities within the field of human
rights, and its potential for further action. For example in a
recent publication Realising Human Rights for Poor People,
the Department for International Development whilst commending
the Commonwealth as "playing an important role" and
being "particularly well placed to help member governments
address controversial and politically sensitive issues",
rightly concluded that it "could usefully do more" (p
21, October 2000). This position is strongly endorsed by the CHRI
and forms the basis of the organisation's 1999 report on the downsizing
of the Human Rights Unit of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Rights
Must Come First.
8. The Human Rights Annual Report 2000 highlights
the Commonwealth election team of 40 observers sent to Zimbabwe
to monitor the elections in June. In the past decade election
monitoring has been a keen area of interest for the Commonwealth—with
32 missions having observed elections in 23 countries. However,
taking into account the key focus the Commonwealth has placed
on election observing, the report fails to make any critical observations
about the successes or failures of these efforts or the longer-term
benefits of such missions for the processes of democratisation.
For example, no mention is made of the appalling precedent set
by the Commonwealth Secretariat in accepting the Zimbabwe government's
stipulation that no member of the Commonwealth election observer
team should be of British nationality. As the CHRI submission
to the September meeting of CMAG in New York made clear,
"It takes little imagination to realise
where this can lead. Will the Commonwealth allow an observer group
to use its name in watching a future election on the Fiji Islands,
if the national government has debarred participants from India
or Pakistan?"
In the light of this worrying precedent the
CHRI urges the FCO to examine more fully the activities of these
observer missions which constitute a sustained area of interest
for the Commonwealth in underscoring free and fair elections and
the rule of law.
9. The CHRI welcomes the current discussions
occurring under the High Level Review Group as to the reform of
CMAG, and the role of the British Prime Minister in helping to
launch this initiative. However, the CHRI is deeply concerned
by the apparent lack of transparency surrounding the processes
of the Review. The result of this approach has been that not enough
is currently known about the position of the UK at the High Level
Review Group. It is believed that the UK is taking a strong but
generally unpublicised stance during these deliberations on the
future of the Commonwealth. The CHRI calls upon the UK government
to actively work towards making both its own position and the
review process itself more open and transparent so that the citizens
of the Commonwealth are able to take an informed and intelligent
interest in the discussions at hand.
10. It is noted that the Commonwealth is
an association of peoples as well as an association of states,
and that the deliberations of the High Level Group will mean nothing
if they have not been informed by the voices and opinions of the
people of the Commonwealth. The CHRI calls upon the UK government
to use its position within the High Level Review Group to promote
a full and systematic exchange of information between the Review
and civil society. Such a dialogue, necessitating the dissemination
of accessible and relevant information from the Review Group and
a participatory submissions process to take account of the views
of civil society actors, would ensure the people of the Commonwealth
enjoy a sense of ownership with the Commonwealth of the twenty
first century.
11. The CHRI welcomes the British Government's
position highlighted in the FCO's report that CMAG should concern
itself with a wider range of abuses of the Harare Declaration
than it is presently mandated to do. The CHRI urges the British
Prime Minister, through the High Level Review Group, to continue
to push for an expansion of CMAG's role, augmenting its current
focus on the overthrow of constitutional government to deal with
more widespread violations of the Harare Declaration. Areas for
CMAG to be concerned include countries devoid of a plural, democratic
and rights respecting polity, and serious and persistent abuses
of human rights. The CHRI also commends CMAG's recent position—following
its Chairperson's Statement on Zimbabwe and Cameroon in May 2000—in
informally reviewing serious violations of human rights and fundamental
freedoms falling outside the bracket of the illegal overthrow
of an elected government. The speed at which political crises
emerge worldwide renders it necessary for the Commonwealth to
raise issues at the ministerial level through CMAG without waiting
upon the biennial meetings of Heads of Government. For it to be
an active and meaningful player in the protection of human rights,
the Commonwealth must be vested with a rapid reaction mechanism
to provide timely and effective assistance to those within the
Commonwealth whose rights stand in danger of being trampled over.
For this reason it is essential that CMAG be given the discretion
to widen the scope of its focus and the CHRI hopes that this will
be recognised and underlined by the High Level Review Group during
its forthcoming considerations.
12. The CHRI also hopes that the Review
Group will examine the follow-up resulting from the deliberations
of CMAG meetings and ensure that these deliberations are backed
up by tangible efforts to protect the Harare principles. CMAG
has drawn some criticism for its perceived ineffectuality against
the Nigerian military dictatorship, its failure to move swiftly
over Sierra Leone and its limited impact in the normalisation
of The Gambia or the return to democracy in Pakistan. However,
its authority is not drawn from any treaty and its means of standard
setting derive from the power to admit or exclude from the family
of Commonwealth nations. That those who have been expelled or
suspended so readily wish to return speaks for the desirability
of Commonwealth membership. CMAG must now work to deepen its engagement
with those states experiencing periods of human rights crisis.
In its submission to the 1999 meeting of senior officials reviewing
the future of CMAG, the CHRI suggested both an engagement with
foreign ministers from countries showing worrying trends of rights
violations (as part of an enhanced focus on crisis prevention
within CMAG and the Commonwealth as a whole), and strengthening
relations with civil society actors particularly in its visits
to monitor countries under review, as two means of fostering a
more sustained and meaningful relationship with states experiencing
troubling periods of democratic turbulence.
13. The CHRI also welcomes the presence
of the Rt Hon Robin Cook MP at recent meetings of CMAG as opposed
to the attendance of previous CMAG meetings by Ministers of State.
As Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Mr
Cook's attendance at CMAG meetings is an important indicator of
the regard with which the UK Government holds both the Commonwealth
and the principles underscored in the Harare Declaration. CHRI
urges all governments to send high-level deputations to meetings
of Heads of Government and Commonwealth ministers to stimulate
fruitful and informed debate and raise increased media attention
within the Commonwealth of such meetings, their outcomes and their
relevancy to the lives of Commonwealth citizens.
14. From its inception, the CHRI has called
for the appointment of a Commonwealth High Commissioner for Human
Rights to investigate serious violations of human rights. A Commonwealth
High Commissioner for Human Rights concerned with all facets of
human rights—economic, social and cultural rights as well
as civil and political rights—would provide a renewed focus
and direction to the safeguarding of human rights throughout the
Commonwealth. The CHRI believes that such a Commissioner appointed
on a four year term for his or her independent expertise, with
dedicated budgets allocated for their work and standing with Deputy
Secretary-General status would signal the serious concern of the
Commonwealth for the human rights of its citizens. Working for
the promotion of human rights and human rights education in the
Commonwealth; providing advice to the Secretary-General, CMAG,
the Human Rights Unit and other Secretariat departments through
an annual report, oral presentations, and particular expertise
on fact-finding delegations; warning publicly and privately when
human rights problems are growing in any region and offering support
to the good offices role of the Secretary-General, the Commonwealth
High Commissioner for Human Rights would seriously augment the
work being achieved in the Commonwealth to uphold the principles
of the Harare Declaration.
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