Commonwealth Role in Anti-terrorism

Australia’s Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, has announced a new policy framework intended to counter violent extremism though Australian aid programs. 

Ms Bishop’s announcement was made shortly before the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack in March and following the provision of $2.5 million to the Commonwealth Secretariat to establish a Counter-Violent Extremism Unit at its London headquarters. 

She said that the new framework will ensure that development assistance considers countering violent extremism in targeted and sensitive ways, including across education, civil society, governance, livelihoods, justice and the rule of law.

In 2016, Australia supported a revision of OECD rules to make non-coercive efforts to counter violent extremism eligible for Official Development Assistance.

Meanwhile, in Canberra, the RCS and the Commonwealth Round Table in Australia have made a joint contribution to the development of a new Australian Foreign Policy White Paper—the first since 2003. 

Queen's Canopy in Australia

Australia has committed to planting 20 million native trees by 2020 as its contribution to The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy, a network of forest conservation projects involving all Commonwealth member countries.

The Queen’s Canopy was launched at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta in 2015. Its purpose is to create a physical and lasting legacy to mark the Queen’s leadership of the Commonwealth while conserving indigenous forests for future generations.

Australia’s contribution to the Canopy aims to re-establish green corridors and urban forests on public and private land. Britain has dedicated 200 square miles of its National Forrest, Canada 6.5 million hectares of its Great Bear Rain Forest in British Columbia, while Singapore has dedicated six hectares of its Botanic Gardens. By the end of 2016, 20 countries from all five regions had committed to the Canopy project with more countries expected to join. In the AsiaPacific region, this includes Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, New Zealand and Australia.

The Canopy project involves partnerships between RCS London, Cool Earth—a UK-based charity that works with indigenous villages to halt forest destruction—and the Commonwealth Forestry Association.

Model CHOGM Meets in Old Parliament House

Student delegates to a Model Youth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Old Parliament House in August chose four sub-themes to set the agenda for debate to reflect the ‘youth’ theme of the meeting: These were Youth and Education, Poverty and Youth, Youth and Gender, Youth and Health.

Meeting in the old House of Representatives chamber, delegates were students from the Australian National University where a branch of CommonYouth was established earlier this year. Each was invited to represent a Head of State from a Commonwealth country of which they were not themselves nationals. Although in the main Australian citizens— many with overseas backgrounds— participants also included overseas students, including those from Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Nigeria, Thailand, Botswana, Pakistan, India, The Philippines, New Zealand and Afghanistan.

In their final communiqué, the ‘Heads of Government’ agreed that education should be a cornerstone of all government policy and that access to education be provided to all women. They also called for a lowering of costs of education in their respective nations and their entry into multinational relationships regarding the transfer of knowledge and labour between them.

One of the recommendations on theme of Poverty and Youth was that regional alliances of Young Entrepreneurs be established between Commonwealth nations to maximise capacity for youth in development. On Gender, ‘Heads’ agreed to focus on gender equality in the implementation of youth empowerment programs to reduce existing gender disparities.

Participants said they found the experience useful as an exercise in learning about the procedure of Commonwealth decision-making, with some being interested in attending the Commonwealth Youth Forum, one of the side events of the November CHOGM.

The motivation for those taking part ranged from a general interest in the Commonwealth and international relations to youth leadership opportunities, a career in diplomacy, the opportunity to develop skills in public speaking, advocacy and negotiation. Some also named learning to think from the perspective of a different culture as an important reason to take part.

HE Mr Charles Muscat, High Commissioner Malta, the host nation for CHOGM, gave a small reception for Youth CHOGM representatives where he was presented with a copy of their communiqué for handing over to the Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat.

Brexit Bring Uncertainties for Commonwealth

Since The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union on 23 June this year, speculation has grown on how this will affect the Commonwealth. The RCS London, in a statement following the referendum, urged that the UK should ensure that ‘the Commonwealth potential ... is integrated into all debates on the future of Britain’s foreign and domestic policy’.

A month later, the RCS held a meeting of Commonwealth organisations in London, in the first of a series of roundtable discussions, on the challenges and opportunities associated with Brexit, hosted by the Royal Overseas League and chaired by RCS Director Michael Lake. Described as a ‘Commonwealth Conversation’, the meeting addressed three broad questions: the likely impact on, and opportunities for, the UK’s relations with other Commonwealth members, the challenges and opportunities that Brexit creates for the Commonwealth network, and the ways in which the Commonwealth would want to engage with the EU through and beyond Brexit negotiations.

New opportunities

Overall, the meeting concluded that Britain’s withdrawal from the EU would potentially have a negative impact on the Commonwealth, but as the UK reorientated its foreign policy priorities, new opportunities would be created.

The meeting noted that international trade was one of the biggest potential areas of opportunity for Commonwealth countries, especially with many emerging markets in the Commonwealth. Another way BREXIT could impact Commonwealth relations would be the UK’s capacity in overseas development assistance when freed of contributions to the European Development Fund. Areas of concern expressed by many participants included the threat to the Commonwealth through racist intolerance stirred up by the referendum. Other opportunities foreshadowed included a freeing up of the UK’s unpopular visa regime for Commonwealth citizens, including the UK extending a two-year business and tourism visa to Indian nationals.

Two recent research papers published by the Commonwealth Secretariat warn that key industries in some Commonwealth nations could be badly affected by the referendum decision. A paper on trade implications by the head of the Secretariat’s international trade policy section, Dr Mohammad Razzaque, suggested that uncertainties caused by Brexit could weaken the chances of world economic recovery with severe implications for many developing and least-developed countries for whom the EU provides special trade deals. If the UK does not provide additional provisions, these countries could face annual export duties of more than £600 stg.

Matthew Neuhaus, Australian Ambassador to Zimbabwe 2011-2015. 

Refugees, Climate Change and Extremism on CHOGM Agenda

As Malta prepares to welcome Commonwealth Heads of Government to their biennial meeting from 27 to 29 November, the refugee crisis facing many member countries could dominate an already crowded agenda.

A European Union Summit in Malta on migration earlier in November followed by a G20 summit in Turkey is likely set the scene for an issue that observers say can’t be avoided. Malta itself has been described as ‘almost sinking’ under the weight of refugees. Climate change is another pressing issue, considering that that a significant number of Commonwealth members are small island states, some already experiencing inundation and destruction from extreme weather events.

Yet another priority will be addressing the problems facing a number of member countries in countering violent extremism and radicalisation.

One of the most important decisions for the Malta CHOGM, however, is to appoint a new SecretaryGeneral to replace Kamalesh Sharma, who will complete his second four-year term. Mr Sharma, formerly India’s High Commissioner to London, has been seen by many observers of Commonwealth affairs as too conservative and set in his ways to be an effective leader. The appointment of a successor is seen as an opportunity for Heads to bring new life to a once-vigorous and proactive institution that has become moribund.

Crucial role

The role of the Secretary-General is considered crucial in setting the course for how the Commonwealth will be run and how effective it will be in applying the principles of democracy, rule of law and human rights that bind member states to uphold. In recent years, these principles have often been flouted, with no effective response from either the Secretary-General or the Commonwealth Ministerial Advisory Group (CMAG). This is despite the 2011 Perth CHOGM agreeing that the Secretary-General should speak out publicly in expressing disapproval of ‘serious or persistent violations of Commonwealth values’. CMAG’s role as watchdog for Commonwealth principles was similarly endorsed.

The new Secretary-General is likely to be from four main contenders. Patricia Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthar, born in Dominica, was educated in the UK and was Attorney-General in the Blair government. She was the youngest QC, at aged 35, since Pitt the Younger. Another possibility is Gabaipone Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba from Botswana, educated in London in science and law, who held various high level positions in government and corporate affairs in Botswana and the UK before appointment as a Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General. Her term finished in 2014.

The Tanzanian Foreign Minister and current chair of CMAG, Bernard Membe, is also in the running, along with Sir Ronald Sanders, Ambassador to Washington for Antigua and Barbuda, who played an important role on the Eminent Persons’ Group whose recommendations to the Perth CHOGM on the future of the Commonwealth dominated the meeting. The Group’s proposed Commonwealth Charter, setting out fundamental principles, values and aspirations of the people of the Commonwealth was endorsed at the meeting.

Commonwealth observers over recent years have noted that the length of the CHOGM agenda has been growing with each meeting (the draft agenda for the Malta meeting is rumoured to be 10 pages). There is also concern about the length of the joint communiqué issued by Heads at the end of their three-day meeting. The Sri Lanka CHOGM statement in 2013 covered 98 topics and ran to over 8000 words.