Report of the Commonwealth Secretary-General launched

The Secretary-General’s biennial report covering the work of the 53-nation Commonwealth and the Commonwealth Secretariat, its principal intergovernmental organisation, was launched on 30 October 2007.

Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, hosted a reception to launch the report at Marlborough House in London.

The report – Transforming Societies, Changing Lives – looks at the Commonwealth’s work over the last two years, and its continuing efforts to meet the needs of the governments and peoples of its member states.

“For all [the Commonwealth’s] previous triumphs – especially the way it supported the emergence of many proud and independent nations over several generations – the urgency of its current tasks, and the way it rises to them, is greater,” writes Mr McKinnon.

Among those “current tasks” facing Commonwealth countries, Mr McKinnon made special mention of climate change, HIV/AIDS, education, poverty and political stability. The report explains how the Secretariat’s work aims to meet these challenges – from policy to practice and from advocacy to implementation; using some 20 project case histories. One example is the network of 500 Commonwealth youth ambassadors across three continents, which has been established to provide guidance and information to young people about HIV/AIDS.

In order to enhance the Commonwealth’s international impact, the report also states that the Secretariat will keep co-operating and co-ordinating with “other international and regional organisations” including the UN, the European Union, the World Bank and regional groupings such as the Pacific Islands Forum.

The Secretary-General concludes the Foreword to his report by stating that “the Secretariat will continue to rise to the needs of the Commonwealth’s people, and above all to the needs of the people of its future.”

With nearly 1 billion people under 18 in the Commonwealth from all societies, Mr McKinnon says that these young people should be “the focus of a Commonwealth which continues to make the world a better place.”

Click here for more details on the report

Key Links:

• Commonwealth Secretary-General