Formerly classified documents released to the public
22 August 2007
Files cover apartheid, the role of women in public affairs and the brain drain of medical practitioners
Formerly classified records released this week by the Commonwealth Secretariat under its 30-year rule include files covering apartheid and sport, as well as the first 10-year internal Secretariat review committee report.
A total of 169 records, containing documents from 1976 and earlier, have been added to those already in the public domain.
The files of the second Secretary-General, Sir Shridath Ramphal, include early Commonwealth statements about South Africa’s apartheid system.
‘Commonwealth member countries have proved their commitment to justice in southern Africa by a variety of constructive actions. They must renew their efforts to enrol the entire international community in exerting pressure for change … It is our duty to humanity to work for justice, which alone can bring peace,’ said one document.
Some of these files were later expounded in the Gleneagles Agreement on Apartheid in Sport, 1977, and the Lusaka Declaration of the Commonwealth on Racism and Racial Prejudice in 1979.
Two topics still of resonance today are documented in notes from the 1976 Senior Officials Meeting which discussed the brain drain among medical practitioners and the role of women in public affairs.
Of interest to researchers of Commonwealth history is the first 10-year internal Secretariat Review Committee report and papers recording the decision to adopt a simultaneously observed Commonwealth Day.
Following a suggestion from the Canadian Government, it was agreed that the second Monday in March would be designated Commonwealth Day in the then 35 member countries. The William Hickey column of the UK’s ‘Daily Express’ commented that the shift away from holding Commonwealth Day on the Queen’s birthday was a sign of tradition being delivered “another kick in the teeth”.
This year marks the 11th consecutive year that Secretariat records have been made public.
A copy of the complete list of files is available on its website at www.thecommonwealth.org/archives. The files are available for viewing in the Secretariat’s Library and Archives at Marlborough House and appointments may be made with Hilary McEwan, Archivist, by telephone at +44 (0)20 7747 6167, by fax at +44 (0)20 7747 6168, or by e-mail at h.mcewan@commonwealth.int.
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