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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Australia to host Commonwealth Accountability Workshop

21 May 2001

Australia will host the Commonwealth Workshop on Accountability, Scrutiny and Oversight later this week. The meeting is being organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Centre for Democratic Institutions at the Australian National University.

The workshop, which will take place in Canberra, will be attended by present and former members of parliament, lawyers, ombudsmen, auditors-general, representatives of civil society and others from sixteen countries.

It has been convened to consider how mechanisms to ensure accountability, scrutiny and oversight of governments can be made more effective. Over its three days it will discuss:

· ways of strengthening the processes for parliamentary scrutiny;
· what public officials can do to promote accountability;
· the oversight role of the media and the rest of civil society; and
· in general, how democratic societies can build up 'a culture of integrity'.

This is the seventh in a series of Commonwealth workshops on the theme Deepening Democracy. Earlier workshops have considered the Role of the Opposition, Domestic Election Observation, Gender and Democracy, Democracy and Small States, Devolution and Decentralisation and Broadcasting and Democracy

Note to Editors:
The workshop will be held at the Park Royal Hotel, Canberra, from Wednesday 23 to Friday 25 May 2001. The Opening Session, which takes place from 9.30 to 10.00 am on Wednesday 23 May, will be addressed by the Director of the Commonwealth Secretariat Political Affairs Division, Mr Jon Sheppard, and the Director of the Centre for Democratic Institutions at the Australian National University, Mr Roland Rich, the co-organisers of the workshop. After the Opening Session the workshop will go into closed session.

Commonwealth Secretariat: Mwambu Wanendeya +44 20 7747 6382
Centre for Democratic Institutions: Barbara Trewin +61 2 6125 0605





01/34 21 May 2001

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ISSUED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIVISION
Commonwealth Secretariat Marlborough House Pall Mall London SW1Y 5HX United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7747 6385/6 Fax: +44 (0)20 7839 9081
Email: info@commonwealth.int