The Commonwealth: From Kuala Lumpur to Durban - The Report of the Commonwealth Secretary-General 1999
3 November 1999
The Commonwealth at its 50th anniversary has increased its relevance to its members and to the wider international community, according to the biennial report of the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, and "it has acquired the capacity to play an increasingly effective role in addressing emerging global challenges," he said. The report, launched today here in London, will be presented to Commonwealth Heads of Government, who will be meeting at their summit in Durban, South Africa, on 12-15 November.The Report is Chief Anyaoku's last as Commonwealth Secretary-General, and it was an appropriate place, he said, in which to take stock of this past ten years of office and offer reflections on the way forward. The occasion also coincided with the 50th anniversary of the London Declaration of April 1949. This enabled India to continue in full membership of the Commonwealth after the adoption of its republication constitution, "effectively making the modern Commonwealth possible". This should be an opportunity to reflect on the future, on "how to make the association even more relevant in the uncertainties and challenges of the world which is coming into view with a new century and millennium". Chief Anyaoku recalled that the beginning of his Secretary-Generalship in 1990 coincided with an historic conjuncture in world politics as a result of which nothing would again be the same. "The first element of this conjuncture was the ending of the Cold War which, for more than 50 years, had done so much to inhibit constructive international co-operation. And with the ending of the Cold War, another hopeful and expectant age seemed to be dawning."
To a world irreducibly diverse, the multiracial and multicultural Commonwealth pointed the way to the possibility of real "unity in diversity" he said. "It had been the considerable achievement of the Commonwealth to show that its diversity, far from being a source of division and disruption, could be a source of celebration and abiding co-operation. And I saw in the emerging post-Cold War world, unprecedented opportunities for the Commonwealth to become an even greater force for good."
That optimistic assessment of the potential and future role of the Commonwealth was to be confirmed by Heads of Government themselves he went on. In their Kuala Lumpur Communiqué, they "expressed pride in the Commonwealth and appreciation for its contribution to peace, social justice and economic progress among its members and in the wider world". Looking ahead to the future, they recognised that the "Commonwealth would continue to have a distinctive and enlarging role to play". What that "distinctive and enlarging role" would be was spelt out by Heads of Government in the Harare Commonwealth Declaration of October 1991.
The Secretary-General said "the other development which was to have a transforming impact on the Commonwealth and, morally, a cleansing effect on the world as a whole, was the ending of apartheid in South Africa. Commonwealth energies had hitherto gone into the mobilisation of international pressure in the form of sanctions and diplomatic isolation of the apartheid regime. But the new situation clearly called for a new approach and one with the right mix of pressure and co-operation to ensure the success of the negotiations then about to begin. The first five years of my Secretary-Generalship were therefore in great part devoted to assisting the transition in South Africa."
Democracy and Good Governance
If one area of activity can be said to have been "emblematic of the Commonwealth in the period since 1991, it has been the promotion of democracy and good governance", he said. A commitment to democracy and good governance had always been implicit in membership of the Commonwealth. What was later expounded in the Singapore Declaration of 1971 as a belief "in the liberty of the individual, in equal rights for all citizens regardless of race, colour, creed or political belief and in their inalienable right to participate by means of free and democratic political processes in framing the society in which they live" had always been held to be an integral part of the Commonwealth vision. It could hardly be otherwise with the modern Commonwealth, made possible by the emergence of its new members to independence from colonial rule.
The Declaration was hardly a decade old but in the time it has been in force, it has transformed the Commonwealth morally and politically he said. "It has added immeasurably to the credibility of the association. Because of Harare, the Commonwealth stands higher in the eyes of its constituents and its external influence has never been greater. This is a record of which the Commonwealth can justly be proud".
But "even more indicative of the strength of the commitment to entrench democracy within the Commonwealth," he added, was the adoption of the Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme on the Harare Declaration in November 1995. The Harare Declaration had "spelt out what were to be the priority areas of Commonwealth endeavour in the 1990s and beyond but had provided no mechanism for the achievement of those ends. Millbrook repaired that omission" with, among other measures, the establishment of a Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) "to deal with serious or persistent violations" of the Harare Declaration's fundamental political values.
"Only a self-confident and resilient Commonwealth could have taken this further step of establishing a mechanism to invigilate compliance with its fundamental principles. In a real sense, therefore, CMAG marks the coming of age of the Commonwealth, self-assured in its internal cohesion and its fundamental unity of purpose" said the Secretary-General.
The Secretary-General went on to note that in June this year, South Africa held its second democratic elections and Thabo Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela as the second democratically elected President of post-apartheid South Africa. "Those elections marked the conclusion of one phase of the transition. The wider task of reconstruction remains to be accomplished; and in the context of South Africa, to reconstruct is to repair a century and more of deprivation".
The struggle against apartheid may have had South Africa for its battlefield but, in its true and deeper meaning, it was a campaign of the human race for a more complete humanity, and the Commonwealth is honoured to have contributed to that cause, he said.
The report also observed that there was a growing area of the Secretariat's work which was rightly kept away from the glare of publicity despite the risk of losing a publicity dividend", the area of conflict resolution. "In a world where internal conflicts seem to have largely replaced inter-state conflict, the Commonwealth has not been immune; and increasingly Commonwealth governments are using help from the Secretariat to resolve domestic conflicts or defuse tensions. My response has usually been either to send an emissary or to go myself when the situation necessitates it and my other commitments allow. In the period since 1991, the Commonwealth has helped to resolve conflicts or defuse conflict situations in Bangladesh, Guyana, Kenya, Lesotho, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands and Tanzania, to name only some".
Challenges of the 21st Century
Chief Anyaoku then turned to the theme of the Durban Summit, globalisation, which, he said, "was the dominant reality of our age. It has brought about a phenomenal expansion in world trade, finance and investment, produced new technologies which have shrunk time and space and in the process transformed the world almost out of recognition from what it was only a few decades ago. For some it has been a world of unparalleled opportunities, the best of all times; but for others, it has been a time of deepening poverty, the worst of all times ..."
There was, thus, a serious threat of marginalisation of an important part of the planet in the 21st century, he said. "On the basis of present trends, the pessimism of the intellect must override the optimism of the heart. The world, and in a particularly profound way the developing world, enters the new millennium on a footing of uncertainty and insecurity - the widening disparities between different sections of mankind have now grown horrendously wider. The OECD countries, which account for only 19 per cent of the world's population control 71 per cent of global trade in goods and services and account for 58 per cent of direct foreign investment. On any realistic view of the matter, one must seriously wonder whether the gap between rich and poor can ever be narrowed sufficiently to make the unity of humankind meaningful", he said.
The Secretary-General also deplored the threat from "divisive pluralism", the danger of "rising intolerance and xenophobia, especially in many pluralistic states." He went on to warn that "everything associated with globalisation, be it in the area of communications or trade or finance, is conspiring to shrink time and space and to erode borders. The migration of peoples within countries and across continents has produced in many parts of the world, developed and developing, multiracial and multicultural societies. Yet, in many communities there are people who reject this co-mingling of cultures and races and who are determined to sow dissensions by exploiting the racial and other differences in their communities".
Looking at the economic prospects of the Commonwealth, the Secretary-General observed that economic reforms in many Commonwealth countries had opened up for the private sector more opportunities for involvement in intra-Commonwealth trade and investment. The Commonwealth Business Council was established following the first meeting of the Commonwealth Business Forum in 1997. Its purpose is to boost and encourage private sector involvement in trade and investment among our member countries. "As the Commonwealth gains increasing salience as a business network, the opportunities for the Business Council are bound to grow and so will its role in contributing to the economic well-being of our member states".
The Secretary-General also identified a number of other programmes and practical activities in support of better macro-economic management, capacity building, and poverty alleviation designed to promote economic development in member countries. Four regional funds, established under the aegis of the Commonwealth Private Investment Initiative, have mobilised over US$200 million for long-term investment in new and growing enterprises. Capacity building in member countries for trade policy and promotion has been supported by the Trade and Investment Access Facility. The Secretary-General pointed out that the Commonwealth has been at the forefront of analytical work and sustained advocacy to reduce the debt burden of the heavily-indebted poor countries. In addition, assistance in the area of debt management has been provided through the Commonwealth Secretariat Debt Recording and Management System (CS-DRMS), which has been adopted by 40 member countries.
The Secretary-General then turned to the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC), which in any consideration of the developmental role of the Commonwealth, had to be accorded a place of prominence. "For nearly 30 years", he said "it has proved an effective instrument for the delivery of technical assistance to member countries, most notably in the provision of advisory services and the training of local capacity. It has contributed in the process to the socio-economic development of many Commonwealth countries in a manner that has made a real difference in the lives of millions of people ... Appreciation of its work is reflected in the pledge made at Millbrook to restore the Fund's resources to their 1991/92 levels in real terms". Yet he underlined, the reality remains "one of continuing decline in the Fund's fortunes, from an actual expenditure of £28.0m in 1991/92 to £18.1m in 1998/99 - representing a decline of some 40 per cent in real terms - and with it, the Fund's ability to continue to contribute to the development of member countries".
He also noted that the Harare Declaration had identified equality for women as one of the priority areas on which Heads of Government agreed "to work with renewed vigour" ... Internationally, the Commonwealth Plan of Action on Gender and Development proved to be a much appreciated contribution to the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women. But "much more remains to be done both within and outside the Commonwealth to ensure that social inequality is not gender inequality". Again, one-third of the world's young people live in Commonwealth countries he said. "The future of the Commonwealth therefore depends upon its youth. It was against the background of these considerations that Ministers responsible for Youth Affairs adopted a Five-year Strategic Plan in May 1995 focusing on three main areas: human resource development, youth empowerment and youth policy. A Commonwealth Plan of Action on Youth Empowerment (PAYE) to the year 2005 has been developed and will be presented to Heads of Government at Durban for their consideration".
Returning to his main theme, Chief Anyaoku stressed that if Harare had been about kitting out the Commonwealth for the challenges of the 1990s, "Durban is about focusing it on the tasks for the 21st century, especially the challenge of globalisation. South Africa as the venue for the 1999 CHOGM will contribute its own unique inspiration. No other country has in fact done more to shape the modern Commonwealth. It was the exclusion of the apartheid regime in 1961 which cleared the way for the Commonwealth to embark on its internationalist vocation in the service of a wider world. The debates over the issues of Southern Africa in the 1970s and 80s - issues which had their ultimate roots in the apartheid system in South Africa - enabled the Commonwealth to keep faith with the people of Southern Africa and to remain true to itself. The holding of the first democratic elections in the history of South Africa in April 1994 and the end of apartheid was in many ways "the Commonwealth's finest hour".
He concluded "the Commonwealth may be too complex an organisation to yield to a tidy definition but there can be no doubt as to its importance both for its members and the larger international community. Because it represents a principle that transcends narrow interests and divisions; because it works to translate the concept of our common humanity into a living reality; and because it works for a more just and equal world in which the security of the vulnerable and the poor is assured, it represents hope in the world. That is why caring for the Commonwealth must remain a priority charge on all its member governments".
Issued by the Information and Public Affairs Division,
Commonwealth Secretariat,
Marlborough House,
Pall Mall,
London SW1Y 5HX,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 0207-839 3411;
Fax: 0207-839 9081;
Telex: 27678
99/63 3 November 1999
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