Commonwealth Institute Archives - Commonwealth Oral History Project

Interview with Kamalesh Sharma

by evanamusoke | Apr 28, 2017 | CHOGM, Civil Society, Climate Change, Commonwealth Foundation, Commonwealth Institute, Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), Commonwealth Secretariat, Constitutional Change, Democracy, Development, Diplomacy, Education, Elections, Eminent Persons Group, Environment, Good Governance, Human Rights, India, Maldives, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Queen, Small States, Sri Lanka, Technical Assistance, Trade and Investment, United Nations

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (9 March 2016) and Part Two (29 March 2016) Biography: Sharma, Kamalesh. 1941-. Born in India. Educated at St Stephen’s College, Delhi and University of Cambridge. Indian Foreign Service, 1965-2001. India’s Permanent...

Interview with Matthew Neuhaus

by rcraggs | Jul 9, 2014 | Apartheid, Australia, Bangladesh, CHOGM, Cold War, Commonwealth Institute, Commonwealth Secretariat, Constitutional Change, Decolonisation, Democracy, Development, Diplomacy, Elections, European Economic Community, Fiji, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Good Governance, Maldives, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Queen, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), Rwanda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Uncategorized, United Kingdom, United Nations, USA, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript: Part One (5 June 2013); Part Two (8 August 2013); Part Three (11 March 2014). Biography: Neuhaus, Matthew. Australian Diplomat. Postings to Papua New Guinea; Canberra; Counsellor to the Australian Mission in the United Nations, New York;...

Interview with Richard Bourne

by rcraggs | Oct 27, 2013 | Apartheid, Australia, Canada, CHOGM, Civil Society, Climate Change, Commonwealth Institute, Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Elections, European Economic Community, Fiji, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Guyana, Human Rights, India, Media, Mozambique, New Zealand, Nigeria, Race, South Africa, Uncategorized, United Kingdom, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Bourne, (Rowland) Richard. 27 July 1940- . OBE 2002. Journalist, The Guardian, 1962–72 (Education correspondent, 1968–72). Assistant Editor, New Society, 1972–77. Deputy Editor, Evening Standard, 1977–78; London Columnist,...

Definitioner

Charles Clarke

Charles Rodway Clarke (b.1950) is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 2004 to 2006 in the government of Tony Blair. Clarke was previously Secretary of State for Education and Skills (2002-04) and Minister without Portfolio (2001-02).

Mark Collins

Nicholas Mark Collins (b.1952) is a British environmental consultant and geographer who served as Director of the Commonwealth Foundation from 2005 to 2011. Collins, who had previously worked for the United Nations Environment Programme (2004-05) is the Chairman of the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation)

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations that focuses its work on eliminating hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in both the developed and developing world. Established in Quebec City, Canada in 1945, it is now based in Rome, Italy and brings together 194 member states to share knowledge and debate policy.

Richard Bourne

Richard Bourne (b.1940) is a British journalist, writer and human rights advocate who has acted as Deputy Director of the Commonwealth Institute (1983-89), Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (1990-92) and Head of the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit (1999-2005). He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Secretary of the Ramphal Institute, and was a correspondent for The Guardian and deputy editor of the London Evening Standard.

Maja Daruwala

Maja Daruwala is an Indian barrister and human rights advocate who has served as Executive Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) since 1996. Daruwala previously worked as Ford Foundation Programme Officer for South Asia.

Soli Sorabjee

Soli Jehangir Sorabjee (b.1930) is an Indian jurist who served as Attorney General of India from 1998 to 2004. He was previously Solicitor General of India from 1977 to 1980, and had been a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India from 1971.

Iwokrama

The Iwokrama Forest is a tropical forest in central Guyana, located at the juncture of Amazonian and Guianan flora and fauna. Along with the Congo, New Guinea and Amazonia, it is one of the last four pristine tropical forests in the world. The territory is overseen by the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development.

CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency)

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was the primary organisation administering Canada’s foreign aid programmes in developing countries. It was established in 1968 under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and reported to the Parliament of Canada through the Minister for International Cooperation. In 2013, CIDA was dissolved by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and its functions incorporated into the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit

The Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit (CPSU) was a think-tank established in 1998 within the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, and devoting its work to issues of globalisation, democracy, civil society and human rights. In 2011, it was rebranded as the Commonwealth Advisory Bureau (CA/B), but in 2013 its functions were incorporated into the wider work of the Institute.

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is an international, non-governmental organisation established in 1987 to support the implementation of the Harare Declaration in the Commonwealth of Nations. It provides thematic human rights reports to every Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. In 1993, its headquarters moved from London to New Delhi, India.

Royal Commonwealth Society

The Royal Commonwealth Society is an international educational charity based in London, functioning additionally as a private members’ club. Its main aim is to facilitate the exchange of ideas on public affairs in an international frame, and it supports and promotes the modern Commonwealth of Nations. It was founded in 1868 as the Colonial Society.

Daisy Cooper

Daisy Cooper (b.1981) is a British civil servant and political campaigner who served as Strategic Planning Officer for the Commonwealth Secretariat (2006-10), Strategic and Technical Advisor to the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group (2010-11) and Director of the Commonwealth Advisory Bureau (2011-13), formerly the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit. Cooper has worked for the Voluntary Service Overseas (2013) and the Hacked Off Campaign for a Free and Accountable Press (2013- ). In 2010 she was a Parliamentary Candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Suffolk, England.

AusAID

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) was the main government agency responsible for managing Australia’s overseas aid program from 1974 to 2013. In 2013, it was integrated into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, after the Abbott Government announced it wished to align aid work with diplomatic policy.

Ramphal Institute

The Ramphal Institute is a not-for-profit organisation established in honour of the former Commonwealth Secretary General Sir Shridath Ramphal in 2008. Based in London, UK, the Institute focuses its work on developing knowledge and education practices around social, economic, governance and environmental policy areas, for the benefit of the 54 states of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Commonwealth Lawyers Association

The Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) was established in 1986 in Jamaica, emerging from the Commonwealth Legal Bureau (established in 1968) and linked to the Commonwealth & Empire Law Conferences first organised in London in 1955. The CLA aims to facilitate exchange between legal professionals, academics and students across the Commonwealth on issues of legal education, professional ethics and approaches to the rule of law.

Forbes Burnham

Linden Forbes Burnham (1923-1985) was a Guyanese politician who served as leader of Guyana from 1964 until his death, holding the titles of Premier (1964-66), Prime Minister (1966-80) and President (1980-85) over his long career. Burnham was founder and leader of the People’s National Congress.

BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is one of the two largest political parties in Indian national politics, along with the Indian National Congress. It was founded in 1980 and grew out of opposition to the Congress-led ‘Emergency’ suspension of democratic rule in the late 1970s. The BJP is closely aligned with the right-wing Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

DFID (Department for International Development)

The Department for International Development (DFID) is the British government department in charge of administering overseas aid, defining its object as the elimination of world poverty and the promotion of sustainable development.

HIPC

The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative is a debt reduction programme jointly coordinated by the IMF and the World Bank and launched in 1996. The initiative provides debt relief and low-interest loans to 39 countries around the world, 33 of which are located in sub-Saharan Africa.

Institute of Economic Affairs

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is a London-based think tank established in 1955 to promote the use and dissemination of free market policies in government, economy and society.

Senate House

The Senate House, University of London, is home to the University’s Central Academic Bodies, the Vice-Chancellor’s Offices, and the various research institutes of the School of Advanced Study. The Institute of Commonwealth Studies has been based in Senate House since 2009.

Billie Miller

Dame Billie Antoinette Miller, b. 1944, is a Barbadian politician and member of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP). Beginning her political career in 1976, she served in a variety of cabinet positions before being appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994. In 1999 she headed the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Miller was Chairperson of the Executive of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Vice-Chairperson of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is an international sporting event that takes place every four years and brings together athletes from across the Commonwealth of Nations. It began in 1930 as the British Empire Games, and is overseen today by the Commonwealth Games Federation.

Marlborough House

Marlborough House is a 17^th century mansion in the City of Westminster, central London, which has served as the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat since 1953.

Vishnu Persaud

Dr Bishnodat ‘Vishnu’ Persaud, b.1933 in Guyana, served the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1974 to 1992, acting as Director and Head of the Economic Division from 1981. He lectured at the University of the West Indies from 1992-1996 and later became a member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Committee on Development Policy and the UN Expert Group on the Vulnerability of Small States.

Troika

Refers to incumbent, previous, and next Chairpersons-in-Office of the Commonwealth, who, after the 2002 CHOGM, met to try to resolve the dispute over Zimbabwe’s membership of the Commonwealth.

Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown (b. 1951). British politician. He was Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party, 2007-10 and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1997-2007.

PPP

The Pakistan People’s Party is a centre-left political party in Pakistan, founded in 1967.

Cheddi Jagan

Cheddi Berret Jagan (1918-97). Guyanese politician and member of the People’s Progressive Party. He was President of Guyana, 1992-97.

Joe Clark

Joe Clark (b. 1939). Canadian journalist, politician and statesman. As a member of the Progressive Conservative party, he was Prime Minister of Canada, June 1979-March 1980 and Secretary of State for External Affairs 1984-91.

Flora MacDonald

Flora MacDonald (b. 1926). Canadian politician and member of the Progressive Conservative party. She was Secretary of State for External Affairs (1979-80) and has worked with the Commonwealth of Learning and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency)

Canadian International Development Agency. Established in 1968, it was responsible for administering foreign aid to developing countries. In 2013 it was merged with the Department of Foreign Affairs, becoming Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.

Arthur Bottomley

Arthur George Bottomley, Baron Bottomley (1907-95). British Labour politician and later a life peer. He was Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations (1964-66) and Minister of Overseas Development (1966-67).

United Nations. Major international organisation, founded in 1945.

Trade Union Council (TUC)

Trade Union Council. A federation of British trade unions, founded in 1868.

Hugh Segal

Hugh Segal (b. 1950). Canadian politician and a member of the 2010 Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group.

SADC

Southern African Development Community (SADC). An international organisation founded in 1992, and a successor to the Southern African Development Coordination Conference, founded in 1980. Goal to encourage socio-economic cooperation and integration among southern African states.

Patsy Robertson

Patsy Robertson. Jamaican journalist and diplomat. Successively Commonwealth Press Officer, Director of Information, and official Commonwealth spokesperson (1983-1994).

Shridath Ramphal

Shridath Surendranath 'Sonny' Ramphal (b. 1928). Guyanese politician, second Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-1990).

Sonny Ramphal (Shridath Ramphal)

Shridath Surendranath 'Sonny' Ramphal (b. 1928). Guyanese politician, second Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-1990).

Old Commonwealth

An informal term describing the countries of the pre-1945 Commonwealth: Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.

ODA

Overseas Development Administration. A department of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office with responsibility for overseas aid from 1970 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1997.

Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe (b.1924). Zimbabwean resistance leader and politician. Served as Prime Minister (1980-1987) and President (1987-) of Zimbabwe.

MOSOP

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. An organisation which campaigns for the rights of the Ogoni people of southeast Nigeria, founded in 1990.

Don McKinnon

Sir Donald McKinnon (b. 1939) is a New Zealand politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister for the National Party (1990-96), Foreign Minister (1990-99) and Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations (2000-08).

John Major

John Major (b.1943). British politician, served, amongst other ministerial positions, as Foreign Secretary (1989) and Prime Minister (1990-1997).

Latimer House Principles

Commonwealth principles on the relationship between the three branches of government that seek to promote good governance. Drafted in 1998 and endorsed by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 2003.

Latimer House Guidelines (Latimer House Principles)

Commonwealth principles on the relationship between the three branches of government that seek to promote good governance. Drafted in 1998 and endorsed by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 2003.

Lee Kwan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015). Singaporean Prime Minister (1959-1990).

Kenneth Kaunda

Kenneth Kaunda (b.1924). Zambian politician and President (1964-1991).

Simon Jenkins

Simon Jenkins (b. 1943). British journalist, editor of the Times from 1990 to 1992.

Derek Ingram

Derek Ingram (b. 1925). British journalist and writer with a particular interest in Commonwealth issues.

Bob Hawke

Bob Hawke (b. 1929). Australian Prime Minister (1983-1991).

Harare Declaration

The Harare Commonwealth Declaration of 1991 set out the Commonwealth's principles and values, including membership criteria. Click here to read the Declaration in full.

Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser (b. 1930). Prime Minister of Australia (1975-1983). Fraser also served as Co-Chairman of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa.

FCO

Foreign and Commonwealth Office. British government department with responsibility for relations with other countries. Created in 1968 from the merger of the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office. Often called 'the Foreign Office'.

EPG

Eminent Persons Group. A group of well-known individuals chosen by the Commonwealth to research a specific issue. The 1985 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting appointed an EPG to report on apartheid in South Africa, published in 1986 as Mission to South Africa. A second EPG was appointed in 2009 and tasked to produce a report on Commonwealth reform for 2011.

Commonwealth Trade Union Council

The Commonwealth Trade Union Council (CTUC) was established in 1979 to coordinate activities between trade unions in Commonwealth countries. In 2004, it was renamed the Commonwealth Trade Union Group (CTUG) and in 2007 boasted a combined membership of 30 million.

Commonwealth Secretariat

The Commonwealth Secretariat is the principal inter-governmental body of the Commonwealth, responsible for promoting cooperation between members. Founded in 1965.

CMAG

Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. Established by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1995, the CMAG upholds the terms of the Harare Declaration.

Commonwealth Institute

A Commonwealth educational organisation that was operative between 1962 and 2000. It was originally founded in 1887 as the Imperial Institute.

Cold War

A period of ideological tension from around 1945 to 1991 between capitalist nations led by the USA and communist nations led by the USSR.

CHOGM

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Every two years Commonwealth heads of government meet to discuss global and Commonwealth issues, with the aim of promoting common initiatives.

Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro (b. 1926). Cuban revolutionary leader and politician, leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008.

CARICOM

Caribbean Community. In 1972, Commonwealth Caribbean leaders at the Seventh Heads of Government Conference agreed to transform the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) into a Common Market and establish the Caribbean Community, of which the Common Market would be an integral part. The treaty establishing the Caribbean Community was signed at Chaguaramas on 4 July 1973.

CA/B

Commonwealth Advisory Bureau. An independent think tank and advisory service for the Commonwealth.

BBC

British Broadcasting Corporation. Broadcasting organisation semi-autonomous from the British government, originally founded in 1922.

Apartheid

A system of legally enforced racial segregation implemented and upheld by the National Party in South Africa from 1948 – 1994

ABC countries

Within the Commonwealth, Australia, Britain and Canada.

Sani Abacha

General Sani Abacha (1943-1998). Nigerian army general and politician. He was the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998.

Abacha (Sani Abacha)

General Sani Abacha (1943-1998). Nigerian army general and politician. He was the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998.

Mrs Thatcher (Margaret Thatcher)

Margaret Thatcher (1926-2013). British politician and Prime Minister (1979-1990).

Interview with Kamalesh Sharma

Interview with Matthew Neuhaus

Interview with Richard Bourne

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