Commonwealth Secretariat Archives - Page 4 of 10 - Commonwealth Oral History Project

Interview with Indrajit Coomaraswamy

by chrismoffat | Jun 29, 2015 | CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Development, Elections, India, Malaysia, Queen, Singapore, Small States, South Africa, Sport, Sri Lanka, Technical Assistance, Trade and Investment, United Kingdom

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Coomaraswamy, Dr Indrajit. 1950- . Educated at Cambridge University and the University of Sussex. Staff Officer, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 1973-89, serving in Economic Research, Statistics and Bank Supervision Divisions, with...

Interview with The Hon Gareth Evans

by chrismoffat | Jun 15, 2015 | Apartheid, Australia, CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Development, Queen, Rwanda, South Africa, Sri Lanka

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Evans, Gareth John. 1944- . Born in Melbourne, Australia. Educated at the University of Melbourne (1962-67) and Magdalen College, Oxford (1968-70). Lecturer in Law at the University of Melbourne, 1971-76. Barrister, 1976-78....

Interview with Hugh Segal

by chrismoffat | Jun 15, 2015 | Apartheid, Canada, CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Eminent Persons Group, Human Rights, Queen, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom

Download interview transcripts: Part One (18 March 2013); Part Two (22 May 2015) Biography: Segal, Hugh. 1950- . Educated at the University of Ottawa. Senior Aide to Ontario Premier Bill Davis in the 1970s and 80s. Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney,...

Interview with Sir Don McKinnon

by chrismoffat | Jun 9, 2015 | CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Decolonisation, India, Kenya, Maldives, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nuclear, Pakistan, Queen, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (27th February 2013); Part Two (8th April 2014). Biography: McKinnon, Donald Charles. 1939- . Born in London, United Kingdom. Educated at Lincoln Agricultural College, New Zealand. Elected as Member of Parliament for Albany,...

Interview with Carolyn McAskie

by chrismoffat | Jun 8, 2015 | Canada, Commonwealth Secretariat, Development, Diplomacy, India, Kenya, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Technical Assistance, Uganda, United Nations

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: McAskie, Carolyn. Born in Glasgow, Scotland. Joined the Canadian civil service in 1968. Assistant Director of Finance and Personnel, Commonwealth Secretariat, 1975-80. Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives,...

Interview with Vijay Krishnarayan

by chrismoffat | Jun 1, 2015 | CHOGM, Civil Society, Commonwealth Foundation, Commonwealth Secretariat, Development, Fiji, Good Governance, Human Rights, Sri Lanka, Trade and Investment, West Indies/ West Indies Federation, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Krishnarayan, Vijay. Born in Trinidad and Tobago. Educated at Oxford Polytechnic in Town and Country Planning. Volunteer with Voluntary Service Overseas in Belize, with the Belize Enterprise for Sustainable Technology....

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Definitioner

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.

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.

Karen Brewer

Dr Karen Brewer is a British lawyer who has served as Secretary General of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association (CMJA) since 1998. She was involved in the drafting of the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles and has led the CMJA in advocating for judicial independence across the Commonwealth. Brewer previously worked for the Law Society of England and Wales where she was involved in the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (1987-98).

Amnesty International

Amnesty International (AI) is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organisation which devotes its work to preventing and ending grave abuses of human rights, as well as demanding justice for those whose rights have been violated. It was established in London in 1961, and in 1977 won the Nobel Peace Prize for its campaigns against the use of torture. Currently, AI is headquartered in London, England.

Article 19

Article 19 is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organisation which focuses its work on human rights, particularly the defence and promotion of freedom of expression and freedom of information. Established in 1987, its name refers to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which establishes the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The organisation is based in London, England.

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization which focuses on the study and promotion of human rights. Established in 1978 in the wake of the Helsinki Accords, it is currently headquartered in New York City and has offices around the world. The organisation’s primary donor is the George Soros Open Society Foundation.

International Crisis Group

The International Crisis Group (ICG) is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization which focuses on the study, prevention, mitigation and resolution of violent conflict. It was established in 1995 in the context of the Bosnian War, and is currently headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

ActionAid

ActionAid is an international non-profit, non-governmental organisation which focuses on the elimination of poverty and the elevation of poor and marginalised communities around the world. It was established in 1972 and is currently headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. ActionAid’s mission areas include: women’s rights, education, food rights, democratic governance, emergencies and conflict, climate change and youth.

British Overseas Territories

British Overseas Territories are territories that remain under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom even if they are not a formal part of it. There are fourteen British Overseas Territories, all of which have their own internal leadership but share the British Monarch as head of state. These include: Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and Turks and Caicos Islands.

Colin Ball

Colin Ball (b.1943) is a British writer and civil servant who served as Director of the Commonwealth Foundation from 2000 to 2004. Ball had previously worked as a VSO volunteer in Malaysia (1961-2), a teacher in the UK, Ghana and Nigeria (1960s), and as a civil servant within the Home Office and Department of Employment, UK (1970s). He also founded a not-for-profit research organisation called the Centre for Employment Initiatives.

Rudo Chitiga

Rudo Mabel Chitiga is a Zimbabwean civil servant and diplomat who has served as Deputy-Director of the Commonwealth Foundation and Secretary General of Geneva-based Development Innovations and Networks (IRED). In 2014, she was appointed Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to France.

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.

Belize Enterprise for Sustainable Technology

The Belize Enterprise for Sustainable Technology (BEST) is a Belmopan-based civil society body which focuses on economic issues among poor communities in Belize, specifically working to encourage community-based enterprise and micro-enterprise initiatives. It was founded in 1985.

VSO volunteer

A VSO volunteer refers to a volunteer with the international development charity Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). Founded in 1958 in London, VSO coordinates the recruitment of professionals to work in developing countries alongside local community groups. It focuses particularly on education, health, governance and secure livelihoods.

Caribbean Natural Resources Institute

The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) is a regional technical institute that was first established in 1989, evolving out of a 1976 Rockefeller Brothers Fund project at the University of Michigan. Headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago, CANARI promotes and facilitates participatory approaches to natural resource governance in the Caribbean.

CANARI (Caribbean Natural Resources Institute)

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.

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.

Small Island Developing States

The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a group of developing countries recognised as a distinct group by the United Nations, initially at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. Group activity among the SIDS has been defined by the 1994 Barbados Programme of Action, which focuses on sustainable development.

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.

Stuart Mole

Stuart Mole is a British political figure who joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1984 as Special Assistant to the Secretary-General. He was Director of the Secretary-General’s Office from 1990 to 2000, and Director-General of the Royal Commonwealth Society from 2000 to 2009.

Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association

Founded in 1970, the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association acts as a network for judicial officers in the Commonwealth. The work of its Secretary General, Executive Committee and General Assembly is directed to promoting the independence of the judiciary and advancing education in law, justice and the prevention of crime.

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.

ZANU

Zimbabwe African National Union. A militant political organisation founded in 1963 to campaign against white minority rule in Rhodesia. It won power in 1980, and in 1987 merged with ZAPU to form ZANU-PF.

World Bank

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. An international institution, founded in 1944, that funds development projects

United Nations. Major international organisation, founded in 1945.

Morgan Tsvangirai

Morgan Tsvangirai (b.1952). Zimbabwean politician noted for his opposition to Robert Mugabe. Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (2009-2013).

Trinidad and Tobago in 2009

The 2009 CHOGM was held in Trinidad and Tobago and robustly reaffirmed the Commonwealth’s core values.

soft power

A concept used to explain an emphasis on a attracting and co-opting power as opposed to coercive or forceful power.

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.

Old Commonwealth

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

Olusegun Obasanjo

Olusegun Obasanjo (b. 1937). Nigerian Head of Federal Military Government (1976-1979) and President (1999-2007). He was Co-Chairman of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa (1985-1986).

Robert Mugabe

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

MDC

Movement for Democratic Change. The leading Zimbabwean opposition party, founded in 1999.

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).

Michael Kirby

Michael Kirby (b.1939) is an Australian jurist who served as a Justice on the High Court of Australia between 1996 and 2009. He was President of the International Commission of Jurists (1995-98) and from 2009 to 2011 was a member of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group.

IMF

International Monetary Fund. Created in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference, the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF's original aim was to stabilise exchange rates and aid national reconstruction after the end of the Second World War.

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.

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'.

Commonwealth Secretariat

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

Commonwealth Organisations Committee on Zimbabwe

A committee of Commonwealth organisations founded in 2009 to engage with Zimbabwean representatives and civil society organisations.

Commonwealth Foundation

The Commonwealth Foundation is a Commonwealth organisation founded in 1965 to promote the growth of professional organisations and exchange of skills, and now pursuing a broader developmental agenda.

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.

Prince Charles

Prince Charles (b. 1948). Heir to the throne of the UK and the other territories for which the British monarch is also Head of State.

BEE

Black Economic Empowerment. A South African government policy, formulated in 2001, of affirmative action favouring black entrepreneurs.

Apartheid

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

ANC

African National Congress. A South African political party, founded in 1912, that opposed apartheid and has been South Africa’s governing party since 1994.

Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM)

The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), originally known as the Boycott Movement, was a British activist organisation founded in 1959 to oppose white minority rule in South Africa. It continued to run until 1994, supporting economic and academic sanctions of South Africa and cooperating with other international organisations like the UN.

Interview with Indrajit Coomaraswamy

Interview with The Hon Gareth Evans

Interview with Hugh Segal

Interview with Sir Don McKinnon

Interview with Carolyn McAskie

Interview with Vijay Krishnarayan

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