Glossary

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P.N. Haksar -  P.N. Haksar (1913-1998). Indian diplomat, served as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister from 1967 to 1973.
Pacific Islands Countries Trade Agreement -  The Pacific Islands Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) is a free trade agreement among 14 Forum Island Countries (FICs), removing virtually all import tariffs and quotas for trade between these countries. The agreement was signed in 2001 and came into force in 2006.
Pacific Islands Forum -  The Pacific Islands Forum is an inter-governmental organization. Founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum, it aims to enhance cooperation between the countries of the Pacific Ocean.
- Synonyms: Pacific Island Forum
Pakistan’s membership of the Commonwealth -  Pakistan left in 1972 in protest at the Commonwealth's recognition of Bangladesh’s statehood, but rejoined in 1989. Pakistan was also suspended from Commonwealth membership from 1999 to 2004 and from 2007 to 2008.
Palme Commission -  The Palme Commission was an Independent Commission on Disarmament and Security Issues chaired by the Swedish politician and statesman Olof Palme. It issued a ‘Common Security’ Report in 1982, critical of the nuclear arms race.
Pamela Creighton -  Pamela Creighton (b. 1933). British broadcaster, worked for the BBC World Service from 1955 to 1993, from 1972 as a newsreader.
Pan-Africanist Congress -  The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) is a left-wing Black Nationalist political movement in South Africa, founded by ex-African National Congress activist Robert Sobukwe in 1959. During the anti-apartheid struggle, the PAC represented a radical perspective focused on black power as against than the ANC’s multi-racial openness.
- Synonyms: PAC
Partition -  The division of the territory of British-controlled India to form the self-governing states of India and Pakistan in 1947, which was accompanied by large scale migration and communal violence.
Pascal Lamy -  Pascal Lamy (b.1947) is a French business and political figure who served as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation from 2005 to 2013. He was previously European Commissioner for Trade from 1999 to 2004.
Pasifika -  Pasifika is a term used to describe the Pacific Island areas of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The area is distinct from the title Oceania, which includes the above along with Australasia and the Malay Archipelago.
Passchendaele -  The Battle of Passchendaele or the Third Battle of Ypres was a notoriously high casualty confrontation between Allied and German troops in 1917, taking place near the Belgian-French border at the height of the First World War.
Patricia Francis -  Patricia Francis is a Jamaican civil servant and former management consultant who served as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre in Geneva from 2006 to 2013. Francis was previously President of Jamaica Promostion Corporation, a member of Jamaica’s Cabinet Committee for Development and chaired the OECD’s Caribbean Rim Investment Initiative. In 2010-11, she was a member of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group.
Patricia Scotland -  Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, (b.1955) is a British barrister and jurist who served as Attorney General for England and Wales from 2007 to 2010. Baroness Scotland had previously served as Attorney General for Northern Ireland (2007-10). Born in Dominica, she was elected as the sixth Commonwealth Secretary General at the Malta CHOGM in November 2015. In April 2016 she took up her post as the first female Commonwealth Secretary General.
Patrick Gordon Walker -  Patrick Gordon Walker, Baron Gordon-Walker, (1907-1980) was a British political figure who served as Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations (1947-50) and Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations (1950-51). He was later Secretary for Foreign Affairs (1964-65) in the government of Harold Wilson.
Patrick Keatley -  Patrick Keatley (1920-2005) was a Canadian-born British journalist who spent over thirty years as The Guardian’s Commonwealth and diplomatic correspondent. He chronicled the decolonisation process across Africa, writing a book on the Central Africa Federation entitled The Politics of Partnership (1963). Keatley also helped found the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the Commonwealth Journalists Association.
Patrick Moberley -  Patrick Moberley (b. 1928). British diplomat, served as Ambassador to South Africa from 1984 to 1987.
Patrick Wintour -  Patrick Wintour (b.1954) is a British journalist who has served as Political Editor of The Guardian since 2006. He was previously Chief Political Correspondent of The Guardian from 1988-96 and 2000-06, serving in between as Political Editor of The Observer.
Patriot Act -  The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of Congress that became law in October 2001 under the Presidency of George W Bush. Its name is an acronym for ‘Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism’. The legislation has been roundly criticised by civil liberties groups in the United States and elsewhere for the sweeping powers it allows in terms of surveillance and the indefinite detention of immigrants.
Patsy Robertson -  Patsy Robertson. Jamaican journalist and diplomat. Successively Commonwealth Press Officer, Director of Information, and official Commonwealth spokesperson (1983-1994).
Paul Biya -  Paul Biya (b.1933) is a Cameroonian political figure who served as Prime Minister of Cameroon from 1975 to 1982 and subsequently as President of Cameroon since 1982. Biya oversaw the introduction of multiparty politics into Cameroon in the 1990s, winning presidential elections in 1992, 1997, 2004 and 2011. The legitimacy of these elections has often been contested by opposition politicians in the country.
Paul Keating -  Paul Keating (b. 1944). Prime Minister of Australia (1991-1996).
Paul Kruger’s Republic -  The South African Republic, an Afrikaner state founded in 1852, and finally defeated by the British in 1902. Paul Kruger was President from 1883 to 1900.
Paul LaRose-Edwards -  Paul LaRose-Edwards is a Canadian diplomat and human rights specialist who in 1996 founded CANADEM, an NGO focused on responding to rapid-onset humanitarian emergencies and disasters. LaRose-Edwards had previously worked for Amnesty International and the government of Canada. He was Representative of the UN Human Rights Commissioner in Indonesia and spent four years heading the Human Rights Unit at the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Paul Lusaka -  Paul JF Lusaka (1935-1996) was a Zambian diplomat and political figure who served as his country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (1972-74 and 1979-1986). He had previously served as Zambia’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1968-72) and as Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (1965-68).
Paul Manueli -  Colonel Paul Manueli (b.1934) is a Fijian military figure, politician and businessman who served as Commander of the Royal Fiji Military Forces from 1974 to 1979. Manueli was the first indigenous Fijian to perform this role. Following the 1987 coup d’état in Fiji, Manueli served the Parliamentary Cabinet as Minister for Home Affairs, Finance Minister and Minister for Justice.
Paul Martin -  Paul Martin (b.1938) is a Canadian politician who served as Prime Minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006. Martin succeeded Jean Chrétien as Leader of the Liberal Party, having previously served the government as Minister of Finance (1993-2002).
Paul Reeves -  Sir Paul Reeves (1932-2011). Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand (1980-85) and Governor-General of New Zealand (1985-90).
Paul Scoon -  Sir Paul Godwin Scoon (1935-2013) was a Grenadian political figure and civil servant who was Governor-General of Grenada from 1978 to 1992. He had previously acted as Secretary to the Cabinet – the head of Grenada’s Civil Service – and Deputy Director of the Commonwealth Foundation in London. Scoon played a key role in the fall of the People’s Revolutionary Government in the 1980s, offering his support for an American-led Invasion of Grenada in 1983.
Paulo Muwanga -  Paulo Muwanga (1921-1991) was de facto President of Uganda in 1980, a period when he acted as Chairman of the governing Military Commission that had overthrown Godfrey Binaisa in May 1980. Following the December 1980 elections, Muwanga was succeeded by Milton Obote as Uganda’s President.
Pearce Commission -  Unofficial name for the British Commission on Rhodesian Opinion (1971-1972). The Commission found most Rhodesians rejected proposals for normalising British-Rhodesian relations.
Penguin -  British publishers, founded in 1935
People's Forum -  The Commonwealth People’s Forum brings together civil society representatives every two years in the run up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
Pera Wells -  Pera Wells is an Australian diplomat who established the Human Rights Unit in the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1985. She had previously worked on human rights issues with the United Nations in New York and set up the Human Rights Section of Australia’s Foreign Affairs department in 1984. Wells was later Secretary General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (2006-09) and Vice President of the Australian Council for Human Rights Education (2010- ).
Percy Cradock -  Percy Cradock (1923-2010). British diplomat.
Perestroika -  Perestroika is the Russian word for ‘restructuring’ and refers to a political movement for reform within the Soviet Union during the 1980s. The movement is associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and is held to be a key factor in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the associated end of the Cold War.
Perez de Cuellar -  Javier Perez de Cuellar (b. 1920). Peruvian diplomat and politician, served as Secretary General of the United Nations (1982-1991) and Prime Minister of Peru (2000-2001).
Pervez Musharraf -  Pervez Musharraf – (1943-) Pakistani soldier and politician. He was the military ruler of Pakistan (1999-2001) and served as President (2001-2008).
- Synonyms: Musharraf
Peter Carrington -  Peter Carrington, 6th Baron Carrington (b. 1919). British politician and member of the Conservative party. He was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1979-82) and 6th Secretary General of NATO (1984-88). In 1979 he chaired the Lancaster House conference.
- Synonyms: Lord Carrington
Peter Davies -  Roger Peter Havard Davies (1919-1993) was a human rights activist and cultural ambassador who served as Director of the Anti-Slavery Society from 1980 to 1987. He had previously worked for the British Council (1949 -80), holding postings in Hungary, Israel, Malaysia, Finland, Chile and India.
Peter Jay -  Peter Jay, b. 1937 in London, is a British economist, broadcaster and diplomat. From 1977 to 1979 he served as British Ambassador to the United States.
Peter Marshall -  Peter Marshall (b. 1946). British diplomat, Deputy Secretary General (Economic & Social) Commonwealth Secretariat from 1983 to 1989.
Peter Niesewand -  Peter Niesewand (1944-83). South African-born journalist based in Rhodiesia, in 1973 he was jailed and then deported for his criticisms of Ian Smith’s government.
Peter Snelson -  Peter Snelson (d. 2011) was a civil servant. He worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat in London for 19 years, largely in the field of education.
Peter Snow -  Peter Snow (b.1938) is a British television personality and historian, well-known for his work as an election analyst and co-presenter of election programmes for ITN (1966-1979) and the BBC (1983-2005). He was the main presenter of BBC’s Newsnight from 1980 to 1997.
Peter Williams -  Dr Peter Williams joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1984, serving first as Director of Education and then as Director of the Human Resource Development Division. He later served as Joint Deputy Executive Chair of the Council for Education in the Commonwealth and as Secretary of the Commonwealth Consortium for Education.
PETRONAS -  Petrolaim Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) is an oil and gas company owned wholly by the Government of Malaysia. Founded in 1974, it is ranked among the largest corporations in the world. 45% of the government’s budget is dependent on its PETRONAS dividend.
Phelps Stokes -  The Phelps Stokes Fund was established in 1911 to forge connections between organisations and individuals in Africa and the Americas and to provide funds for social and economic development. It has focused most of its work on the American South and in the countries of British colonial Africa.
Philip Burdon -  Philip Ralph Burdon (b. 1939). Former New Zealand politician. He was a member of the National Party and an MP, 1981-96.
Philip Noel-Baker -  Philip John Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker, (1889-1982) was a British politician, diplomat and academic who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1959 for his work as a disarmament campaigner. He was Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations from 1947 to 1950 and Minister of Fuel and Power from 1950 to 1951.
Philip Short -  Philip Short (b. 1945). British journalist and author. His book Banda was published in 1974 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).
Phisoana Ramaema -  Elias Phisoana Ramaema (b.1933) was Chairman of the Military Council in Lesotho – and thus Head of Government in the country – between May 1991 and April 1993. He handed power back to a democratically-elected Basutoland Congress Party government in 1993.
Phyllis Coard -  Phyllis Coard was a Grenadian political figure who served as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs in the People’s Revolutionary Government of Maurice Bishop. In 1983, Coard, her husband Bernard Coard and fifteen others were arrested following the shooting of Bishop during a coup.
- Synonyms: Mrs Coard
Pierre Trudeau -  Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000). Canadian politician and Prime Minister (1968-1979, 1980-1984).
Pieter Willem Botha -  Pieter Willem Botha (1916 –2006). South African politican, served as Prime Minister (1978-1984) and the first executive State President (1984 to 1989).
- Synonyms: P.W. Botha
Pik Botha -  Roelof Botha (b. 1932).South African politician and Minister for Foreign Affairs (1977-1994).
Pius Langa -  Pius Nkonzo Langa (1939-2013) was Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 2005 to 2009, having been appointed to the bench in 1994 by Nelson Mandela. Langa was a founding member of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers and a member of the African National Congress Constitutional Committee. In 2000, he acted as Commonwealth Special Envoy to Fiji to assist in the Islands’ return to democracy.
PJ Patterson -  Percival Noel James Patterson (b. 1935) is a prominent Jamaican political figure. He was leader of the People’s National Party and Prime Minister of Jamaica, 1992-2006.
PN Bhagwati -  Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati (b.1921) is an Indian judge who served as Chief Justice of India from 1985 to 1986. He was previously Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court (1967-73). He is considered a pioneer of judicial activism in India due to his work on the concept of Public Interest Litigation.
Political Affairs Division -  The Political Affairs Division (PAD) is the section of the Commonwealth Secretariat that coordinates activities between the Commonwealth, its member country governments and partner international organisations. It focuses its work on the prevention or resolution of political conflict at the invitation of a member country, and also supports the development of democratic processes and institutions.
Pollsmoor prison -  A prison in Cape Town, established in 1964. Anti-apartheid activists including Nelson Mandela were held there.
Portcullis House -  Portcullis House is a British government building that opened in 2001 and provides offices for UK Members of Parliament and their staff. It is located directly beside the Palace of Westminster in London.
PPP -  The Pakistan People’s Party is a centre-left political party in Pakistan, founded in 1967.
Pranab Mukherjee -  Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (b.1935) is an Indian political figure who became President of India in July 2012. He was Minister of Defence (2004-06), Minister of External Affairs, (2006-09), and Minister of Finance (2009-12) under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, having previously served in the cabinets of PV Narasimha Rao during the 1990s and Indira Gandhi in the 1980s.
Premadasa -  Ranasinghe Premadasa (1924-1993). Sri Lankan politician, served as Prime Minister (1978-1989) and President (1989-1993).
President Ershad -  Hussain Muhammad Ershad (b. 1930). Bangladeshi politician and military leader. He was President of Bangladesh, 1983-90 after coming to power through a bloodless coup.
President Mangope -  Lucas Mangope (b. 1923). President of Bophuthatswana, a South African Bantustan, from 1977 to 1994.
- Synonyms: Lucas Mangope
President Soeharto -  Soeharto – (1921-2008). President of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998.
President Taraki -  Nur Muhammad Taraki (1917-79). Afghan politician, he was President (1978-79).
- Synonyms: Nur Muhammad Taraki
Pretoria/Witwatersrand/Vereeniging industrial complex -  The largest South African industrial and manufacturing centre.
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.
- Synonyms: Prince of Wales
Prince Philip -  Prince Philip (b. 1921). Husband of Elizabeth II since 1947.
- Synonyms: Duke of Edinburgh
Princess Anne -  Anne, Princess Royal (b.1950) is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II. She is a patron of over 200 charitable organisations.
Princeton Lyman -  Princeton Nathan Lyman (b.1935) is an American diplomat who previously served as US Ambassador to Nigeria (1986-89) and South Africa (1992-95). Lyman also acted as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from 1996 to 1998.
Problems over the Ayodha temple -  A long-running dispute over a religious site in Ayodha, northern India. It emerged in the nineteenth century, saw rioting in the early 1990, and continues.