The full set of blogs can be seen through this link Letter from Apia – Matthew Neuhaus sends daily blog from CHOGM

The post Letter from Apia – Matthew Neuhaus reports back from the 2024 CHOGM appeared first on The Commonwealth Association.

He sent a message to the Association’s members:

Dear Fellow Members,

I am writing this short note to you all as the incoming Chair of our Commonwealth Association, following the Annual General Meeting held on-line on 29 July 2024 and a subsequent meeting of our Executive Committee on 8 August 2024 at Marlborough House. The Minutes of these meetings are being prepared and will be forwarded by our dedicated ExCo Secretary David Blake.

For the year just gone, let me draw your attention to the out-going Chair’s Report from Stuart Mole which has also been distributed by David.  Stuart as you know has been a stalwart of the Association since its inception more than two decades ago, firstly as an advocate and enabler from within the ComSec, then for some time as Vice Chair and finally as successor to the late Patsy Robertson as Chair.    It is to the credit of both Patsy and Stuart along with other long-serving and committed members of the ExCo, that our Association has not only survived but has prospered since it was formed officially in 2001.  Fortunately Stuart has agreed to be coopted as an ExCo member, so we will all continue to benefit from his active involvement.

In my short time on the ExCo working with Vice Chair Bishakha Mukherjee and fellow committee members, I have been struck by the energy and dedication to making the Association work both as an important reservoir of shared knowledge and institutional memory, as well as a vehicle for remaining in touch with each other. We will continue to explore opportunities to organise interesting activities, including in partnership with other organisations and institutions. The Kew Gardens at Richmond and the Wallace Collection at Hartford House in London come easily to mind; there are many other possibilities, including eminent Commonwealth personalities as speakers.

As a committee we all agree on the fundamental need for continuing attention to the question of total membership, which has been as high as 120 in the past, but which in recent years has hovered around the century (100) mark with around 90% resident in the UK.  We want to build upon both resident and non-resident categories, and in doing so will reach out to Commonwealth bodies beyond the Secretariat and the Foundation. We shall keep you all informed, and in the meantime would encourage you as individual members to help “grow” our Association by reaching out to ex-colleagues who may not so far have joined.  ExCo member Lorna McLaren has been operating as a focal point on the matter of membership and is pleased to assist as necessary.

That is about all I wanted to share with you for the present, and I take the opportunity to remind that the next iteration of the Patsy Robertson Memorial Lecture will be with us shortly, with our Association partnering the Commonwealth Youth Programme of the Secretariat to invite iconic Olympic and Commonwealth athlete Tessa Sanderson for 14 October 2024 at Marlborough House. Tessa will speak on sport, development and the Commonwealth, and all full members of our Association will of course be invited. The lecture will be recorded for members unable to attend in person.  

Max Gaylard, 23 August 2024

A life-long career in international relations

Max Gaylard has had a life-long career in international relations, beginning in 1968 as a diplomatic cadet with the then Australian Department of External Relations, now known as DFAT. There followed two years with the Australian Army which included military service with a so-named Commonwealth Brigade in Malaysia, then civilian postings with Australian Embassies in Mexico and Burma, as Deputy High Commissioner in Singapore and finally High Commissioner in the Solomon Islands. From mid-1988, Max was seconded by the Australian Government to the Commonwealth Secretariat, as Director of the then International Affairs Division which several years later became the Political Affairs Division.

After almost eight years at the Secretariat under the visionary leadership of Sir Shridath (Sonny) Ramphal and Chief Emeka Anyaoku as successive Secretaries-General, Max chose not to return to the ranks of the Australian Government, and joined the burgeoning United Nations engagement with humanitarian crises around the globe. In a two-decades long association with the UN family, Max went first to Iraqi Kurdistan and the Oil-for-Food Programme for Iraq, followed by Khartoum and the so-named Operation Lifeline Sudan, then Somalia as UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and Head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) for Somalia.

After almost ten years in the field, Max was invited to UNHQ in New York to head up the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), which had been established earlier to begin to deal with the global problem of landmines and associated weaponry and ammunition. After two years in New York, he began a five-year assignment to Israel and Palestine to serve as UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator to Palestine, and Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to the Middle East Peace Process. Beyond retirement Max continued to work with and for the UN in an advisory and mentoring capacity, including in the Middle East.

The post Max Gaylard is the new CA Chair appeared first on The Commonwealth Association.

The post ‘Resilience, Anniversaries and Commonwealth Day’ by Stuart Mole appeared first on The Commonwealth Association.

The central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan had been on my bucket list for some time. And a letter from Dr Munawwar Alam in the Commonwealth Association newsletter a few years ago finally inspired me to explore this possibility.

Though I had never met Dr Alam who had joined the Secretariat a few years after I left in 1997, I wrote to him expressing a desire to visit the country where he is currently working as a senior UN official.

I received a prompt and warm response from him, asking me to let him know once I had made my travel plans. But then Covid 19 intervened.  However, I was pleased to visit Kyrgyzstan in October 2023.

Munawwar – pictured right with me at a local shopping mall – was at the Secretariat from 2004 – 2013. He worked as Adviser, Sub-National Government and Administration, in the erstwhile Governance and Institutional Development Division. During this period, and specifically between 2013-2015, he worked closely with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum to strengthen local governance in Commonwealth countries. He is now based in Bishkek, the Kyrgyzstan capital. Munawwar is a qualified physician and also holds a PhD.

Though he had just returned from leave in his home city of Karachi, Munawwar could not have been more welcoming. He not only organised a full day’s tour of the city and neighbouring tourist attractions for me but also personally showed me around Bishkek, introducing me to one of the city’s best coffee houses and a Turkish restaurant, besides the city’s modern shopping mall.

Best of all, we reminisced about our time with the Secretariat, and fondly remembered former colleagues we both knew, particularly three of my favourites – Amitav Banerji, William Rezel and Jasimuddin. The credit for this wonderful experience goes entirely to our membership of the Commonwealth association which brought us together.

In the summer this year, I was also delighted to catch up with Selina Mohsin, who after her tenure at the Secretariat had served as Bangladesh’s high commissioner to Maldives. During one of her regular visits to the UK, she took me out to lunch at her favourite London restaurant near Marlborough House.

I am now hoping that I will have an opportunity to welcome both Munawwar and Selina to Hastings where I live and introduce them to this historic town on England’s south coast.

Asif Khan

Information Division

1978 – 1997

The post Asif Khan meets fellow Commonwealth Association member in Kyrgyzstan appeared first on The Commonwealth Association.

“The modern Commonwealth’s long campaign against apartheid and racial injustice is totemic and goes to the heart of its claim to be a post-colonial, multiracial international organisation, bound by common values. And yet that history is riddled by myth and misconception.”

That was the view of Dr Stuart Mole, at a seminar at the University of London in November, organised by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. Stuart Mole was launching his recently published book on “The Commonwealth, South Africa and Apartheid” and he explained its background. “I joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1984 and was appointed the Special Assistant to the then Commonwealth Secretary-General, Sir Sonny Ramphal. These were momentous times – South Africa’s growing isolation, conflict on its borders and the rise of internal dissent and township violence were placing increasing burdens upon its military and its budgets. The clamour for international sanctions was growing and a negotiated solution was a distant prospect. It was the beginning of apartheid’s final decade.”

In 1990, with Nelson Mandela released from prison and irreversible change underway in South Africa, Stuart became the Director and Head of the Office of the next Secretary-General, the Nigerian Chief Emeka Anyaoku. In 1994, he was to witness Mandela’s inauguration as South Africa’s first popularly elected President and his years as a Commonwealth Statesman.

He told the seminar that the first myth – of the Commonwealth’s own making – was that the organisation was an implacable opponent of apartheid since its beginnings in 1948. In truth, it was only after the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 and South Africa’s ejection from the Commonwealth in 1961 that the Commonwealth’s campaign began to gather strength. Dr Mole added: “For apartheid’s first decade, the ‘imperial’ Commonwealth’s silence on apartheid was no more than the unity of the graveyard.”

The second myth was that the Commonwealth’s actions in helping bring about the ending of apartheid were variable and insubstantial, being “at best very marginal.”  Iin responding, Stuart Mole referred to the 1986 Mission of the Eminent Persons Group and its attempts to kick-start a negotiation process; its failure to do so; and the subsequent impact of its celebrated report on galvanising the imposition of further economic and financial sanctions on the apartheid regime. “This was an intensive and multifaceted diplomatic demarche, beyond the scope of any individual government and on a scale unusual for a multilateral, global organisation, outside the United Nations itself,” he explained. “As a negotiation, it ultimately failed,” he conceded. “But the Group’s report, a Penguin best seller, echoed around the world and provided a powerful boost to the international campaign for increased sanctions on South Africa. And it laid the groundwork for a negotiated solution. As South African activist, Mkhuseli ‘Khusta’ Jack, put it: “the Commonwealth gave us the language of negotiation.”  

A recording of the seminar will be posted when received from the Institute.

The post The Commonwealth and Apartheid: Myth and Reality appeared first on The Commonwealth Association.

In the Commonwealth Year of Youth 2023, as declared by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2022,  the Commonwealth Association partnered with the Commonwealth Youth Programme for the delivery of its annual Patsy Robertson Memorial Lecture.

The 2023 commemorative lecture was delivered by Cherisse Francis*, a dynamic Barbadian legal professional, researcher, educator and youth activist. In her passionate and wide-ranging lecture entitled ‘Can the Commonwealth be You(th)?, Cherisse highlighted the significant role young people are playing in realising the core values and principles of the Commonwealth, including democracy, human rights and gender equality, as set out in the Commonwealth Charter.  Cherisse underscored the significance of investing in and inclusion of young people in decision-making to successfully address development challenges across the Commonwealth. This much applauded lecture was followed by a lively Q & A session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_hZNJbM9N4&t=764s

By clicking on the Youtube screen above, you can watch the lecture, including the introductory remarks by Dr Stuart Mole, Chair, the Commonwealth Association and Layne Robinson, Head of Social Policy Development at the Commonwealth Secretariat, who also read out a message from the Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Patricia Scotland, the lecture itself and the subsequent discussion.

Photographs of the event can be viewed through the link below.

Photographs of the 2023 Patsy Robertson Memorial Lecture

(*Cherisse Francis holds an LLB from the University of the West Indies, a Legal Education Certificate from Hugh Wooding Law School and an LLM in Human Rights and Criminal Justice from the University of Aberdeen. She completed this latter degree as a Commonwealth Scholar in 2018.   Since being called to the Barbadian legal bar in the same year she has interacted with the Caribbean legal sector in both governmental and non-governmental capacities. Presently, she is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Warwick researching trafficking in persons in the Caribbean.)

The post Cherisse Francis delivers 3rd Patsy Robertson lecture appeared first on The Commonwealth Association.

The post Happy Birthday, Sonny! appeared first on The Commonwealth Association.

The post Photographs of the 2023 Patsy Robertson Memorial Lecture appeared first on The Commonwealth Association.

The post Video: Anyaoku speaks about ‘Madiba’ on Nelson Mandela Day appeared first on The Commonwealth Association.

L-R Stuart Mole, Baroness Scotland (Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary-General

On Tuesday 9 May 2023, the Commonwealth Association organised a tree planting ceremony in memory of Patsy Robertson in the beautiful gardens of Marlborough House.  Former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who had worked closely with Patsy for 28 years, was the Guest of Honour and performed the ceremonial tree planting. Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland as well as Patsy’s family, friends (some of whom had flown in specially for the occasion) and former colleagues witnessed and applauded the formal planting of an Indian bean tree, catalpa nana, on that surprisingly sunny and pleasant afternoon.

Chief Anyaoku also unveiled the memorial plaque and paid a warm tribute to Patsy. Among other things, Chief Anyaoku highlighted Patsy’s effective communication skills and passionate advocacy of the Commonwealth’s values and principles to raise its profile. (Full text of Chief Anyaoku’s remarks here.)

Tributes to Patsy were also paid by Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland and Patsy’s son John and daughter Sarah. All the tributes echoed the sentiments expressed on the plaque that Patsy was truly ‘a voice and face of the modern Commonwealth’. Patsy had devoted most of her professional life to the Commonwealth, which she was passionate about.  She continued to promote the Commonwealth through activities with a number of Commonwealth organisations even after she left the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1994. Patsy was also the founding Chair of the Commonwealth Association, the alumni organisation of former Commonwealth staff. Stuart Mole, who succeeded Patsy in the Chair, said that Patsy’s tree would be ‘a living memorial’ to her extraordinary life and a focus of continuing remembrance.

The suggestion to acknowledge Patsy’s dedication and remarkable service to the Commonwealth by planting a tree in the gardens of Marlborough House, a Royal Palace, had been made by Richard Bourne at the Commonwealth Association’s 2020 Annual General Meeting.  It came to fruition after several years of patient work by the Commonwealth Association’s Executive Committee in securing approval of this proposal, first by the Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland and ultimately by the late Queen. The tree planting ceremony was very well attended and much enjoyed and appreciated by attendees (see below), a number of whom made generous contributions towards the substantial cost of the memorial and reception.

We hope that the Indian bean tree will serve not only as a memorial to a remarkable and inspiring Commonwealth activist, but also to the countless individuals who have assiduously worked behind the scenes to support Commonwealth leaders and to serve the Commonwealth without expectation of recognition, just as did Patsy.

Selected Excerpts of Feedback from Attendees

‘Thanks for all you and your colleagues did yesterday to mark really important events, honouring both Patsy and Emeka. I greatly enjoyed the afternoon.’

Peter Williams, former Director of Education

***

‘It was a fitting way to remember Patsy who was acknowledged by all who attended as a remarkable and dynamic person who was dedicated to the Commonwealth.’

Rita Payne, Journalist and Media Adviser, President Emeritus, Commonwealth Journalists Association

***

‘A million thanks for organising a beautiful and moving tree planting ceremony in Patsy’s name, and a lovely cake for Chief Anyaoku’s 90^th birthday. It brought so many of us ‘old timers’ together again in the wonderful Marlborough House setting.’

Cheryl Dorall, former Deputy Director of Information

***

‘It was a pleasure and privilege to be at Marlborough House … for the tree planting in Patsy’s memory – as well as to celebrate the Chief’s 90 years! My warmest congratulations to Stuart, David and the Commassoc executive committee for a wonderfully organised event. It was lovely to meet up with so many old friends and comrade-in-arms!’

Amitav Banerji, former Director of Political Affairs

***

‘The Association did a great job and it was very nice to see everyone and celebrate Patsy’s life.’

Janet Strachan, former Head of Climate Change

***

‘We all owe much to Patsy, a true inspiration and warm friend.’

Matthew Neuhaus, RCS President, ACT and former Director of Political Affairs

***

‘As President of the Association, Patsy was effective and charming. As a friend she was great. Her memory will remain with the growing plant.’

Selina Mohsin, former Chief Programme Officer, Human Resource Development

Pictures and videos of the event, all but one by Lucy Baker

The post Tree memorial for Patsy Robertson: a voice and face of the modern Commonwealth appeared first on The Commonwealth Association.