Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For conferences held before 1971 see Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

2013
2022
class=notpageimage|
The twenty-six Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings have been hosted by eighteen countries in twenty-three cities across five continents.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM;

2018 summit (delayed by one year) in London, but was represented again by the Prince of Wales at the 2022 meeting (delayed by two years) in Rwanda.[4]

The

first CHOGM was held in 1971 in Singapore and there have been 26 held in total: the most recent was held in Kigali, Rwanda.[4]
They are held once every two years, although this pattern has occasionally been interrupted. They are held around the Commonwealth, rotating by invitation amongst its members.

In the past, CHOGMs have attempted to orchestrate common policies on certain contentious issues and current events, with a special focus on issues affecting member nations. CHOGMs have discussed the continuation of

1997 CHOGM, the meeting has had an official theme, set by the host nation, on which the primary discussions have been focused.[5]

History

The heads of government of five members of the Commonwealth of Nations at the 1944 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference.

The meetings originated with the leaders of the self-governing colonies of the

First Colonial Conference in 1887 was followed by periodic meetings, known as Imperial Conferences from 1907, of government leaders of the Empire. The development of the independence of the dominions, and the creation of a number of new dominions, as well as the invitation of Southern Rhodesia (which also attended as a sui generis colony),[7] changed the nature of the meetings.[6]
As the dominion leaders asserted themselves more and more at the meetings, it became clear that the time for 'imperial' conferences was over.

From the ashes of the

Commonwealth Office (the one meeting outside London, in Lagos, was an extraordinary meeting held in January 1966 to co-ordinate policies towards Rhodesia
). Two supplementary meetings were also held during this period: a Commonwealth Statesmen's meeting to discuss peace terms in April 1945, and a Commonwealth Economic Conference in 1952.

The 1960s saw an overhaul of the Commonwealth. The swift expansion of the Commonwealth after

in 1971
. They were also renamed the 'Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings' to reflect the growing diversity of the constitutional structures in the Commonwealth.

Structure

Theresa May chairs the 2018 session

The core of the CHOGM are the executive sessions, which are the formal gatherings of the heads of government to do business. However, the majority of the important decisions are held not in the main meetings themselves, but at the informal 'retreats': introduced at

Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau,[9] but reminiscent of the excursions to Chequers or Dorneywood in the days of the Prime Ministers' Conferences.[6] Only the head of the delegation and their spouse and one additional person attend the retreats. The additional person may be of any capacity (personal, political, security, etc.) but only has occasional and intermittent access to the head of the delegation.[6] It is usually at the retreat where, isolated from their advisers, the heads resolve the most intransigent issues: leading to the Gleneagles Agreement in 1977, the Lusaka Declaration in 1979, the Langkawi Declaration in 1989, the Millbrook Programme in 1995, the Aso Rock Declaration in 2003,[6]
and the Colombo Declaration on Sustainable, Inclusive and Equitable Development in 2013.

The 'fringe' of

foreign ministers
, have also dealt with business away from the heads of government themselves.

As the scope of the CHOGM has expanded beyond the meetings of the heads of governments themselves, the CHOGMs have become progressively shorter, and their business compacted into less time.

1995 CHOGM for only three-and-a-half.[6]
The 2005 and subsequent conferences were held over two to two-and-a-half-days. However, recent CHOGMs have also featured several days of pre-summit Commonwealth Forums on business, women, youth, as well as the Commonwealth People's Forum and meetings of foreign ministers.

Issues

Protests during the 2011 CHOGM in Perth

During the 1980s, CHOGMs were dominated by calls for the Commonwealth to impose sanctions on South Africa to pressure the country to end apartheid. The division between Britain, during the government of Margaret Thatcher which resisted the call for sanctions and African Commonwealth countries, and the rest of the Commonwealth was intense at times and led to speculation that the organisation might collapse. According to one of Margaret Thatcher's former aides, Mrs. Thatcher, very privately, used to say that CHOGM stood for "Compulsory Handouts to Greedy Mendicants."[10] According to his daughter, Denis Thatcher also referred to CHOGM as standing for 'Coons Holidaying on Government Money'.[11]

In 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron informed the British House of Commons that his proposals to reform the rules governing royal succession, a change which would require the approval of all sixteen Commonwealth realms, was approved at the 28–30 October CHOGM in Perth, subsequently referred to as the Perth Agreement.[12]

Rwanda joined the Commonwealth in 2009 despite the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative's (CHRI) finding that "the state of governance and human rights in Rwanda does not satisfy Commonwealth standards", and that it "does not therefore qualify for admission".[13] Both the CHRI[14] and Human Rights Watch[15] have found that respect for democracy and human rights in Rwanda has declined since the country joined the Commonwealth. There have been calls[16][17][18] for the Commonwealth to stand up for democracy and human rights in Rwanda at the 2022 CHOGM.

Agenda

Under the Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme, each CHOGM is responsible for renewing the remit of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, whose responsibility it is to uphold the Harare Declaration on the core political principles of the Commonwealth.[19]

Incidents

A bomb exploded at the Sydney Hilton Hotel, the venue for the February 1978 Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting. Twelve foreign heads of government were staying in the hotel at the time. Most delegates were evacuated by Royal Australian Air Force helicopters and the meeting was moved to Bowral, protected by 800 soldiers of the Australian Army.

As the convocation of heads of governments and permanent Commonwealth staff and experts, CHOGMs are the highest institution of action in the Commonwealth, and rare occasions on which Commonwealth leaders all come together. CHOGMs have been the venues of many of the Commonwealth's most dramatic events.

1995 CHOGM led to that country's suspension.[9]

It has also been the trigger of a number of events that have shaken participating countries domestically. The departure of

1977 CHOGM gave Prime Minister France-Albert René the opportunity to seize power in the Seychelles.[9]

Participating countries

Current member states

Former member states

List of meetings

Year Date Country City Retreat Chairperson Secretary-General Head of the Commonwealth
1971
 14–22 January  Singapore Singapore None Lee Kuan Yew Arnold Smith Elizabeth II
1973
 2–10 August  Canada Ottawa
Mont-Tremblant
 Pierre Trudeau
1975
 29 April – 6 May  Jamaica Kingston None Michael Manley
1977
 8–15 June  United Kingdom London Gleneagles Hotel James Callaghan Shridath Ramphal
1979
 1–7 August  Zambia Lusaka Lusaka Kenneth Kaunda
1981
 30 September – 7 October  Australia Melbourne Canberra Malcolm Fraser
1983
 23–29 November  India New Delhi Goa Indira Gandhi
1985
 16–22 October  Bahamas Nassau Lyford Cay Lynden Pindling
1986
* 		3–5 August  United Kingdom London None Margaret Thatcher
1987
 13–17 October  Canada Vancouver Okanagan Brian Mulroney
1989
 18–24 October  Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Langkawi
Mahathir bin Mohamad
1991
 16–21 October  Zimbabwe Harare Victoria Falls Robert Mugabe Emeka Anyaoku
1993
 21–25 October  Cyprus Limassol None Glafcos Clerides
1995
 10–13 November  New Zealand Auckland Millbrook Jim Bolger
1997
 24–27 October  United Kingdom Edinburgh St Andrews Tony Blair
1999
 12–14 November  South Africa Durban
George
 Thabo Mbeki
2002
 2–5 March  Australia
Coolum
 None John Howard Don McKinnon
2003
 5–8 December  Nigeria Abuja Aso Rock Olusegun Obasanjo
2005
 25–27 November  Malta Valletta
Mellieħa
 Lawrence Gonzi
2007
 23–25 November  Uganda Kampala Munyonyo Yoweri Museveni
2009
 27–29 November  Trinidad and Tobago Port of Spain
Port-of-Spain
 Patrick Manning Kamalesh Sharma
2011
 28–30 October  Australia Perth Kings Park Julia Gillard
2013
 15–17 November  Sri Lanka Colombo Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Mahinda Rajapaksa
2015
 27–29 November  Malta Valletta; Mellieħa
Fort St Angelo
 Joseph Muscat
2018
 19–20 April  United Kingdom London Windsor Castle Theresa May Patricia Scotland
2022 24–25 June  Rwanda Kigali Kigali Convention Centre Paul Kagame
2023 * 5–6 May  United Kingdom London None Rishi Sunak/Paul Kagame[21] Charles III
2024 21—25 October[22]  Samoa Apia TBA Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa

* The 1986 and 2023 meetings were special sessions that fell outside the usual timetable. The 1986 CHOGM convened to discuss the issue of apartheid and only involved a handful of heads of government. The 2023 meeting (billed as 'Commonwealth Leaders' Summit') was an extraordinary session on the occasion of the

Coronation of King Charles III and consisted of a leaders meeting at Marlborough House and a reception at Buckingham Palace. Heads of State were also in attendance and the position of Chair-In-Office did not transfer to the prime minister of the United Kingdom. According to a statement issued by the Commonwealth Secretariat "After their meeting with the King, leaders from the Commonwealth's 56 member states then met privately to discuss issues of mutual interest, including initiatives to support the empowerment of young people, as this year has been designated the Commonwealth Year of Youth."[23]

The

25th CHOGM was originally scheduled for Vanuatu in 2017 but the country rescinded its offer to host after Cyclone Pam devastated the country's infrastructure in March 2015.[24] The meeting was rescheduled for the United Kingdom in the spring of 2018[25][26] which also resulted in the 26th CHOGM, originally scheduled for 2019, to be rescheduled for 22–27 June 2020.[27] However, due to the coronavirus pandemic
, the 26th CHOGM was again postponed to 2022.

Notes

  1. Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2013, for example, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, instead of Sri Lankan Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne
    , was the meeting chairman.

References

  1. ^ a b "Queen to miss Commonwealth meeting for first time since 1973" The Guardian, 7 May 2013
  2. S2CID 219625486
    .
  3. ^ "Queen Elizabeth II wraps up nostalgic Malta trip". The Himalayan Times. 29 November 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
  4. ^ a b Rajeev Syal, "Commonwealth leaders head to Rwanda for first summit since 2018", The Guardian, 20 June 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2022
  5. doi:10.1080/00358539808454395
    .
  6. ^
    S2CID 154616079
    .
  7. S2CID 154230912
    .
  8. JSTOR 40203725
    .
  9. ^
    S2CID 154737836
    .
  10. ^ PBS Video, The Windsors: A Royal Family (1994)
  11. ISBN 978-1408704233
    .
  12. ^ "Commonwealth to discuss changing royal succession". Agence France Presse. 12 October 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  13. ^ "Rwanda's application for membership, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Rwanda, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative". Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  15. ^ "Human Rights Watch, Rwanda country page". Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  16. ^ "The Commonwealth must call for reforms in Rwanda, African Arguments". 6 May 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  17. TheGuardian.com
    . June 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  18. ^ "The dictator who fooled us, Ian Birrell". Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  19. ^ "The Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme on the Harare Declaration, 1995". Commonwealth Secretariat. 12 November 1995. Archived from the original on 30 September 2006. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
  20. S2CID 219624427
    .
  21. ^ "Commonwealth leaders pledge continued unity and to empower youth".
  22. ^ "Commonwealth Heads of Government to meet in Samoa in 2024". Commonwealth. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  23. ^ "Commonwealth leaders pledge continued unity and to empower youth".
  24. ^ "Commonwealth dream looms in Brexit campaign". BBC News. 26 November 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  25. ^ "David Cameron: Commonwealth must fight corruption and extremism". BBC News. 28 November 2015.
  26. Global Post. Agence France-Presse. 28 November 2015. Archived from the original
    on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  27. ^ "Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Communiqué (CHOGM Malta 2015)" (PDF). The Commonwealth. Commonwealth Secretariat. Retrieved 29 November 2015.

External links