Commonwealth meeting in Kampala

Barrister Harun ur Rashid

The 53 member states of the Commonwealth met in Kampala for three days from 23 to 25 November. Normally, the heads of states/government meet to discuss global and regional issues affecting them. The conference meets after every two years in the capitals of member-states.
   Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed could not attend the conference because he felt his presence was required in the country in the efforts to the relief and rehabilitation tasks confronting the government following the cyclone that devastated coastal districts of Bangladesh on 15th November.
   Bangladesh was, however, ably represented by the Foreign Affairs Adviser Dr. Iftekhar A. Choudhury. On 24th November, the Commonwealth leaders were on retreat on Lake Victoria, away from media attention. It is a one-to-one meeting in an informal way and leaders may raise issues alone with other each other, no one will know or hear about them. Often informal talks between leaders in the past led to resolution of many prickly bilateral or regional issues.
   
   Clashes
   It appears that Kampala was not a good venue for the meeting. It was an embarrassment for the leaders on the first day to witness clashes between protesters and police in the Ugandan capital. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is known to have abused human rights of the opposition leaders and protesters condemned Britain's Queen Elizabeth for meeting the Ugandan President.
   The Commonwealth values and expects democratic norms in every member-country. The President was asked if Uganda's own democracy was contrary to the spirit of the Commonwealth standards, following the removal of presidential term-limits from the Ugandan constitution before his re-election last year. He defended his action by saying tersely to the media "Forget about Commonwealth".
   The Harare Declaration of 1991 affirmed that the Commonwealth countries must abide by democratic pluralism and free media. Whenever any country strays from these ideals, they are either suspended or expelled.
   
   The meeting had, among others, the following main agenda:
   Pakistan's membership
   Climate change
   Global Trade Agreement
   Election of the new Secretary General
   Pakistan has been suspended from membership, although Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Soomro telephoned British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to understand the "ground realities" in the country for emergency rule. Pakistan was also suspended in 1999 for a coup.
   Climate change was high on the agenda. Outgoing Commonwealth chairman and Prime Minister of Malta, Lawrence Gonzi, urged all countries to address the issue.
   British Foreign Secretary David Milliband said he hoped the commonwealth would back a binding U.N.-based global framework for reducing emissions.
   
   US and greenhouse gas
   But diplomats said that Canada, a big oil-producer, resisted such a tough statement. Furthermore the Canadian government is led by Stephen Harper, a conservative who follows President Bush's policy on environment. Canada cleverly insisted that any statement should refer to the need for contributions from the US, the largest contributor of greenhouse gas, which has resisted any binding targets.
   Against the background of disunity among members of the Commonwealth, the Climate action Plan contained only vague language on the way forward and mentioned no targets on emissions. However, a statement indicating to achieve a comprehensive post-2012 global agreement that would strengthen, broaden and deepen current arrangement was issued. The statement declared that climate change threatened the existence of small island members faced with rising sea levels. The Commonwealth leaders while issuing the statement had in mind of the UN meeting in Bali next month on climate change.
   Global trade
   With regard to the global trade agreement under the Doha Round (it started in Doha in 2001 under the WTO), the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressed optimism that a new deal could be reached in the next few weeks. The tricky issue is whether the industrialised countries are willing to remove agricultural subsidies in exchange of providing market access to their goods and services sector in developing countries. Both sides have to compromise on this issue before a deal is clinched.
   With regard to the Secretary General, India's current High Commissioner to Britain, Ambassador Kamalesh Sharma, was unanimously elected as the new Secretary General replacing New Zealander Don Mckinnon. Earlier Malaysia withdrew its candidate.
   Ambassador Sharma is expected to assume the position on 1st April next year. He served as Permanent Representative to the UN in New York and Geneva. He is the first person from South Asia to occupy the high position.
   
   Critics
   Critics say that the Commonwealth has nothing in common nor has wealth. It is a relic of the British Empire. It can bark but not bite. It is a toothless tiger.
   The meetings are always characterized by rhetorical or motherhood statements by leaders. Most of the statements are directed for home audience and consist of their achievements within the country. These tendencies present a challenge to Commonwealth's meeting.
   Critics have argued that in the 21st century the organisation is an inherently arbitrary alliance with members that are united only through a historical accident of British colonialism.
   They argue that the organisation lacks a balanced membership, and point out that it is very unusual for any international organisation to exclude highly important regions of the world such as most of Western Europe and South America from membership. Indeed, many Commonwealth members look increasingly to regional partners, non-Commonwealth as well as Commonwealth, to form their most important alliances.
   Britain is a part of the EU and any decision must conform to EU rules. Consequently, Britain's role has gradually diminished within the Commonwealth
   The Commonwealth has become a large organization and any large organization lacks unity of views. Since consensus is necessary for decision, it is increasingly difficult to achieve consensus on vital global or regional issues.
   
   Merits
   The breadth of the membership of the Commonwealth includes countries of all continents. Almost one third of the world's population lives in the Commonwealth countries. Countries of all races and religions are its members including the richest and poorest. The golden thread running through the members of the Commonwealth are the English language and common administrative institutions.
   The Commonwealth member-states with diverse social, political, and economic backgrounds cooperate within a framework of common values and goals.
   The goals include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism, and world peace. Its mandate is to strengthen civil society, gender equality; and priorities include poverty reduction and sustainable, people-centred development, and to promote arts and culture
   The Commonwealth was the strongest critic of two racist regimes-in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Some say they fell partly because of the Commonwealth was a catalyst agent against them and ultimately the UN acted against the unacceptable regimes.
   Within the Commonwealth, there are Commonwealth Foundation, Commonwealth games, Commonwealth Business Council and Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation. They all are based on cooperation, characterised by commonwealth values and the other area is the Commonwealth guideline for uniformity of laws, such as extradition etc. among the Commonwealth countries.
   In recent years, the Commonwealth has carved out a role in defusing political tension within the member-states and dispatches special envoy to iron out the differences among political leaders. The Commonwealth also monitors elections within the member-countries to ensure that elections are free, fair and credible. A statement from the monitors of the Commonwealth often determines the legitimacy of the outcome of elections.
   The organization needs adequate resources and many well-wishers suggest that the leaders may seriously consider in asking for donations from philanthropists, such as Bill Gates or Ted Turner for the organisation. (Ted Turner donated money for the UN).
   The Commonwealth is a valued organization. It has a role to play in global and regional matters. It is an organization with its diversity and values that continue to provide its relevance and usefulness to all member-states.
   The writer is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.

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Julian Francis

While talking about the 'pros' and 'cons' of War Crime Trials the other day, a Bangladeshi friend asked me, "So, Julian Bhai, what are your memories of December 1971?" "You were in Kolkata, no?" So I began to recall those adrenalin filled days when, as a young man, I was in charge of OXFAM's refugee relief programme looking after about 500,000 refugees in some of the 900 refugee camps all round the border areas of India and Bangladesh.
   The strongest memory is one of exhaustion. The relief operation in the camps had already been going on for 8 months and, in addition to this, there had been a severe cyclone in Orissa which killed about 10,000 people where OXFAM's attention and relief supplies had been diverted. There had also been floods in Bihar which had needed attention as well
   * I remember that a chartered plane load of donated relief supplies from the USA and organised by OXFAM-America, mostly medicine not available in India, worth at that time nearly US$ 2 million, could not reach Kolkata due to the outbreak of war and was stranded in Madras from where we had to clear Customs and transport to Kolkata
   * I remember at the end of November 1971, as the possibility of war loomed, getting 'blackout' of windows organised
   * I remember, around 10 December 1971, sitting one evening on a hotel lawn at the end of another tiring day and listening with great amusement to Radio Pakistan which announced, "Today, the patriotic Pakistan Air Force has cut Kolkata off from the rest of India. There has been a direct hit on the Kolkata telephone exchange and the Howrah Bridge is floating down the Hooghly River"
   * I remember being very worried about the difficulties we were experiencing to reach supplies to the refugee camps, particularly those in Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam and Cooch Behar. Urgently needed supplies, specially warm clothes and blankets, were delayed in transit due to the heavy military traffic in those days
   * I remember that a West Bengal trucking company, Champa Agency, masterminded a great theft of blankets. A certain number of bales of foreign woollen blankets were consigned to different refugee camp locations. The correct number of bales arrived but the contents had been switched to include rags and second-hand clothes! A police case was initiated and the case became quite notorious involving 17 co-accused including local politicians and 65 prosecution witnesses. The case, sadly, dragged on for some years but as a result the blankets of many relief agencies were recovered and eventually donated to Government hospitals in West Bengal
   * I particularly remember the liberation of Jessore on about 8 December 1971, as an Italian Catholic Father had earlier been gunned down by the Pakistan Army at one of the Mission Hospitals which had been supported by OXFAM
   * My staff in Kolkata in those days were largely of East Bengal origin, so when we heard of the surrender of the Pakistan Forces on 16 December 1971, there was much celebration, but also a lot of tears. Some of the staff had come to India over the border as refugees, often losing loved ones on the way due to the betrayal of Razakars or due to shock and heart attacks, so many of the staff were very emotionally affected
   * I remember, together with other colleagues, looking forward to the gradual and orderly closure of the camps and the rehabilitation and recovery of war-torn Bangladesh. OXFAM was one of the first supporters of BRAC and Gonoshasthaya Kendra. It is also worth noting that one of the most effective refugee relief operations in India was the Cooch Behar Refugee Service overseen by Dr Olaf Hodne, a Norwegian pastor. After Liberation, he followed the refugees to their homes in Kurigram, Rangpur, Lalmonirhat etc. and set up RDRS which had done so much development work in the north-west of the country
   It is important that the young people of Bangladesh know the truth of how their country was born and what pain and suffering was experienced by so many in the process. While it is very important to remember what happened all those years ago, but it is more important to look forward and to believe in a bright future for Bangladesh knowing how committed and resilient most Bangladeshis are. Sonar Bangla is a very special place in which to live and work.
   Julian Francis who, since the War of Liberation, has had a long association with Bangladesh working in many poverty alleviation projects, is currently working as Social Development Manager at the DFID supported 'Chars Livelihoods Programme', RDA, Bogra.

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