Howard Barrell
The Commonwealth Summit in Durban is being dominated by a confidential internal report saying the organisation should increase its powers to act against member states for human rights abuses.
The document would pave the way for action against the governments of countries like Cameroon, Kenya and Zimbabwe if they did not improve their compliance with democratic norms. It goes a long way towards addressing concerns raised loudly by human rights groups gathered in Durban in the run-up to the conference.
Getting the new plan accepted is likely to be a major test of the skills of President Thabo Mbeki, who is hosting the meeting of Commonwealth heads of government, which opened on Friday. It drew 47 heads of government, the highest ever to attend.
Informed sources said success would probably depend on Mbeki’s ability to create a relaxed atmosphere on Saturday and Sunday, when the leaders go on an informal “retreat” together in George.
The retreat is usually the forum at which Commonwealth heads of government arrive at their trickiest decisions. These decisions are usually taken by consensus.
The confidential report under consideration by the heads of government suggests that the Commonwealth adopt a further set of principles on good governance, tightening up its views on what is acceptable. The document also proposes sharpening up procedures for acting against errant member states.
The report builds on the declaration Commonwealth leaders adopted in Harare in 1991 which committed individual member states to work for, among others, “democracy, democratic processes and institutions which reflect national circumstances, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, just and honest government”. The Harare declaration was strengthened four years later when the Sani Abacha military regime in Nigeria hanged poet and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa just as Commonwealth members were meeting again in New Zealand.
In response the Commonwealth heads rushed through a set of disciplinary rules for member states which they had been due to consider.
It set up a watchdog, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (C-MAG) to provide the organisation with political leadership between heads of government summits, which are held every two years.
C-MAG comprised eight foreign ministers and the Commonwealth secretary general. It was a high-level standing committee empowered, among other things, to act against a member government whose conduct had repeatedly frustrated democracy and “particularly in the event of an unconstitutional overthrow of a democratically elected government”.
C-MAG has the power to suspend a country from all meetings of the Commonwealth, though suspension from the organisation itself must be a decision of the heads of government. It has met 13 times since 1995, most recently to suspend Pakistan, on October 18, from the councils of the Commonwealth following a successful military coup d’tat against its elected government.
The latest Commonwealth proposals on democratic and good governance that are being discussed at the Durban summit are understood to suggest that C-MAG be retained but that its membership change slightly to include at least one state representing South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).
Commonwealth Secretary General Chief Emeka Anyaoku said C-MAG would not limit itself to military regimes. He said new guidelines would be drawn up for C-MAG which would “enable it to look around the Commonwealth and to decide member countries need its attention”.
The new proposals also broaden and lay out the set of democratic criteria that Commonwealth member governments must satisfy more explicitly, and provide for sharper punishment of offending states.
The document implies that the perversion of democracy by an elected government is every bit as serious as the unconstitutional overthrow of a government. It highlights freedom of expression, free opposition political activity and free and fair elections among these democratic standards.
Observers expect the Commonwealth leaders to take a cautious approach on Pakistan, where the military has overthrown a corrupt civilian regime.
The other feature of the summit is expected to be the presence in Durban of President Olusegun Obasanjo, which will represent Nigeria’s full return to the organisation.