Committee on Commonwealth Membership
Encyclopedia
The Committee on Commonwealth Membership (CCM) was a committee
convened by the Commonwealth Secretariat
in 2006 to examine and report on prospective changes to the membership criteria of the Commonwealth of Nations
. It was chaired by P. J. Patterson
, formerly Prime Minister of Jamaica
, and consisted of seven other members.
The committee met twice, both times in London
: on 6-7 December 2006 and 14 May 2007. It issued its report on 24 October 2007, and presented it to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2007
, in Kampala
, Uganda
.
The committee was also attended by the Commonwealth Secretary-General
Don McKinnon
, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General
Florence Mugasha, and Head of the Political Affairs Division, Matthew Neuhaus.
, who also served as a consultant to the Committee. The report supported the prevailing and existing requirements as established by the Edinburgh Declaration
. It dictated that the core criteria for membership should be that countries:
The Committee also recommended that new members be 'encouraged' to join the Commonwealth Foundation
and engage in the Commonwealth Family
, but that they would not be required to do so.
Committee
A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...
convened by the Commonwealth Secretariat
Commonwealth Secretariat
The Commonwealth Secretariat is the main intergovernmental agency and central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is responsible for facilitating cooperation between members; organising meetings, including the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings ; assisting and advising on policy...
in 2006 to examine and report on prospective changes to the membership criteria of the Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
. It was chaired by P. J. Patterson
P. J. Patterson
Percival Noel James Patterson, ON, QC, PC, O.E., was the sixth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1992 to 2006. Until February 2006 he was the leader of the Jamaican People's National Party . The new PNP leader, Portia Simpson-Miller, took over as Prime Minister on 30 March 2006...
, formerly Prime Minister of Jamaica
Prime Minister of Jamaica
The Prime Minister of Jamaica is Jamaica's head of government, currently Andrew Holness. Andrew Holness was elected as the new leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party and succeeded Bruce Golding to become Jamaica's ninth Prime Minister on 23 October 2011...
, and consisted of seven other members.
The committee met twice, both times in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
: on 6-7 December 2006 and 14 May 2007. It issued its report on 24 October 2007, and presented it to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2007
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2007
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2007 was the twentieth Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in Kampala, Uganda, between 23 November and 25 November 2007, and was hosted by President Yoweri Museveni....
, in Kampala
Kampala
Kampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division. The city is coterminous with Kampala District.-History: of Buganda, had chosen...
, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
.
Composition
- P. J. PattersonP. J. PattersonPercival Noel James Patterson, ON, QC, PC, O.E., was the sixth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1992 to 2006. Until February 2006 he was the leader of the Jamaican People's National Party . The new PNP leader, Portia Simpson-Miller, took over as Prime Minister on 30 March 2006...
(JamaicaJamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
) - Guido de MarcoGuido de MarcoGuido de Marco was a Maltese politician, who served as the sixth President of Malta from 1999 to 2004. A noted statesman and lawmaker, de Marco also served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior, Justice, and Minister for Foreign Affairs.He is widely regarded as one of the great...
(MaltaMaltaMalta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
) - Rebecca KadagaRebecca KadagaRebecca Alitwala Kadaga is a Ugandan lawyer and politician. She is the current Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament. She was elected to that position on Thursday 19 May 2011. She is the first female to be elected Speaker in the history of Parliament in Uganda. She succeeds Edward Ssekandi, who served...
(UgandaUgandaUganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
) - Baroness Valerie AmosValerie Amos, Baroness AmosValerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos, PC is the eighth and current UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Before her appointment to the UN, she had been British High Commissioner to Australia. She was made a Labour life peer in 1997 and served as Leader...
(United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
) - Cheryl CarolusCheryl CarolusCheryl Carolus is a South African politician. She was born in Silvertown, on the Cape Flats, Cape Town. Carolus became involved in politics while still at school and became an activist after joining the United Democratic Front in 1983...
(South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
) - Yashwant SinhaYashwant SinhaYashwant Sinha is an Indian politician and a former finance minister of India and foreign minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet...
(IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) - Tuiloma Neroni SladeTuiloma Neroni SladeTuiloma Neroni Slade is the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. He was elected to the position for three years on 20 August 2008. Slade was reappointed to a second term by the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum on 8 September 2011.-Biography:Tuiloma Neroni Slade was born...
(SamoaSamoaSamoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
) - Olivia MacAngus (CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
)
The committee was also attended by the Commonwealth Secretary-General
Commonwealth Secretary-General
The Commonwealth Secretary-General is the head of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the central body which has served the Commonwealth of Nations since its establishment in 1965, and responsible for representing the Commonwealth publicly...
Don McKinnon
Don McKinnon
Sir Donald Charles "Don" McKinnon, ONZ, GCVO is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand. He was the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations from 2000 until 2008.-Early life:...
, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General
Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General
Two Commonwealth Deputy Secretaries-General assist the Secretary-General in running the Commonwealth Secretariat, which is the central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations...
Florence Mugasha, and Head of the Political Affairs Division, Matthew Neuhaus.
Recommendations
The Committee's reported to the 2007 CHOGM in the name of all the members, without dissenting opinion. It was drafted by W. David McIntyreW. David McIntyre
Professor William David McIntyre OBE is a New Zealand historian. He was a professor in history at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, before retiring from that position in 1997....
, who also served as a consultant to the Committee. The report supported the prevailing and existing requirements as established by the Edinburgh Declaration
Edinburgh Declaration
The Edinburgh Declaration was a declaration by the heads of government of the Commonwealth of Nations concerning the organisation's membership criteria...
. It dictated that the core criteria for membership should be that countries:
- 'As a general rule', have historic constitutional connections with an existing member, or a 'substantial' relationship with the Commonwealth as an institution or a particular group of members.
- Accept the Singapore DeclarationSingapore DeclarationThe Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth Principles was a declaration issued by the assembled Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations, setting out the core political values that would form the main part of the Commonwealth's membership criteria...
of Commonwealth principles. - Demonstrate commitment to democracyDemocracyDemocracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, the rule of lawRule of lawThe rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
, good governance, and protecting human rightsHuman rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and equality of opportunityEqual opportunityEqual opportunity, or equality of opportunity, is a controversial political concept; and an important informal decision-making standard without a precise definition involving fair choices within the public sphere...
. - Use EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as the language of Commonwealth relations. - Recognise Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II of the United KingdomElizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
as Head of the CommonwealthHead of the CommonwealthThe Head of the Commonwealth heads the Commonwealth of Nations, an intergovernmental organisation which currently comprises 54 sovereign states. The position is currently occupied by the individual who serves as monarch of each of the Commonwealth realms, but has no day-to-day involvement in the...
.
The Committee also recommended that new members be 'encouraged' to join the Commonwealth Foundation
Commonwealth Foundation
The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation that was established by the Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1965, the same year as its sister organisation, the Commonwealth Secretariat...
and engage in the Commonwealth Family
Commonwealth Family
The Commonwealth Family is a network of associations, organisations, and charities affiliated to the Commonwealth of Nations. Although associated with the Commonwealth, they are not fully a part of it, and membership is on a voluntary basis from within the membership of the Commonwealth...
, but that they would not be required to do so.