The Commonwealth Works for the Needy

An edited version of this article was published in the 7 August 2001 edition of the International Herald Tribune.

By Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon

The Genoa G8 Meeting was the latest in a long string of summits to be scarred by violent confrontation between demonstrators and security forces, culminating in the tragic death of a young protester.

The next high profile summit to catch the world's attention will be in October, when Commonwealth Heads of Government meet in Brisbane, Australia (CHOGM 2001). People are beginning to ask me if I'm expecting any trouble there.

Well if it's any indication of trouble to come, there are already web sites dedicated to tearing CHOGM down. But if people took the time to find out what we were actually about, they would realise that the Commonwealth's daily grind is all about working to ensure that our members are better placed to prosper from the potential benefits of globalisation. To achieve for them a true 'common-wealth'. Don't tear down CHOGM; recognise and support our developmental mission.

Our developmental credentials are not surprising given that the majority of our members are developing countries and small states. There's plenty of work to be done at CHOGM 2001. It's a time for member states to reassert their democratic values, to agree funding for the anti-poverty programmes of the Commonwealth Secretariat and to help each other survive in a fiercely competitive world market place.

The simple statistics on the state of the world are alarming. Take the fact that over a billion people still live on less than a dollar a day. Or that agricultural subsidies in the developed world are worth more than the gross domestic product of the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. In other words, millions of Africans could lift themselves out of poverty if only they were given the opportunity to sell their produce to wealthier countries.

Before Genoa, I suppose I "demonstrated" in my own fashion, when I wrote to each G8 leader calling for them to show a spirit of generosity towards the developing world. To their credit, the G8 addressed the issue of poverty-reduction in developing countries. But in a world where promises come easily, the tide of peaceful protest seeks actual results. As Nelson Mandela says: "How can you sleep at night when your neighbour is hungry?"

Peaceful demonstrations are one thing, but there is no place in any society for violent protests of the kind we have witnessed at recent world summits. Violent protest does worse than achieve nothing. It has a habit of drowning out the voice of legitimate democratic protest. And because sensation sells, it steals the attention away from the very people who need and deserve the world's attention most: the citizens of developing countries, including the vast majority of our Commonwealth nations.

The Commonwealth should not ignore the anti-CHOGM websites; instead I feel it's important to make sure people are properly informed about the good work the Commonwealth does for the developing world.

Let us get our facts straight. The Commonwealth is a people-focused developmental organisation. Our CHOGMs give leaders from countries such as Lesotho, Swaziland or Tonga, the opportunity to discuss issues of concern with their larger Commonwealth neighbours as sovereign equals.

CHOGMs are a useful megaphone for our developing countries to amplify and repeat their demand for a fair share of the fruits of globalisation. To reject again the one-sided "you liberalise, we'll subsidise" deal that the developed world still tends to offer its poorer neighbours.

Furthermore our People's Centre in Brisbane and the Commonwealth Business Forum in Melbourne will allow Commonwealth non-governmental organisations and business leaders the opportunity to feed their concerns to Commonwealth leaders - and importantly, vice versa.

We are talking about an inclusive, open and transparent process. That is what our CHOGMs are about. And the non-stop work we carry out between CHOGMs is of clear value to the developing world. Through our political work we promote principles of democracy, good governance, the rule of law, equality and human rights. Dating back even beyond the positive role we played during the terrible days of apartheid, we work to ensure that Commonwealth peoples enjoy democratic rights and freedoms and that they can trust in their institutions of state.

Personally I wonder if the Commonwealth is too modest about its efforts and achievements. We should talk more about how we assist our members compete in today's globalised world. For example, a government seeking to negotiate a beneficial contract with a multinational can turn to us for expert legal assistance. Elsewhere we've provided a negotiator to one of our smaller states seeking accession to the WTO, so that the table is not slanted to their disadvantage.

Our economic work helps level the playing field for our weaker members through advocacy and consensus-building. Our Finance Ministers were instrumental in launching the HIPC (High Indebted Poor Countries) Initiative and now maintain pressure on the IMF, World Bank, and key bilateral players to get the HIPC strengthened. We also played a seminal role in highlighting the special needs of small states in the face of globalisation. Recently we played an important role in promoting dialogue between the OECD and non-OECD members on the OECD's harmful tax competition initiative.

At the social level, from Belize to Kiribati, from Canada to Swaziland, we in the Commonwealth celebrate diversity through a range of official, non-governmental, and civil society networks. We promote co-operation in the fields of education, health, women's development and youth empowerment, all to improve the lives of ordinary people.

That is why I'm asking people around the world to join me in looking forward to CHOGM. Get to know us. The many Heads of State from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, as well as our more developed members like the United Kingdom, Australia or Canada, are looking forward to it, not to mention the many non-governmental organisations that fly the Commonwealth flag.

Extreme protesters tend to construct the old David and Goliath scenario, with them playing little David. For the sort of reasons I've tried to explain, you'd need to be a lousy director to cast the Commonwealth as Goliath. We are not a big budget outfit and practically every nation in the Commonwealth family is a David. It would be a supreme irony for anyone who really cares about the developing world to want to let loose their slingshot at the Commonwealth.