[ 2011-10-28 ]

The Queen with the three Commonwealth female heads of state; Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina, Australian PM Julia Gillard and Trinidad and Tobago PM Kamla Persad-Bissessa

Queen defends ‘relevance-deprived’ Commonwealth
The Queen today defended the Commonwealth after a
confidential internal report warned that it was
losing relevance and credibility.

The report by the Eminent Persons’ Group,
commissioned by the Commonwealth two years ago,
said that its failure to tackle abuses by member
states mean that it was developing a reputation as
“hypocritical or indifferent”.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former Foreign Secretary
who is a member of the group, wrote in The Times
this week that a “sense of drift of malaise”
had set in.

However the Queen, in her speech opening the
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth
in front of the leaders from 53 nations, argued
that it still had a role to play.

She said: “We find ourselves confronting new and
fresh challenges: insecurity and uncertainty in
finance, food supply, climate change, and trade
and development. This Commonwealth meeting is, for
its part, the perfect opportunity to address these
issues and find responses to today’s crises and
challenges.”

Meetings of the Commonwealth leaders, she said,
had always had an importance in precise
relationship to their relevance. “Always being
attuned to the issues of the day, and always
looking to the future with a sense of vision and
practical action to match.”

However she conceded that reforms were necessary.
Thanking the Eminent Persons’ Group for their
report, which will be discussed at the meeting,
she said: “I look forward to hearing the outcome
of discussion of their recommendations. And I wish
the Heads of Government well in agreeing further
reforms that respond boldly to the aspirations of
today and that keep the Commonwealth fresh and fit
for tomorrow.

“In these deliberations we should not forget
that this is an association not only of
governments but also of peoples. That is what
makes it so relevant in this age of global
information and communication.”

The opening ceremony also included a rare feminist
moment for the Queen, and a passage in her speech
which by the Queen’s uncontroversial standards
almost amounted to a feminist call to arms.

The theme of this year’s meeting is Women as
Agents of Change, which was reflected in the fact
that for the first time in Commonwealth history
one woman – Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the prime
minister of Trinidad and Tobago – was handing
over the chairman’s role to another – Julia
Gillard, the Australian Prime Minister – in
front of a third – the Queen, the head of the
Commonwealth.

In her speech the Queen argued that women around
the world should have a bigger role to play in
society.

The theme of the meeting, she said, “reminds us
of the potential in our societies that is yet to
be fully unlocked, and it encourages us to find
ways to allow all girls and women to play their
full part.”

She added: “We must continue to strive in our
own countries and across the Commonwealth together
to promote that theme in a lasting way beyond this
year.”

In recognition of the meeting’s theme, as well
as posing for a group photograph of all the
Commonwealth leaders, the Queen also posed for a
picture with the Commonwealth’s three women
leaders – the Prime Ministers of Australia and
Trinidad and Tobago, and Sheik Hasina, Prime
Minister of Bangladesh.

Source - The Times(UK)

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