Latest content: Secretary-General

The Commonwealth Secretariat and NO MORE Foundation are launching a new “Join The Chorus” initiative to help the 54 member countries tackle an alarming rise in domestic and sexual violence during the COVID-19 pandemic while urging leaders to make prevention a top priority in rebuilding efforts.

Foreign Affairs Ministers from across the Commonwealth met yesterday for the 21st annual Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting (CFAMM). The meeting was held virtually for the second year in a row due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

IPS spoke to Commonwealth Secretary-General the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC about the Association’s climate initiatives, the unique challenges faced by small states, its focus on gender mainstreaming and access to financing for critical adaptation and mitigation projects.

During a visit to The Bahamas this week, the Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland called for urgent action to ensure improved climate resilience of small states and promised to amplify the concerns of small and other vulnerable states at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow this November.

Commonwealth Secretary-General The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC has called on G20 members to urgently work with the Commonwealth and other partners, particularly the World Health Organization and World Trade Organization, to urgently put in place a robust plan to vaccinate the world’s 42 smallest states and shield them from COVID-19.

Commonwealth Secretary-General has attended the inauguration ceremony of Zambia’s seventh President Hakainde Hichilema in Lusaka.

Statement by The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth

Covid-19 has been an earthquake along the already fraught fault lines of global education. The result has been a deep chasm into which the most vulnerable have fallen: 1.6 billion children were out of education at the height of school closures.

I cannot pretend to know or fully understand how it feels to be a young person in 2021.

At a virtual ceremony today, the winner of the first ‘Christof Heyns Memorial Commonwealth Prize’ was announced during the 13th Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition.

As we prepare to celebrate Nelson Mandela International Day - a day to honour the legacy of the much-loved icon - the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC Secretary-General of the Commonwealth invited UNFPA’s Executive Director, Dr Natalia Kanem, to discuss the values of championing social justice, volunteering and community service. 

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has commended the signing of an official peace pact in Lusaka, ahead of the 12th August polls.

Commonwealth countries are estimated to have lost up to US$345 billion worth of trade in 2020, including $60 billion in intra-Commonwealth trade, according to 2021 Commonwealth Trade Review on “Energising Commonwealth Trade in a Digital World: Paths to Recovery Post-COVID”.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC, has called on political leaders in Samoa to uphold the rule of law and adhere to the values and principles set out in the Commonwealth Charter.

The Coalition for Peaceful Elections in Zambia has launched an initiative encouraging political party leaders and candidates in the upcoming elections to commit to peaceful elections by signing a peace pledge and making a joint public commitment reaffirming non-violence and a credible electoral process.

Today, Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC announced the ‘Christof Heyns Memorial Commonwealth Prize’ during the 13th Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition.

The Commonwealth Secretariat and Ghana’s National Peace Council (NPC) are making a combined effort to rebuild national unity following the 2020 election, which sparked outbreaks of violence across some regions in the country.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has set out how an agile Secretariat has managed to support multilateral cooperation between member countries in the face of multiple challenges.

Commonwealth Secretary-General The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC has expressed sympathy and a sense of loss at the death of Zambia’s founding President, HE Dr Kenneth Kaunda.

The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to reorient priorities and reset our relationship with the ocean. Emerging from the pandemic, a global ‘blue recovery’ should focus rebuilding equitable, resilient, and sustainable blue economies, protecting ocean health as we leverage ocean wealth.

As we look around the globe at the impact of the pandemic, one thing is clear: we are all in the same storm, even if we aren’t all in the same boat. While more affluent nations are now rolling out second vaccine doses, health workers across the world, from the Pacific to Africa, and the Caribbean and Latin America to Asia, are still awaiting their first doses, have inadequate testing capacity, are juggling erratic oxygen supplies and are still forced to customise out-of-date PPE.

Commonwealth member countries are supporting a call to “reset and rebuild” equitable, resilient ocean economies in the wake of the devastating impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Commonwealth Secretariat is setting out to transform itself into a more fit-for-purpose partner to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 in the face multiple, interlocking global crises.