Latest content: Secretary-General

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has urged member countries to integrate sustainable land use management into their national climate action plans, with a focus on nature-based solutions, on the road to the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 this November.

As part of a series of virtual events to celebrate International Women’s Day and Commonwealth Day last week, The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, was joined in conversation by Kate Gilmore, Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy of Harvard University.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has congratulated the Rwandan government on progress in its preparations for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), due to be held in the capital Kigali later this year.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has today been recognised with an award for her work on gender equality and the empowerment of women in Kenya and the Commonwealth.

Among the greatest gifts with which I have been blessed were parents who instilled in me a deep-rooted sense of identity, and the unequivocal belief that there was no difference between what a boy and a girl could achieve.

The Secretary-General has praised the leadership of women across the Commonwealth during the COVID-19 pandemic and says it is vital they keep up the momentum as equal partners in driving recovery.

This year Commonwealth Day will be celebrated on 8 March across the world in a series of virtual events, beginning on 7 March with a service at the UK’s Westminster Abbey.

Poorer countries will most likely “bear the brunt of hundreds of thousands of needless deaths” from inequalities in access to Covid-19 vaccines.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has welcomed the historic appointment of former Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to head the World Trade Organization, the first woman and representative of the African continent to do so.

The Commonwealth Secretariat has launched an online training programme on performance management for member governments.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the promulgation of a decree by Venezuela that it has sovereignty over the area adjacent to Guyana’s Essequibo coast, and other recent statements by that country regarding its border controversy with Guyana.

Ahead of the 2021 General Elections in Uganda on 14 January, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC, has called on all Ugandans, in particular political leaders, to uphold Uganda and the Commonwealth’s shared values of peace, tolerance and inclusivity.

Nominations are open for young leaders to apply to stand for positions on the Commonwealth Youth Council, the body which represents the Commonwealth’s 1.4 billion young people.

Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has described a never-before-attempted musical feat as “uplifting and a powerful testament to the Commonwealth’s resilience”.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has today announced the names of four special envoys and champions who will promote the Commonwealth’s values and principles around the world.

When 197 countries adopted the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015, I remember feeling an extraordinary surge of hope – for multilateralism, for science, for humanity.

Gambian President Adama Barrow has told the Commonwealth Secretary-General that his country is “happy to be back” in the family. The Secretary-General is in The Gambia for her first official visit since the country re-joined the Commonwealth in 2018 - almost five years after leaving the association. She commented: “President Barrow’s words are a testimony to the longstanding partnership between The Gambia and the Commonwealth."

To mark Human Rights Day, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland writes about the need for legislation and policies to ensure that wherever possible girls remain in school. Girls generally experience more barriers to education than their male counterparts, and this has been exacerbated yet further by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General led a panel of government, civil society and tech industry representatives in condemning the “silent pandemic” of online abuse directed at women.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland will tomorrow depart for her first official visit to The Gambia.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has pledged concerted and continuous action to protect the rights and needs of people with disabilities. 

Commonwealth countries are using innovation and ingenuity to counter threats of injustice and inequality from Covid-19.