Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, senior officials from law ministries across the Commonwealth. Let me welcome you to Marlborough House, and to this important meeting. Allow me to express my appreciation to our legal team who have worked tirelessly over the last few months to make this meeting possible.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me put our meeting in context. Next May, law ministers will be meeting in Botswana where they will be focusing on issues around consolidating the rule of law and human rights.
Today, we have the opportunity to feed into that forum in two ways: firstly, to examine the progress we have collectively made in implementing the rule of law programme which is delivered by our legal team, and secondly to see where the gaps and challenges might be so that we can inform our law ministers accordingly.
Your contribution is most important. The increasing interconnectedness of our world provides us with opportunities to share best practice and knowledge in an even more swifter and efficient ways. It also means that we are challenged to sharpen our focus, as well as our range of legal tools and schemes to identify and respond to sophisticated cross-border illegal activities. Your agenda hones in on some of these: cybercrime, anti-corruption, climate change and child abduction, to name a few. We could not have picked a better time to dialogue on these global issues.
The Secretariat has just adopted a new Strategic Plan which aims at ensuring that we concentrate on where we can add the most value and achieve maximum impact. The discussions in the next three days will help us develop efficient, results-driven delivery mechanisms in assisting your countries to realise your commitments towards democracy and development, for the benefit of our citizens at large.
We look forward to your guidance and direction on what our member states consider priority areas that require the support of the Secretariat.
Over these three days, we shall have the opportunity to discuss how our values can lead to common approaches on a range of key issues, some of which I have already mentioned: the Secretariat team will update you on progress on the implementation of mandates from law ministers at their Sydney meeting. The team will also request you to endorse some of the ongoing and new initiatives they intend to take forward over the next few years.
Let me mention just two of these - the first recognises the importance of co-operation in the administration of criminal justice in an era where rapid technological development has led to more sophisticated criminal operations across borders. The second seeks to find solutions to the challenges facing some of our member countries in the implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) best practices and Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Focusing on the first: as you may recall, in Sydney, law ministers adopted a revised Harare Scheme with novel provisions on asset recovery and the interception of telecommunications. The Secretariat’s proposed programme of work was also approved (details of which are contained in the papers before you). It is hoped that following your discussions on the report that will be presented to you, you will approve the Secretariat’s strategy on international co-operation; a Model Legislation on Mutual Legal Assistance, the proposed schedule of work, as well as a proposed work on the Commonwealth Network of Contact Persons.
On the second, anti-corruption: the Commonwealth anti-corruption strategy, which was approved by law ministers at their meeting in 2008, has been useful in providing action points and tools on anti-corruption measures for implementation of UNCAC best practices and the FATF within the Commonwealth. The Secretariat has consistently followed this strategy in the delivery of its technical assistance programme. You will be invited to consider and approve the Secretariat’s programme of work for it to continue to provide assistance in this area.
Ladies and gentlemen, before I conclude, allow me to update you briefly on three key developments and preoccupations in The Commonwealth. These are an important backdrop for your deliberations.
The Charter of the Commonwealth 2013
December 2012 marked an important milestone in the history of the Commonwealth, when we reaffirmed and consolidated all our fundamental values and principles in one single Charter.
Be it democracy, human rights, international peace and security, tolerance, respect and understanding, freedom of expression, separation of powers, rule of law – most of these beliefs underpin the broad objectives you, as senior officials, aspire to achieve in your daily work.
I hope that as you review the progress in some of the key areas on your agenda which I mentioned earlier, you will bear in mind the extent to which they are aligned to these overarching values and principles.
New Strategic Plan 2013/14 - 2016/17 and future work
Ladies and gentlemen, I have already hinted at the Secretariat’s current transition to a results-based way of working under our new Strategic Plan.
The Plan reflects the shared broad priorities of member governments. It will be a useful compass for us in developing and implementing rule of law programmes for the benefit of our member states. In this respect, the Plan highlights three goals of particular relevance to our legal work: democracy; rule of law; and promotion and protection of human rights.
In practice, it also means that when you come to us to discuss your needs, we will, in turn, be dialoguing with you on the kind of results and outcomes you are anticipating from our support. We will work with you to ensure that we achieve value for money, we leverage partnerships where relevant, and our programmes and projects, or the results thereof, are sustainable.
Forthcoming CHOGM 2013 in Sri Lanka
Senior officials, in November, Heads of Government will meet in Colombo, to deliberate on global issues of particular interest to The Commonwealth. This year’s CHOGM theme ‘Growth with Equity: Inclusive Development’, will have a significant development angle.
It is expected that discussions will focus on some of the current global concerns such as the post-2015 development agenda, climate change, debt, trade and mobility across borders.
The Commonwealth believes that democracy and development go hand in hand. None of the above issues can be discussed holistically without a rule of law lens.
As we examine the technical issues before us, we must not lose sight of their linkages with the everyday lives of the people of the Commonwealth. In other words, how can we promote the rule of law and human rights in a way that enables development to thrive? I hope that the solutions we will be recommending to law ministers will reflect this perspective aptly captured by the CHOGM theme.
Concluding remarks
Finally, I wish to thank you all, for making the time to participate in this meeting over the next three days.
I thank all those who contributed to the significant number of papers that will inform our discussions. I also thank our legal team, led by Acting Director, Ms Shirani de Fontgalland.
Senior officials, your contribution is essential to the future work of the Secretariat. I wish to encourage free and open discussion and urge you to be focused on the outcomes you wish to achieve.
I wish you a very successful meeting.
Thank you.
