Promoting Education for all is at the heart of the Commonwealth

Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Stephen Twigg

The difficult and challenging circumstances of the past eighteen months have demonstrated powerfully the importance of strong and effective multilateral institutions and networks, including the Commonwealth. Our common challenges require us to work together to seek solutions that benefit citizens in all parts of the world – this applies whether we are addressing unequal access to COVID-19 vaccines, the urgent necessity for action to address climate change or the huge scale of the work needed to make meaningful progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Commonwealth Parliamentarians are playing an active role in all these areas and this edition of The Parliamentarian highlights some of these important activities. In July 2021, I was pleased to attend the Global Education Summit in London co-hosted by President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom. The purpose of the Summit was to replenish the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and it achieved donor pledges of US$4 billion and commitments by partner countries to increased financing of education.

Commonwealth countries and their leaders (past and present) have been key to the successful impact of GPE. The former Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, was Chairperson of GPE’s Board between 2014 and 2021. Her successor from 15 September 2021 is the former President of Tanzania, Dr Jayata Kikwete. I wish him well in this important role.

Before joining the CPA, I helped to establish the International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd) which is now a thriving voice on education co-chaired by Senator Dr Gertrude Muzuruve Inimah of Kenya and Hon. Harriett Baldwin MP of the United Kingdom. I pay tribute to the leadership which both Kenya and the UK have demonstrated as we face up to the task of meeting UN Sustainable Development Goal Four on education.

One of the cross-cutting themes in the CPA’s new Strategic Plan 2022-25, adopted by our Executive Committee in March of this year, is Sustainable Development and Climate Change. In the run-up to COP26 in Glasgow, we will be working with our Members and other international parliamentary organisations to ensure that Parliamentarians’ voices are heard on climate change. It is, of course, a universal challenge but we know that its urgency is recognised especially in Small Island Developing States, many of which are in the Commonwealth. The CPA is exploring what more we can do, for example working with our members in the CPA Pacific Region, to support practical action to address the climate crisis. 2021 is the 40th anniversary of CPA’s Small Branches network and I pay tribute to the work which they have led on sustainability, climate change, biodiversity and the environment. It is vitally important work, and I am determined that we do more in this area over the coming months and years. The Acting Chairperson of the CPA Small Branches network, Joy Burch (Australian Capital Territory), has written about this in her column in this edition of The Parliamentarian. I thank her for her leadership of the network at this critical time.

One of the six Strategic Objectives which form the CPA Strategic Plan 2022-2025 is to “support and enable the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP), CPA Small Branches and Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities (CPwD) networks to fulfil their strategic objectives”.

CWP has undertaken an excellent series of regional roundtables on gender sensitive Parliaments with significant participation from Parliamentarians from across the Commonwealth. Additionally, in June 2021, the CPA and CWP organised a brilliant event with the Commonwealth Secretariat on Women’s Parliamentary and Transformational Leadership. The Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, Hon. Shandana Gulzar Khan MNA (Pakistan), has led the Network since her election as Chair in 2019 and I thank her for her leadership. In August 2021, she also joined the Commonwealth Observer Mission for the recent elections in Zambia.

Disability is a cross-cutting theme in our new Strategic Plan. We are exploring partnerships with others so that the CPA can be more proactive in our work to promote disability inclusion, which covers how best to support Parliamentarians and Parliamentary staff with disabilities and how to support our Members to engage better with their constituents with disabilities and civil society organisations working on disability rights.

In August 2021, Hon. Kevin Murphy was not re-elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and, as a result, he has stepped down as the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities network. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kevin for his work with the CPA. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of the CPwD network and was an active member of the CPA Executive Committee. I congratulate Hon. Dennitah Ghati MP from the National Assembly of Kenya on her election as the new Chairperson of CPwD and I look forward to working together in the coming months.

In The Parliamentarian 2021 Issue Two, the CPA paid tribute to our late Madam Chairperson, Hon. Emilia Monjowa Lifaka from Cameroon. As a consequence of her sad death, Hon. Ian LiddellGrainger MP (United Kingdom) is our Acting CPA Chairperson and I thank him for his hard work and commitment since taking over in such distressing circumstances. In particular, the Acting CPA Chairperson and I have been working closely together on the vital and longstanding issue of CPA’s legal status in the United Kingdom on which I hope we can make progress over the coming year.

In August 2021, we concluded the ballot for a new Acting CPA Vice-Chairperson and I am pleased to take this opportunity to congratulate Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu MP from Ghana on his election to this important role. I would also like to thank the runner-up, Hon. Gerry Brownlee MP from New Zealand, for his participation in this election.

In October 2020, the University of London made a proposal to close its dedicated Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICWS) and relocate its existing activities to other parts of the University’s School of Advanced Study. The CPA joined a diverse range of Commonwealth and other organisations in expressing our concern about this proposal. As a result, the University invited the former UK Foreign Secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, to chair a Committee to look at the future of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London.

I was pleased to serve as a member of the Rifkind Committee. Our report has now been published and I am grateful to everyone who contributed to our work. We were unanimous in recommending that the ICWS should be maintained, and we set out some suggestions for how to develop its work in the future. I am delighted that the University has responded positively and has undertaken to develop our proposals over the coming year.

Alongside the Committee’s formal work, the CPA joined with the Commonwealth Foundation and the Association of Commonwealth Universities to hold a virtual event to provide an open forum for a diverse range of voices about the future of Commonwealth Studies. This forum was very helpful in demonstrating the contemporary relevance of Commonwealth Studies but also reminding us of the need to network with scholars and universities across the Commonwealth.

The Rifkind Committee’s Report can be found at the following link: https://london.ac.uk/news-opinion/report-committee-inquiryfuture-commonwealth-studies-university-london. If readers have any thoughts or suggestions, please do get in touch with me.

I have now entered my second year as Secretary-General of the CPA, and I am immensely grateful to everyone for their support and advice since I started in August 2020. The circumstances arising from the pandemic have meant that I have yet to meet many of you in person, but technology has enabled me to be in regular contact with the CPA’s membership across all nine regions. Once circumstances allow, I look forward to visiting in person.

CPA SECRETARY-GENERAL REITERATES THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SEPARATION OF POWERS AT COMMONWEALTH LAWYERS CONFERENCE IN THE BAHAMAS

In an address to attendees at the Commonwealth Lawyers Conference 2021 in Nassau, The Bahamas, the CPA SecretaryGeneral, Stephen Twigg, spoke about the need to safeguard the separation of powers amidst the increased use of emergency measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CPA SecretaryGeneral, chairing a session on the effects of emergency measures on the separation of powers with the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Sir Declan Morgan QC, and the Attorney-General of Jamaica, Hon. Marlene Malahoo Forte, said that Parliamentarians, lawyers and experts must carefully scrutinise whether ‘the scale, the form and content of these emergency measures were fit for purpose’.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered the adoption of emergency measures across the world as governments acted to slow the spread of the virus. Whilst fast and extensive restrictions were necessary to protect public health systems and save lives, the subsequent decrease in transparency and accountability placed great strain on the core democratic principle of the separation of powers.

Noting the potential for power imbalances between the three pillars of the rule of law during an emergency, the CPA Secretary-General warned that ‘Parliaments can be at a significant disadvantage when compared to the position of governments.’ He emphasised that Parliamentarians must remain vigilant during a crisis to protect the independence of Parliament and highlighted that the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles on the separation of powers provide an important framework for good governance and democracy.

The Conference, hosted annually by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, took place from 5 – 9 September 2021 at the Baha Mar Grand Hyatt Convention Centre in Nassau. The overall theme was ‘Sustainable Justice: The future of the role of law’, with legal practitioners, politicians, academics and experts from across the Commonwealth attending to discuss issues in the profession and share ideas. Each day featured a plenary session followed by workshops and panels split across three ‘event streams.’ On the second day of the Conference, the CPA Secretary-General also chaired a session on ‘Judicial oversight and accountability: the rise of the watchdog.’

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Rt Hon. Patricia Scotland QC, spoke at the opening plenary session, alongside Brian Speers, President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, about why climate rights must be treated as essential human rights.

Whilst in The Bahamas, the CPA Secretary-General also held meetings with some of the country’s parliamentary and civil society leaders, including Matthew Aubry, President of the Organisation for Responsible Governance, and Anthony Hamilton, President of Civil Society Bahamas. He heard from them about the interaction between Parliament and civil society in The Bahamas, how their organisations contribute to the upkeep of Bahamian democracy, and the ways in which the CPA can support this. The CPA Secretary-General also met with the President of the Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the House of Assembly of The Bahamas during his visit.