Fast Facts: Commonwealth Secretary-General

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A briefing for journalists | 1 April 2016 Fast Facts: Commonwealth Secretary-General Appointed Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to South Mandate and Tenure Africa in 2012. The Commonwealth Secretary-General promotes and Elected as the Alderman of Bishopsgate in the City protects the Commonwealth’s values, represents the of London in 2014. Commonwealth globally, and manages the Other offices include Chancellor of the University of Commonwealth Secretariat. Greenwich, Patron of the Corporate Alliance Against The Secretary-General maintains regular high-level Domestic Violence, Patron of Lifeline (Trinidad & contacts with Commonwealth governments and civil Tobago) and the Caribbean Science Foundation. society leaders. In addition, he or she exercises a ‘Good Offices for Peace’ role to work with political leaders when the Commonwealth’s shared values come under stress. The Secretary-General is nominated by Commonwealth leaders and can serve a maximum of two four-year terms. The post was first created - alongside the Commonwealth Secretariat - at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference in 1965 in London, United Kingdom. Since then six persons have held the role. Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC became Secretary- General on 1 April 2016 having been appointed by Heads of Government at their meeting in November 2015. Profile: Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC – the new Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Janet Scotland was born on the 19th August 1955 in Dominica. Secretary-General Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC Moved to the UK with her family, growing up in east London. Trained as a lawyer and became the first black woman to be appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1991. At 35 she was also the youngest woman Former Secretaries-General ever to be made a QC. o Kamalesh Sharma of India (2008-2016) The first black woman to be appointed Deputy o Don McKinnon of New Zealand (2000-2008) High Court Judge, Recorder and Master of Middle o Chief Emeka Anyaoku of Nigeria (1990- Temple. 2000) Joined the House of Lords in 1997 as Baroness o Sir Shridath ‘Sonny’ Ramphal of Guyana Scotland of Asthal going on to serve as a minister (1975-1990) in the Foreign Office, Home Office and Lord o Arnold Smith of Canada (1965-1975) Chancellor’s Department. Undertook major reform of the criminal justice Learn more online: thecommonwealth.org/about- system, including the introduction of the us/secretary-general-profile Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act. Follow the Secretary-General on Twitter Appointed Attorney General in 2007 – the first @PScotlandCSG and on Facebook women to hold the post since it was created in FB.com/PScotlandCSG 1315. Founded the Eliminate Domestic Violence Global Foundation in 2011. .

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We Shall Not Loose the World.Pdf
8 May 2009, Friday Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General 23rd Dr Eric Williams Memorial Lecture Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad ‘We Shall Not Lose The World’ Prime Minister and Mrs Manning, Governor Ewart Williams, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. I feel honoured to stand before such an audience from Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean and the Commonwealth. Many of you would have known Eric Williams in person, while others of us know him by reputation. ‘The Father of the Nation.’ ‘Doctor Politics’. I have a suspicion that he has an ear cocked in our direction even now, perhaps from the celestial library, where he sits, penning a critique of Selwyn Ryan’s latest – monumental – biography. It is simply my hope that he bears with me all the way through this evening, rather than switching off his hearing aid, as was apparently his custom when you could not keep his attention, and closing his eyes behind those famous sun-glasses… What would he say if he were with us tonight, as he looked upon the precarious world of May 2009? Would his great dictum that you ‘Pay As You Earn’ speak to our current financial crisis? If only they had paid as they earned – ‘The Doc Say So’! One way or another, we are in admiration of this man and in his debt, and it is for this reason that – year on year – this event is run in his name. I read Eric Williams’ classic, Capitalism and Slavery, some time ago and lately, Forged from the Love of Liberty, the range of wisdom in which gives us a glimpse of this giant of political culture.
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Institute of Commonwealth Studies
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