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CHRI's 2015 Report on Civil Society and the Commonwealth CHRI 2015 CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE COMMONWEALTH REACHING FOR PARTNERSHIP A Report of the International Advisory Commission of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Chaired by Professor Yash Ghai Civil Society and The Commonwealth: Reaching for Partnership 1 THE COMMONWEALTH HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is an independent, non-partisan, international non-governmental organisation, mandated to ensure the practical realisation of human rights in the countries of the Commonwealth. In 1987, several Commonwealth professional associations founded CHRI. They believed that while the Commonwealth provided member countries a shared set of values and legal principles from which to work and provided a forum within which to promote human rights, there was little focus on the issues of human rights within the Commonwealth.*CHRI’s objectives are to promote awareness of and adherence to the Commonwealth Harare Principles, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other internationally recognised human rights instruments, as well as domestic instruments supporting human rights in Commonwealth member states. Through its reports and periodic investigations, CHRI continually draws attention to progress and setbacks to human rights in Commonwealth countries. In advocating for approaches and measures to prevent human rights abuses, CHRI addresses the Commonwealth Secretariat, member governments and civil society organisations (CSOs). Through its public education programmes, policy dialogues, comparative research, advocacy and networking, CHRI’s approach throughout is to act as a catalyst around its priority issues. The nature of CHRI’s sponsoring organisations allows for a national presence and an international network.** These professionals can steer public policy by incorporating human rights norms into their own work and act as a conduit to disseminate human rights information, standards and practices. These groups also bring local knowledge, can access policymakers, highlight issues and act in concert to promote human rights. CHRI is based in New Delhi, India, and has offices in London, UK and Accra, Ghana. International Advisory Commission: Yash Ghai – Chairperson. Members: Alison Duxbury, Wajahat Habibullah, Neville Linton, Vivek Maru, Edward Mortimer, Sam Okudzeto and Maja Daruwala. Executive Committee (India): Wajahat Habibullah – Chairperson. Members: B. K. Chandrashekar, Nitin Desai, Sanjoy Hazarika, Kamal Kumar, Poonam Muttreja, Ruma Pal, Jacob Punnoose, A. P. Shah and Maja Daruwala – Director. Executive Committee (Ghana): Sam Okudzeto – Chairperson. Members: Akoto Ampaw, Yash Ghai, Wajahat Habibullah, Neville Linton, Kofi Quashigah, Juliette Tuakli and Maja Daruwala – Director. Executive Committee (UK): Neville Linton – Chairperson, Richard Bourne (Acting Chair), Clare Doube (Vice Chair). Members: Meenakshi Dhar, Joanna Ewart-James, Frances Harrison, Sadakat Kadri, Sashy Nathan, Katherine O’Byrne, Rita Payne, Joe Silva and Michael Stone. * CHRI’s initial supporting organisations were the Commonwealth Journalists Association, Commonwealth Trade Union Council, Commonwealth Lawyers Association, Commonwealth Legal Education Association and Commonwealth Medical Association. Organisations that have also supported CHRI include the Commonwealth Press Union, Commonwealth Broadcasting Association and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. ** CHRI’s present sponsoring organisations are the Commonwealth Journalists Association, Commonwealth Legal Education Association and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. ISBN: 978-93-81241-18-9 © Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2015. Material from this report may be used, duly acknowledging the source. CHRI Headquarters, New Delhi CHRI London CHRI Africa, Accra 55A, Third Floor, Siddharth Chambers-1, Room No. 219 House No.9, Samora Machel Street Asylum Kalu Sarai, New Delhi 110 016 School of Advanced Study Down, Opposite Beverly Hills Hotel Near India South Block, Senate House Trust Towers, Accra, Tel: +91 11 4318 0200 Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU Ghana Fax: +91 11 2686 4688 United Kingdom Tel/Fax: +233 302 971170 E-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44(0) 207 664 4860 Email: [email protected] Fax: +44(0) 207 862 8820 E-mail: [email protected] www.humanrightsinitiative.org 2 Civil Society and The Commonwealth: Reaching for Partnership CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE COMMONWEALTH REACHING FOR PARTNERSHIP “We aspire to a Commonwealth that is in harmony with the future: an association that draws on its history; utilises its strengths; pursues the common interests of its members; and seizes the opportunity to help to them and others to shape a better world.”– Eminent Persons Group Report, 20111 The 2015 report by the International Advisory Commissionof the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Chaired by Professor Yash Ghai Edited by: Maja Daruwala Lead of Research, Writing and Project Coordination: Kai Reddy Research and Writing Team: Kai Reddy, David Kaner Published by: Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative 3rd Floor, Siddhartha Chamber-1, 55A, Kalu Sarai New Delhi 110016 Cover Photograph by: Aniruddh Kaushal Design, Layout and Print by: Anwar Khan & PrintWorld Civil Society and The Commonwealth: Reaching for Partnership 3 4 Civil Society and The Commonwealth: Reaching for Partnership MEMBERS OF THE CHRI INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMISSION Prof. Yash Ghai is Chair of the International Advisory Commission. He is a scholar of Public Law and has advised several countries on the making of their constitutions. He headed the Constitution Advisory Support Unit of the United Nations Development Programme in Nepal and was a Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cambodia on human rights. He has been a Fellow of the British Academy since 2005. He was the Chairman of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission from 2000 to 2004. Mr Sam Okudzeto is Chair of CHRI’s Executive Committee, Ghana. He was a member of the Board of International Bar Association and Chairman of the University Of Ghana College Of Health Sciences Council. He has also been Director of Rotary International and later Vice-Chairman of The Board of Trustees of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. He currently serves as the Chair of The College of Health Sciences Post Graduate Endowment Fund. Mr Wajahat Habibullah is Chair of CHRI’s Executive Committee, India. He was Chairperson till recently, of the National Commission on Minorities and was the Chief Information Commissioner of the Government of India. He was an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) from 1968 till his retirement in August 2005. Before his retirement and his subsequent appointment by the President as the Chief Information Commissioner, he was Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (Local Government). Dr Neville Linton is Chair of CHRI’s Executive Committee, United Kingdom and is a consultant on political affairs, specialising in democratisation and human rights issues in transition societies. Previously, he was a political scientist at the University of the West Indies before serving as a senior official at the Commonwealth Secretariat. As a Senior Adviser to Transparency International and TIRI, he worked on corruption issues in Africa and the Caribbean. Dr Alison Duxbury is an Associate Professor at the Law School of the University of Melbourne where she teaches International Law, International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. Alison’s publications span the fields of International Law, International Institutional Law and the human rights policies and practices of the Commonwealth. Mr Vivek Maru, based in Washington DC is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Namati, which focuses on innovations in legal empowerment. Prior to that, he was a senior counsel in the Justice Reform Group of the World Bank, where his work focused on justice reform and governance, primarily in West Africa and South Asia. Before joining the World Bank, Vivek co-founded and co-directed for four years Timap for Justice, a grassroots justice programme in Sierra Leone. He has previously worked at Human Rights Watch and clerked for Hon. Marsha Berzon on the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. He graduated from Harvard College, magna cum laude, and Yale Law School. Mr Edward Mortimer, CMG, is a Distinguished Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, President of the British Association of Former UN Civil Servants, Chair of Children’s Radio Foundation UK, and Senior Programme Adviser to the Salzburg Global Seminar. He was chief speechwriter and Director of Communications for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan till 2006. He is an author, journalist, and former Chair of the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice. Ms Maja Daruwala is Director of CHRI and is a barrister actively advocating for human rights for over three decades. She is on the board of Open Society Justice Initiative, International Women’s Health Coalition and Chairperson, Multiple Action Research Group. She was on the board of Oxfam GB, Civicus, South Asians for Human Rights and Voluntary Action Network of India. Civil Society and The Commonwealth: Reaching for Partnership i FOREWORD “Having history as our sole bond is clearly not enough in today’s world. In order to be relevant, the Commonwealth should be about people rather than diplomats…It should be about the future rather than the past.” – Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of Malta, July 2014 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the Commonwealth’s rebirth as an intergovernmental
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