VIEW FROM THE CPA CHAIRPERSON
COMMONWEALTH YOUTH: HOW CAN PARLIAMENTARIANS BEST SUPPORT THE YOUTH OF THE COMMONWEALTH TO ACHIEVE THEIR FULL POTENTIAL? Hon. Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP, Chairperson of the CPA Executive Committee and Member of the United Kingdom Parliament. In March 2023, the CPA celebrated Commonwealth Day and it was a joy to see so many CPA Branches celebrate the theme of ‘Forging a sustainable and peaceful common future’. A theme which centres the conversation on the 1.5 billion young people within the Commonwealth and the importance of ensuring we create a more sustainable, democratic and prosperous world for them. Many of our CPA Branches rightly used this Commonwealth Day as a chance to engage with young people through their wider public outreach and utilised CPA resources like the Commonwealth Day Youth Engagement Handbook and the CPA’s Engagement, Education and Outreach Handbook which has been developed for the benefit of our membership to be a practical resource to help strengthen their public engagement and outreach focus. If your Legislature or organisation has not already downloaded these tools from our website to utilise for your own institution, then I highly encourage you to do so. As an organisation, we are fully committed to prioritising the role and interests of young people within the CPA’s work and operations. We uphold and promote youth participation in politics and endeavour to support young Parliamentarians in their new roles through, amongst other mechanisms, encouraging their participation in CPA Post-Election Seminars, enrolling in the CPA Parliamentary Academy and, in due course, creating mentoring opportunities with our alumni. Beyond our core membership, we are focused on engaging and educating young people on democracy and the role of Parliament. That’s why we highlighted youth as a cross-cutting theme in our CPA Strategic Plan 2022-25, ensuring that we mainstream this theme into our work and decision-making processes, creating a more inclusive, responsive and relevant organisation. Commonwealth Day 2023 also marked the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Commonwealth Charter, which was originally signed by Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 11 March 2013. The Commonwealth Charter seeks to reflect the shared values of the Commonwealth’s nations and citizens and its anniversary this year provided an opportunity to reflect on its progress and reaffirm the principles within our organisation and member Parliaments. The foundations of the Charter have proved their worth over these eventful years and are a testament to the lasting relevance and values of the Commonwealth. It is so important that we enable and support all members of our Commonwealth family to live by and defend these shared democratic values. On 6 May 2023, we welcomed a new Head of the Commonwealth with the coronation of His Majesty King Charles III. The late Queen
supported the CPA since her accession to the throne in 1952 and later became the Patron of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in 1989. Throughout our membership we are witnessing important conversations around the role of the monarchy within the Commonwealth with many nations looking at their constitutional arrangements for the future. As we have seen in Barbados recently in 2021, the transition from monarchy to republic can take place smoothly within the Commonwealth. The CPA has a crucial part to play in facilitating these discussions and engaging on how the modern Commonwealth is shaped. We look forward to a close relationship with King Charles, in his role as Head of the Commonwealth, and are confident he will be as supportive of the CPA and our aims as his late Mother. Since my last View article, we convened the Mid-Year CPA International Executive Committee, generously hosted by the Speaker of the Gibraltar Parliament and CPA Gibraltar Branch President, Hon. Melvyn Farrell, JP, MP. It was excellent to see so many of our Network Chairs and Regional Representatives, and to have the opportunity to discuss matters vital to the CPA’s governance and future, including upcoming programmes, financial reporting and the critical issue of our legal status. As ever, I am committed to reaching a solution on this matter and I pay thanks again to all CPA Executive Committee members for their support and guidance on this crucial matter. We look forward to convening as a Committee again in the side-lines of the 66th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference taking place in Accra, Ghana in October – I hope to see many of you there. The 52nd CPA British Islands and Mediterranean (BIM) Regional Conference was hosted by the UK Parliament in late April 2023. This year, the Regional Conference focused on ‘Inclusive and Sustainable Parliaments’ and delegates heard from experts and guest speakers on topics including gender representation, disability inclusion, workplace equality networks, parliamentary standards and the climate emergency. CPA Regional Conferences are always an excellent forum to share best practice and discuss solutions to the mutual challenges we face in each of the nine Regions. In my capacity as CPA Chairperson, I’m very fortunate to be invited to Regional Conferences and I have greatly benefited from previous participation in the CPA Africa and CPA India Regional Conferences. I look forward to attending my first CPA Caribbean, Americas and the Atlantic Regional Conference later in the year and learning from colleagues there on the important topic of ‘Building A Resilient Region in The Face of Global Challenges’. The Parliamentarian | 2023: Issue Two | 100 years of publishing | 97