VIEW FROM THE CPA CHAIRPERSON
10 YEARS OF THE COMMONWEALTH CHARTER
Hon. Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP, Chairperson of the CPA Executive Committee and Member of the United Kingdom Parliament. The importance of the values within the Commonwealth Charter a decade on and the vital role that the CPA has in upholding and strengthening these are as relevant today as they were when Her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, as Head of the Commonwealth signed this historic document in 2013. It was the first time in the Commonwealth’s history that we brought together key declarations in one place. The Commonwealth’s principles and its commitment to democracy, human rights and good governance are the cornerstone of the CPA’s work, and they play a part in everything that we do. It is imperative that as Commonwealth Parliamentarians, we encourage our peers to stay true to these values and discourage those who seek to undermine them. As a global community, we have faced many challenges in the decade since the document’s signing and I have no doubt that we will face many more in the near and distant future. Together, as individual Parliamentarians and as an organisation, we must continue to embody the Commonwealth Charter in our practice and work with civil society to ensure the promotion of democracy and prosperity within the Commonwealth. It is very fitting therefore that our theme for this year’s Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) is 'The Commonwealth Charter 10 years on: Values and Principles for Parliaments to Uphold'. As I write this View Article in The Parliamentarian, almost a year after my election as the CPA Chairperson, it gives me great pleasure to recall the work of the CPA since the last 65th CPC in Halifax, Canada and, in turn, look forward to the 66th CPC in Accra, Ghana. I am very grateful to the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, Hon. Alban Bagbin, our CPA President, for hosting the annual conference, and I hope to see as many of you as possible in Ghana in October 2023. The CPA Executive Committee and the CPA General Assembly will meet at the 66th CPC and, as I’m sure many of you are aware, an issue
high on the agenda will be that of the CPA’s legal status. As ever, I am fully committed to ensuring that the CPA can establish itself as a noncharitable organisation this year and I passionately champion the desire of our membership to be acknowledged as an international, interparliamentary organisation. Our CPA Secretary-General and I remain hopeful of positive movement in this regard by the UK Government and we will be in a position to update Members further in Ghana. The CPC not only provides us with the time to deliberate on matters of CPA Governance, but it also presents the opportunity for Parliamentarians and global experts to discuss major political and parliamentary issues. At the 66th CPC, eight learning and development workshops will be held during the main Conference, with an additional four workshops held as part of the 39th CPA Small Branches Conference. Having taken part in these workshops in previous years, I can say first-hand that they are a brilliant way of engaging on a topic and sharing best practice with counterparts from across the Commonwealth – introducing case studies and approaches that I was previously unfamiliar with and have since greatly benefited from. I encourage all those delegates attending the 66th CPC to participate in these workshops and I look forward to the enriching and productive conversations that will no doubt ensue. Reports of these workshops will also feature in the next edition of The Parliamentarian. I also very much look forward to the inaugural lecture being held in memory of my predecessor as CPA Chairperson, the late Hon. Emilia Monjowa Lifaka, MP from Cameroon, which I am certain will be a well-attended and well-received event. CPA Regional Conferences provide us with a fantastic occasion to engage with Members and Clerks to discuss the issues of importance to each Region. This year’s 45th CPA Caribbean, Americas and the Atlantic (CAA) Regional Conference was held in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, which I was honoured to attend alongside the CPA Deputy Secretary-General, Jarvis Matiya. It provided an excellent
“As a global community, we have faced many challenges in the decade since the document’s signing and I have no doubt that we will face many more in the near and distant future. Together, as individual Parliamentarians and as an organisation, we must continue to embody the Commonwealth Charter in our practice and work with civil society to ensure the promotion of democracy and prosperity within the Commonwealth.” 178 | The Parliamentarian | 2023: Issue Three | 100 years of publishing