Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is a biennial summit meeting of the heads of government from all Commonwealth nations. Every two years the meeting is held in a different member state, and is chaired by that nation's respective Prime Minister or President. Most meetings include an appearance by Queen Elizabeth II, who is the titular Head of the Commonwealth. From 1944 until 1971, the meetings were known as Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conferences and were generally held in London although the Commonwealth leaders met in Lagos in 1966. The first CHOGM was held in 1971.

In the past, CHOGMs have attempted to orchestrate common policies on certain contentious issues and current events, with a special focus on issues affecting member nations. In the past, CHOGMs have discussed the continuation of apartheid rule in South Africa and how to stop it, military coups in Pakistan and Fiji, and allegations of electoral fraud in Zimbabwe. Sometimes the member states agree on a common idea or solution, and release a joint statement declaring their opinion.

As the cultural and economic links between the Commonwealth countries continue to decline, the meeting's agenda has become more and more relaxed and its relevance questioned. The Commonwealth has grown larger in recent years (it now has over 50 members) and as a result is becoming an increasingly difficult forum to establish any sort of political consensus.

Fears have also been raised that the Commonwealth's agenda is unfairly monopolized by African issues. This is unpopular with non-African member states, who resent the exclusion of the affairs of their regions, but also with the African states themselves. Some African states view the Commonwealth as a neo-colonial organization dominated by the "Old Commonwealth", that is to say those Anglosphere countries who are also members of the Commonwealth. The future of the Commonwealth thus remains in doubt.

1 History of CHOGM meetings
2 Incidents and actions
3 In popular culture
4 External links

[edit] History of CHOGM meetings

Date	Country	City	Chairman-in-Office
1971 January 14-22	Singapore	Singapore	Lee Kuan Yew
1973 August 2-10	Canada	Ottawa	Pierre Trudeau
1975 April 29-May 6	Jamaica	Kingston	Michael Manley
1977 June 8-15	United Kingdom	London	James Callaghan
1979 August 1-7	Zambia	Lusaka	Kenneth Kaunda
1981 September 30-October 7	Australia	Melbourne	Malcolm Fraser
1983 November 23-29	India	New Delhi	Indira Gandhi
1985 October 16-22	Bahamas	Nassau	Lynden Pindling
1986 August 3-5	United Kingdom	London	Margaret Thatcher
1987 October 13-17	Canada	Vancouver	Brian Mulroney
1989 October 18-24	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	Mahathir bin Mohamad
1991 October 16-21	Zimbabwe	Harare	Robert Mugabe
1993 October 21-25	Cyprus	Limassol	George Vasiliou
1995 November 10-13	New Zealand	Auckland	Jim Bolger
1997 October 24-27	United Kingdom	Edinburgh	Tony Blair
1999 November 12-14	South Africa	Durban	Thabo Mbeki
2002 March 2-5	Australia	Coolum	John Howard
2003 December 5-8	Nigeria	Abuja	Olusegun Obasanjo
2005 November 25-27	Malta	Valletta	Lawrence Gonzi

[edit] Incidents and actions

1978 A bomb went off outside the venue of the 1978 CHOGM in Sydney, known as the Hilton Bombing.

2001 CHOGM 2001, slated to be held in Brisbane on October 6-9, was cancelled for security reasons in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The Meeting was adjourned to March 2002, and held in the seaside resort of Coolum, Queensland.

2003 Amongst other protests, Amnesty International ran a substantial campaign pressuring CHOGM attendees on issues relating to abuses of human rights, especially in Nigeria and Zimbabwe.