DURBAN. South Africa. Nov 10: All Commonwealth roads are leading to the scenic coastline of this southern city as 54 heads of governments from former British colonies are meeting here for a three-day biennial summit to talk democracy and devise the agenda for the new millennium.
In the build-up to the November 12-14 summit (CHOGM). there have been conferences and meetings galore bringing together hundreds of key civil society actors and organisations with Commonwealthwide presence who have vowed to push for a more pro-people development agenda for the 1.7 billion inhabitants.
In one such key event, more than 250 civil society leaders from Commonwealth countries including Bangladesh ended their three-day deliberations
Monday with a call for a stronger voice of the people on how they should be governed and what role they should play.
The people sitting in those chairs are citizens just like us except for the fact we have elected them to run the affairs of the state.' said Graca Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela and the former Mozambique first lady. In her stimulating concluding remarks to the gathering of NGO leaders.
The issue at stake at the Third Commonwealth NGO Forum was The People's Future: Citizens and Governance in the New Millennium'.
The CHOGM theme this year has the same tune: "People Centred Development: the Challenge of Globalisation'. The host head of government. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, has charted the
conference issues — globalisation. democracy and governance.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Anyaoku titled his address to the NGO meeting. The People's Commonwealth".
Chief Anyaoku told the opening ceremony of the Forum on Saturday that the Commonwealth could increase its relevance to Its members only by securing the commitment of all its people as well as all its governments. We live in a world in which the enterprise of government cannot be carried out by government officials alone.
"It has to be shared between elected political leaders and the citizens in their organisations." said Dr Kumi Naidoo, secretary-general of World Alliance for Citizen ParticiElation, in his keynote address o the civil society represen-.tatives.
"For the first time people themselves are at the centre of both the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting agenda and of the Commonwealth NGO Forum." said a statement from the Forum, supported by Commonwealth Foundation, an intergovernmental body with a mandate to work in the non-government sector.
The Forum focussed on a major Foundation project called "Civil Society in the New Millennium" which resulted in a report titled "Citizens and Governance: Civil Society in the New Millennium".
Presenting a plan of action. ' it called on the summiteers and the international community "to work with the civil society and the private sector to engage in the highest levels of public ■ accountability and ethics as well as full transparency in all their activities".
It also recommended "a joint enterprise between elected governments, their citizens, and their organisations". "Governance therefore entails a meaningful partnership between the state, government and private sector. In which the state shares with civil society the responsibility for policy-making and implementation." The recommendations will be presented to the heads of government.
"We recognise that these demands embody a new consensus and a new model of development, requiring serious changes in perspectives and values, and the need to confront powerful existing forces." a Forum communique said.
The civil society leaders also tried to define "a good society" and the role of NGOs and the media in its promotion, an issue being highlighted by the Foundation and Commonwealth Press Union (CPU).
In a CPU-sponsored symposium underway. Commonwealth editors decried proposed new laws threatening media in countries — from Sri Lanka to Sierra Leone — and discussed myriad issues relating to media freedom in many different circumstances.
In a country where a woman is raped every 26 seconds, "Violence against Women: The Impact of Reproductive Health" will be the theme of another international conference scheduled for Thursday.
On the same day. another international gathering of experts will deal with "Human Settlement Priorities", which will be supported by a number of Commonwealth organisations.
The Commonwealth People's Centre in this city is hosting exhibitions which will highlight the people-oriented issues. Among the WIP visitors, to the^ show will be Queen Elizabeth II, the head of the Commonwealth.
Corporate chiefs and-trade officials have also arrived in South Africa for a two-day meeting starting tomorrow.
In Johannesburg, the Commonwealth Business Forum will discuss trade and investment, where among others Farooq Sobhan — who is hoping to succeed Chief Anyaoku — will speak.
The Commonwealth Youth Forum is on in Durban. The one on children is in Johannesburg. There are some two dozens of fringe events that are taking place or have closed," said a South African official.
Another major report called ■Reinventing the Commonwealth". which is scheduled for launch on Friday, looks at how the Commonwealth is launching itself into the 21st century.