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The twenty-two Commonwealth Heads of GovernmentMeetings have been hosted by seventeen countries in twenty-one cities across five continents.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM; /ˈtʃɒɡ(ə)m/ or /ˈtʃoʊm/) is a biennial summitmeeting of the heads of government from all Commonwealth nations. Every two years the meeting is held in adifferent member state, and is chaired by that nation's respective Prime Minister or President, who becomes theCommonwealth Chairperson-in-Office. Queen Elizabeth II, who is the Head of the Commonwealth, has attended everyCHOGM beginning with Ottawa in 1973,[1] although her formal participation only began in 1997.[2] However, shewas represented by the Prince of Wales at the 2013 meeting as the 87-year-old monarch is curtailing her overseastravel.[1]

The first CHOGM was held in 1971, and there have been twenty-one held in total: the most recent was held inColombo, Sri Lanka. They are held once every two years, although this pattern has twice been interrupted. They areheld around the Commonwealth, rotating by invitation amongst its members.

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. CHOGMs have discussed the continuation of apartheid rule inSouth Africa and how to end 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 theiropinion. More recently, beginning at the 1997 CHOGM, the meeting has had an official 'theme', set by the host nation,on which the primary discussions have been focused.[3]

Contents

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1 History2 Structure3 Issues4 Agenda5 Incidents6 List of meetings

1971

1973

1975

1977, 1986

1979

1981

19831985

1987

1989

1991

1993

1995

1997

1999

20022003

2005

20072009

2011

2013

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7 Footnotes8 External links

History[edit]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citationsto reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2013)

The heads of government of fivemembers of the Commonwealth ofNations at the 1944 CommonwealthPrime Ministers' Conference.

The meetings originated with the leaders of the self-governing colonies of the British Empire.[4] The First ColonialConference in 1887 was followed by periodic meetings, known as Imperial Conferences from 1907, of governmentleaders of the Empire. The development of the independence of the dominions, and the creation of a number of newdominions, as well as the invitation of Southern Rhodesia (which also attended as a sui generis colony),[5] changed thenature of the meetings.[4] As the dominion leaders asserted themselves more and more at the meetings, it became clearthat the time for 'imperial' conferences was over.

From the ashes of the Second World War, seventeen Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conferences were held between1944 and 1969. Of these, sixteen were held in London, reflecting then-prevailing views of the Commonwealth as thecontinuation of the Empire and the centralisation of power in the British Commonwealth Office (the one meetingoutside London, in Lagos, was an extraordinary meeting held in January 1966 to co-ordinate policies towardsRhodesia). Two supplementary meetings were also held during this period: a Commonwealth Statesmen's meeting todiscuss peace terms in April 1945, and a Commonwealth Economic Conference in 1952.

The 1960s saw an overhaul of the Commonwealth. The swift expansion of the Commonwealth after decolonisationsaw the newly independent countries demand the creation of the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the United Kingdom,in response, successfully founding the Commonwealth Foundation.[6] This decentralisation of power demanded areformulation of the meetings. Instead of the meetings always being held in London, they would rotate across themembership, subject to countries' ability to host the meetings: beginning with Singapore in 1971. They were alsorenamed the 'Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings' to reflect the growing diversity of the constitutionalstructures in the Commonwealth.

Structure[edit]

The core of the CHOGM are the executive sessions, which are the formal gatherings of the heads of government to dobusiness. However, the majority of the important decisions are held not in the main meetings themselves, but at theinformal 'retreats': introduced at the second CHOGM, in Ottawa, by Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau,[7] but

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reminiscent of the excursions to Chequers or Dorneywood in the days of the Prime Ministers' Conferences.[4] Therules are very strict: allowing the head of the delegation, his or her spouse, and one other person. The additionalmember can be of any capacity (personal, political, security, etc.), but he or she has only occasional and intermittentaccess to the head.[4] It is usually at the retreat where, isolated from their advisers, the heads resolve the mostintransigent issues: leading to the Gleneagles Agreement in 1977, the Lusaka Declaration in 1979, the LangkawiDeclaration in 1989, the Millbrook Programme in 1995, and the Aso Rock Declaration in 2003.[4]

The 'fringe' of civil society organisations, including the Commonwealth Family and local groups, adds a culturaldimension to the event, and brings the CHOGM a higher media profile and greater acceptance by the localpopulation.[7] First officially recognised at Limassol in 1993,[4] these events, spanning a longer period than themeeting itself, have, to an extent, preserved the length of the CHOGM: but only in the cultural sphere.[7] Othermeetings, such as those of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, Commonwealth Business Council, andrespective foreign ministers, have also dealt with business away from the heads of government themselves.

As the scope of the CHOGM has expanded beyond the meetings of the heads of governments themselves, theCHOGMs have become progressively shorter, and their business more compacted into less time.[7] The 1971 CHOGMlasted for nine days, and the 1977 and 1991 CHOGMs for seven days each. However, Harare's epochal CHOGM wasthe last to last a week; the 1993 CHOGM lasted for five days, and the contentious 1995 CHOGM for only three-and-a-half.[4] The 2005 and subsequent conferences were held over two days.

Issues[edit]

During the 1980s, CHOGMs were dominated by calls for the Commonwealth to impose sanctions on South Africa topressure the country to end apartheid. The division between the United Kingdom during the government of MargaretThatcher which resisted the call for sanctions and African Commonwealth countries was intense at times and led tospeculation that the organisation might collapse.

In 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron informed the British House of Commons that his proposals to reformthe rules governing royal succession, a change which would require the approval of all Commonwealth realms, wasapproved at the 28–30 October CHOGM in Perth, subsequently referred to as the Perth Agreement.[8]

Agenda[edit]

Under the Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme, each CHOGM is responsible for renewing the remit of theCommonwealth Ministerial Action Group, whose responsibility it is to uphold the Harare Declaration on the corepolitical principles of the Commonwealth.[9]

Incidents[edit]

As the convocation of heads of governments and permanent Commonwealth staff and experts, CHOGMs are thehighest institution of action in the Commonwealth, and rare occasions on which Commonwealth leaders all cometogether. CHOGMs have been the venues of many of the Commonwealth's most dramatic events. Robert Mugabeannounced Zimbabwe's immediate withdrawal from the Commonwealth at the 2003 CHOGM,[10] and Nigeria'sexecution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others on the first day of the 1995 CHOGM led to that country's suspension.[7]

It has also been the trigger of a number of events that have shook participating countries domestically. The departureof Uganda's President Milton Obote to the 1971 CHOGM allowed Idi Amin to overthrow Obote's government.Similarly, President James Mancham's attendance of the 1977 CHOGM gave Prime Minister France-Albert René theopportunity to seize power in the Seychelles.[7]

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List of meetings[edit]

Year Date Country Town Retreat Chairperson1971 14–22 January Singapore Singapore None Lee Kuan-Yew1973 2–10 August Canada Ottawa Mont-Tremblant Pierre Trudeau1975 29 April – 6 May Jamaica Kingston None Michael Manley1977 8–15 June United Kingdom London Gleneagles Hotel James Callaghan1979 1–7 August Zambia Lusaka Lusaka Kenneth Kaunda

1981 30 September – 7October Australia Melbourne Canberra Malcolm Fraser

1983 23–29 November India Goa Fort Aguada Indira Gandhi1985 16–22 October Bahamas Nassau Lyford Cay Lynden Pindling1986 3–5 August United Kingdom London None Margaret Thatcher1987 13–17 October Canada Vancouver Okanagan Brian Mulroney

1989 18–24 October Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Langkawi Mahathir binMohamad

1991 16–21 October Zimbabwe Harare Victoria Falls Robert Mugabe1993 21–25 October Cyprus Limassol None George Vasiliou1995 10–13 November New Zealand Auckland Millbrook Jim Bolger1997 24–27 October United Kingdom Edinburgh St Andrews Tony Blair1999 12–14 November South Africa Durban George Thabo Mbeki2002 2–5 March Australia Coolum None John Howard2003 5–8 December Nigeria Abuja Aso Rock Olusegun Obasanjo2005 25–27 November Malta Valletta Mellieħa Lawrence Gonzi2007 23–25 November Uganda Kampala Munyonyo Yoweri Museveni

2009 27–29 November Trinidad andTobago Port of Spain Laventille Heights Patrick Manning

2011 28–30 October Australia Perth Kings Park Julia Gillard

2013 15–17 November Sri Lanka ColomboWaters Edge, SriJayawardenepuraKotte

Mahinda Rajapaksa

2015 To be announced. Malta TBA TBA TBA2017 To be announced. Vanuatu TBA TBA TBA2019 To be announced. Malaysia TBA TBA TBA

Footnotes[edit]

1. ^ a b "Queen to miss Commonwealth meeting for first time since 1973" The Guardian, 7 May 20132. ^ Ingram, Derek (January 2004). "Abuja Notebook". The Round Table 93 (373): 7–10.

doi:10.1080/0035853042000188157.3. ^ Ingram, Derek (January 1998). "Edinburgh Diary". The Round Table 87 (345): 13–16.

doi:10.1080/00358539808454395.4. ^ a b c d e f g Mole, Stuart (September 2004). "Seminars for statesmen': the evolution of the Commonwealth

summit". The Round Table 93 (376): 533–546. doi:10.1080/0035853042000289128.5. ^ Watts, Carl P. (July 2007). "Dilemmas of Intra-Commonwealth Representation during the Rhodesian Problem,

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Heads_of_Government_Meeting[12/14/2013 4:22:51 PM]

1964–65". Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 45 (3): 323–44. doi:10.1080/14662040701516904.6. ^ McIntyre, W. David (October 1998). "Canada and the creation of the Commonwealth Secretariat".

International Journal 53 (4): 753–777. doi:10.2307/40203725. JSTOR 40203725.7. ^ a b c d e f Ingram, Derek (October 2007). "Twenty Commonwealth steps from Singapore to Kampala". The

Round Table 96 (392): 555–563. doi:10.1080/00358530701625877.8. ^ "Commonwealth to discuss changing royal succession". Agence France Presse. 12 October 2011. Retrieved 15

October 2011.9. ^ "The Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme on the Harare Declaration, 1995". Commonwealth

Secretariat. 12 November 1995. Retrieved 22 July 2007.10. ^ "Editorial: CHOGM 2003, Abuja, Nigeria". The Round Table 93 (373): 3–6. January 2004.

doi:10.1080/0035853042000188139.

External links[edit]

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting page on the Commonwealth Secretariat web siteKampala' 2007, CHOGM 2007 Official pageCHOGM count Down, CHOGM NewsCHOGM 2007, CHOGM 2007 Kampala Uganda, Updates and informationCHOGM 2007 Highlights & News, CHOGM 2007 HighlightsCHOGM 2011, Australian GovernmentCHOGM 2013, CHOGM 2013 Official website

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