Kamalesh sharma biography of albert

Right now I have two. The focused mandate is very helpful because the core concerns are now clear to the Membership, the Secretariat as well as CMAG. SO: Sir, something which has very much roiled on during your two terms as Secretary General, on this question of the role of the Commonwealth as a values-based organisation to promote democracy and good governance, has been the issue of democracy in the Maldives.

How far did you see the Maldives as a Commonwealth success story when you came to office? But then, how far were subsequent problems because the Commonwealth did not have sufficient resources to support the on-going process of building democracy in a former authoritarian political structure? KS: All Good Offices are by definition uphill assignments before the Secretary General, which require s a lot of patience and application.

With the Maldives, the Commonwealth have a very old history because there was in fact a special envoy from Malaysia, Musa Hitamwho spent several years in working with the President of the Maldives to enable the creation of a multi-party democracy from what in effect was a one-party state. Only the Commonwealth can draw such a deep breath and work steadily and in trust without fanfare towards a historic outcome.

SO: Under President Gayoom? KS: Yes, with President Gayoomin converting the Maldives into a multi-party democracy and working on the constitution to enable this. These are all nascent institutions. They had a steady period under President Nasheed and then the circumstances in which he left was of very close concern to the CMAG. CMAG sent its own ministerial team to find out facts first hand.

Then the way CMAG wanted to move forward was to help Maldives create a national commission of enquiry. Our effort was really to help things to be done nationally in finding a collective way forward from the crisis. When national elections were held, we observed these elections; the last elections were postponed, but we remained there all the time.

So the Secretariat has now a long history of partnering Maldives and the Government of the Maldives was generally happy to cooperate. Rather interestingly, to show their good intent they asked — which is something very unusual — in quite a public way, in the presence of CMAGthat they would be happy to have a special envoy, to help them along.

Our point with them is that there are two sides to what needs to be achieved.

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One is what you might loosely call the technical side, which is how is their legislature working: what are the rules of procedure and parliamentary practice; how is the executive working; features of the independence of judiciary and the inter-relationship between them, which we call the Latimer House Principles and which are at the heart of democratic polity.

It happens in many of our member states which are newer democracies, that they have to work to find a healthy balance. But on the other side is the political challenge to have a level playing field for all the various political elements in the country. One of the eight priority values which the CMAG has is this level playing field and fair democratic space for the opposition.

So we are working on both of these fronts. Going forward into the next election we hope that all the political participants will get a fair opportunity to contest free and fair elections. We are encouraging that these political processes should be initiated. We are encouraging the Government to talk to these parties. Right now many of their leaders are imprisoned.

SO: Sir, I hear all these positive statements of trying to encourage the democratic process, but to what point though could you actually use leverage? KS: That really spells out pretty much what the expectations are. They know what is expected of them to do under Commonwealth values. This was surely a spectacular own goal for an organisation presenting itself as a values-based association.

Why was there not a more coordinated strategy to substitute alternative venues and to postpone Colombo as a venue for a heads meeting, given the recent brutal conclusion of a year civil war in which there had been severe human rights abuses? KS: The general sentiment among the member states was to engage with Sri Lanka and keep on talking to them about the resolution of problems there, as is the Commonwealth approach.

But I spoke to the President directly and told him that as Secretary General I was kamalesh sharma biography of albert to advise him that I did not then believe that Colombo would be endorsed as the venue of the next CHOGM and this offer should be reconsidered. But by the time he reached Port of Spain the President had been persuaded internally to reinstate the offer.

In the event my advice was borne out. The reason I gave to the Heads for the withdrawal of offer, agreed by the President, was in fact the need to rebuild and heal wounds after the bitter and catastrophic civil war. As Secretary General I did exercise the discretion I felt was available to me to dissuade the host nation sbeing in touch with other heads.

SO: I am aware Sri Lanka had offered to host a Heads of Government meeting at Kampala; then Australia had stepped in at the Port of Spain meeting and said that it would host at Perth and so the possibility of Sri Lanka as a venue was postponed. KS: That did happen. The Heads, jointly in consultation, did not endorse Sri Lanka as the next venue but took the view that some more time should be given to Sri Lanka after their civil war to be in a better situation to host the CHOGM.

The interest shown by Australia and Mauritius had arisen as a response to my letters to the heads. It was decided in the interim and there appears to have been a greater degree of flexibility of the choice of the venue because of the politicised nature of hosting such a summit. Surely that was within your remit to canvass Heads and given the particular circumstances under the Government of President Rajapaksa, to say it is not appropriate to host a Heads meeting in Sri Lanka now?

Once, however, the heads have decided upon a venue, the decision to change it is entirely in their hands. Not a single member of 54 suggested this was an option. SO: But you asked them if they would like to persist, or in essence if they would like to postpone? SO: So you handed over the question of the decision to the Sri Lanka Government, rather than exercising a greater degree of autonomy and canvassing other Heads?

After all, Canada registered its opposition. KS: The views of many Heads were known to me through my conversations with them.

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That was the basis of my assessment and advice to the President of Sri Lanka. He found the advice correct. Thereafter, it is for the other Heads to decide what they wish to do and it was a unanimous decision in Port of Spain that Perth-Colombo-Mauritius was the sequence they would now follow in the light of developments and their consultations.

Surely, in that as Secretary General you are the choreographer of a Heads meeting, was there not the policy space to suggest that the time was still not yet right to host a meeting in Colombo? KS: In Port of Spain the firm decision was taken that these three meetings will be held. There was no provision for revisiting the decision. The situation was no longer open for consideration in Perth: it was a fixed decision of the Heads.

There was not the slightest suggestion from any delegation at Perth that this decision by the Heads should be re-opened. SO: Did you not feel it might be appropriate for Heads to revisit that decision? KS: No. In fact, no member state suggested to me, or to each other, that the decision should be revisited. There was no question asked about it by the member states themselves.

I made five trips. If you look at my departure statements and the people I had met and what I had said, Commonwealth concerns are absolutely clear. You have to recognise that I am the Secretary General of the Commonwealth and so I trust you will invite us to observe your election. We were the only observers. I was right to go to Colombo. I also used the opportunity to go to the north.

There was a much lower representation of Heads. It was true we had a somewhat lower representation. KS: But it was the preferred way to maintain the decision which the Heads had taken. Once they have decided on the host, to go ahead with their decision. It was holding to that decision which enabled us actually to have that authority to talk to the government when the elections came, that the Commonwealth should be invited in order to observe those elections.

SO: Sir, were there individual Heads who were actively encouraging you to continue to engage with the Rajapaksa government? KS: I used to meet Heads all the time — in London, New York, at regional summits, on bilateral tours — and they asked me what we were doing with Sri Lanka. I told them all the areas of engagement and reconciliation and what we were doing.

We had a round table here in London to which we invited all the Commonwealth countries that had had great internal civic strife and how they overcame it. Sierra Leone, South Africa, Northern Ireland were there with others to share experience of reconciliation and to talk to them. Sri Lanka was very happy to learn of approaches and solutions that had worked.

I spoke of my visit to the Northern Provinces and the Tamil issue; on our work with the civil society; on my independent meetings with the Human Rights Commission and with the national Human Rights Commissioner in trying to strengthen their work and advancing accountability. We went to the two media organisations and sent people to strengthen independent media.

All of these activities were going on at the same time, trying to push Commonwealth values in the direction that was required. The Heads were encouraging of the effort. SO: Sir, I understand that logic of using the opportunity of a venue there to boost and to build those necessary institutions. But to what extent were you vulnerable to your host hijacking the meeting for their own agenda?

In other words, once there is a decision on a venue, that then the degree of external Commonwealth control, the broader remit of a values based organisation, becomes to a degree subsumed within the national agenda of the host? This was certainly identified as happening at Perth in ; but it particularly happened in Indeed, this is desirable, of a celebration of the variety Commonwealth brings.

In the case of Sri Lanka this was focussed particularly in the variety of venues for the youth, business and civil society events and the spectacular backdrops to the inaugural and main events in Colombo. Very significant decisions were taken of innovative support to small states in the areas of trade, technical support and climate change finance.

The youth and business events were very successful. The President accepted my advice to take regular press conferences, as is the practice. There was no discernible national agenda against a collective one. The decision of the Heads was clear that persisting with engagement was the best way forward. It was a universal one. This was their decision despite all the difficulties.

In the end, it paid dividends, as it created a position of influence for the Secretariat. I publicly expressed kamalesh sharma biography of albert disappointment more than once at the way the Chief Justice was dismissed more than once and advised the President to pause. In my public statements after my visits all areas requiring progress were clearly spelt out.

He has to make clear that the Commonwealth values are involved; that, yes, SG is concerned and pursuing them and this is what is happening. But that at the same time SG is also engaged with the Government. The only way we can make progress is because we are engaged with member states, with the Government and all the other actors, in trying to push forward Commonwealth goals.

Let me finish that argument. It was because of that engagement that it became possible for me to press the President that these elections which were announced must be observed by us. The Commonwealth were the only observers there. President Jagdeo of Guyana led the Commonwealth Observers at my request and the assignment was discussed by us. He gave a press conference after he met all the stakeholders.

He expressed his concerns publicly, made it clear the elections were closely watched and needed to be free, fair and credible to the people. We introduced something which was pioneering in Sri Lanka elections, and these were domestic observers. In Sri Lanka they had never had domestic observers before, but it was the Commonwealth through the Election Commissioner that supported it and enabled it — which is why it is so important to strengthen the Election Commissioner through the Commonwealth Electoral Network we launched.

This was the Commonwealth in action. In other words, its below-the-radar activities, its discreet engagement, rather than a highly public declaratory stance, has a greater weight and influence?

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And this creates what I is think, in the end, the one factor so distinctive and vital for the Commonwealth, which is the trust between the Secretary General and Secretariat, and the Member States, in its sensitive work. Some of it is away from the public gaze, but the outcome in most cases in the end is a happy one. We can see the work we are engaged in but it does not enter the public domain.

I had an exchange recently on this. It was a public panel discussion in Edinburgh and somebody mentioned a Commonwealth development about which there had been no critical public statement from the Secretariat. I explained that the tone of making an expression of concern is crucial. You make the Commonwealth concern known, but retain the comparative advantage is that your calls will be received and you can talk to and visit the leadership and talk of remedies.

The Commonwealth USP is that it can be in a position to do something in certain given situations. Our concern must be made known, but this advantage must also be maintained. Not too many people have it. If we were to blow that asset, how will the Commonwealth be served and its values advanced? So one has to understand that there is a kind of division of labour, if you like.

The fact that many other people are pointing out that derogation from our values was taking place is good because it helps set the agenda. I think this point was understood at the gathering. KS: It is more than that. Concern with values is a progressive feature of the contemporary world. The Commonwealth has to modulate it to its constructive purposes.

Doctorate honoraryMiddlesex University, United Kingdom. Sharma was an officer in the Indian Foreign Service from to He was appointed as the High Commissioner of India to Britain in Sharma was elected to the position of secretary-general over Michael Frendo, foreign minister of Malta, during the biennial Commonwealth summit in Kampala, Uganda held from 22 to 24 November He was unopposed, having been proposed by India and seconded by Pakistan.

His second and final four year term began on 1 April and will end 30 March Sharma has been criticised as a "decent but ineffective" secretary-general by Hugh Segal, Canada"s former special envoy to the Commonwealth, who commented that under Sharma"s tenure, the organization has been "missing in action on Sri Lankan human rights, vicious anti-gay laws in some parts of Africa and continued weakness in the promotion of judicial independence and democracy.

Queen"s says he was responsible for cementing relations between Northern Ireland and India which led to the country"s investment in Northern Ireland businesses. The position is a largely honorary title and Sharma said he was enormously proud to be given the job at Queen"son.

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Judge Business School, Cambridge. Archived from the original on 15 November Retrieved 21 August Archived from the original on 12 July Retrieved 9 July The Hindu. Archived from the original on 9 June Times Now. Archived from the original on 27 November Reuters, Africa. Globe and Mail. Retrieved 27 November Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 February Retrieved 22 June Retrieved 24 May BBC News.

External links [ edit ]. Sir Don McKinnon. The Baroness Scotland of Asthal. Senator George Mitchell. Thomas Moran. Secretaries-General of the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth a "highly representative body of the human community. Sharma's long record of public service in the international community has been capped by this recognition of his capability and his inclusive vision of the Commonwealth.

I am confident that he will acquit himself well in his higher responsibilities as the first servant of the entire Commonwealth.