The British Council, in collaboration with the Royal Commonwealth Society, in the build up to this year Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad & Tobago, are inviting you to put a date in your diary and participate in a series of live and interactive Virtual Events being held throughout the day on Tuesday 3 November 2009.

Each of these Events will focus on a particular theme and will include a live web video broadcast, a live Q & A / Debate session, Issues polling and links to relevant documents/links.

In order to participate in any of the sessions, you need to ensure you have the latest Flash Player installed.

Additionally, you will need a fast internet connection to view the live video.

The Event Schedule for the day is:

Session 1 – 11.00hrs GMT

Climate Change and the Environment
Climate change is not just an environmental issue: it’s an economic issue, a security issue and an issue which is already affecting all of our lives. All the science that has been produced over the last year shows growing urgency, and climate change negotiations are probably the most complex international negotiations ever undertaken. What will be the consequences if there is no positive and definitive outcome in Copenhagen? What should Commonwealth leaders, who are meeting in Trinidad just days before Copenhagen, be saying?

Presenter(s):
Mr David Hill, Deputy Director International Climate Change, Department for Energy and Climate Change
Representative from the Young Commonwealth Climate Summit
Dr David Viner, Programme Leader - Climate Change, British Council (Chair)

Link to the event: http://www.modcommslimited.com/virtualevent1/

Session 2 – 13.30hrs GMT

Youth Voice
Nearly two billion people now live in the Commonwealth, and half of these are under 25. The future of the Commonwealth belongs to young people and they should be empowered to be part of decision-making processes that affect their social, economic and political well-being. Take part in this session and hear what young people themselves think about the critical issues of today.

Presenter(s):
Tom Le Feuvre, British Youth Council
Barbara Soetan, Young Advocate of the Year
Claire Anholt, Youth Programmes Manager and Chair

Link to the event: http://www.modcommslimited.com/virtualevent2

Session 3 - 15.15h GMT

The Commonwealth in the 21st Century
The Commonwealth is 60 years old this year. How can it stay relevant to its people in the 21st Century? What should its global priorities be for the next 10 years? People across the Commonwealth are debating its future through the Commonwealth Conversation and this is your chance to have your say in shaping the future of the Commonwealth.

Presenter(s):
H.E Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General
Gerard Lemos, Acting Chair, British Council
Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, Director Royal Commonwealth Society

Link to the event: http://www.modcommslimited.com/virtualevent3

Session 4 – 17.00hrs GMT

How does Communication technology enhance the work of civil society organisations?
From President Obama to major pop bands, people are using the Web to change their fortunes and chart new courses – running successful political campaigns, selling out concerts or raising funds. In this session, UN information technology specialist, David Galipeau will show you how social media and online communication can enhance advocacy and empower policy makers, civil society and local activists.

Presenter(s):
David Galipeau, United Nations
Matt O’Neill (Chair)

Link to the event: http://www.modcommslimited.com/virtualevent4

By Yasmin Esack, Guest Writer

We only have to look at BBC’s World Challenge programme to appreciate the value of creativity and innovation and what these can do to change the world.

While the developed countries like the UK, Germany and USA push ahead with new technology, the underdeveloped word is sorely lacking in this area. We hear of trains that can run on magnetic fields and computers that no longer need booting and much, much more from the developed world.

The avenues for creativity and innovation are endless. Recycling quickly comes to mind. What with waste paper, glass, metal, rubber and plastics, industries should be springing up all over. This is a great way to employ masses of poor folks or to create self employment and booming trade in recycled materials. Every day we can see people scavenging dumps. What are they looking for? Waste they can sell like copper wire and bottles.

Sadly government scoffs at this and looks down at the poor man with disdain instead of seeing the potential for industry.

What are they doing to encourage creativity and innovation? Nothing. Trinidad and Tobago needs to be singled out for the reason that the ‘national music’ known to the world as steel pan came from a man who took an old oil drum and created the steel pan. Now Japan, I believe, leads the world in the manufacture of steel pans and has gone further to electrify them, so creating greater sounds.

Whole industries can be created from so many sub-sectors if governments will only listen: Agriculture, Medicine, Energy, Art and Culture, Music, Education are just some of the many areas where innovative ideas are waiting to unfold.

Do you think governments will ever pay serious attention to creativity and innovation as a means to economic development?

By Colin Robinson, CAISO: Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation, Trinidad and Tobago

Anybody? Questions of sexual citizenship cross-cut virtually every one of the eight topics on which CPF will focus. It’s just frankly impossible to “realise someone’s potential”, to borrow the theme of the last Forum, while stifling the expression of their sexuality or gender.

Human Rights: Sexuality and sexual identity is one area where human rights protections are weakest and where both civil, social, economic and other rights are flagrantly violated. Recognition of gender identity-related rights is far behind.

Economic Development: Discrimination and social stigma against those whose sexual practices or gender expression is non-normative make them especially vulnerable to economic marginalisation and force them into participation in shady and criminalised sectors of the economy.

Environment: The quest for sexual autonomy powerfully drives migration across borders as well as into urban areas.

Gender: At the core of state regulation of sexual orientation and gender identity is the goal of tightly policing the roles that particular genders should play. What is worse, as in the case of Trinidad & Tobago, is when states then explicitly exclude these clear questions of gender from their policies for gender and development.

HIV: Across the Commonwealth, criminalisation of same-sex behaviour diminishes access to information, services and support for those who practise it, and has contributed to significantly higher rates of HIV among men who desire and have sex with other men (MDSM). Pressure to practise heterosexuality also increases the challenge of controlling local epidemics, by increasing the likelihood of epidemics concentrated among MDSM feeding more generalised epidemics.

Peace and Conflict: Criminalisation of consensual sex legitimises violence, victimisation and blackmail of sexual minorities, and denies them access to justice. In hyper-violent societies, victims of such gender-based violence struggle against attempts to dismiss the bias-related nature of crimes against them. Philip Dayle comments famously on Jamaica that “a homosexual isn’t just an undesirable but an unapprehended criminal”.

(Read more…)

By Adepeju Mabadeje, Guest Writer.

The abuse of children has never ceased to be source of concern for many across the globe. From child labour to child begging, domestic violence, child prostitution and now the latest in Nigeria, ‘the child witch syndrome’.

Despite its penchant for corruption, Nigeria is no doubt a deeply spiritual nation. With churches and mosques in all street corners, poverty seems to be the greatest motivation for the citizens to draw closer to God while retaining the hope for a better tomorrow.

From the death of a child or close relative to the loss of employment by the father who has not less than nine children to cater for and the nose-diving fortunes of the family which leaves them without shelter, having to take solace in the church and keeps the children out of school, the list is indeed endless.

In the meantime, someone must be responsible for the poverty induced calamities and guess who? If you say the child, you can’t be wrong!

The scene is all too familiar; the distraught father goes running to a religious gathering in search for help. The religious head takes a deep breath, asks how many children he has, before transcending into the realm of spirituality. The result, an unfortunate child is handpicked and the race to get him to confess begins.

From severe beatings with broomsticks by several people, to being forced to take a gulp of acid, the adults would stop at nothing to get the little child to confess.

The mentality is appalling! It’s a sort of completion out there. If your pastor doesn’t find a child witch in your family despite series of calamity, then it is certain the Holy Spirit has departed from him!

This has prompted a state in Nigeria to enact a Law against handpicking children and labelling them as witches. The law promises a ten year jail term for anyone who subjects a child to inhuman treatment in the process of purporting to cure, purge or exorcise a child of witchcraft.

The question is: Are these children being offered enough protection under the law?

Your guess is as good as mine!

By Dr. Gabrielle Jamela Hosein, The Institute of Gender and Development Studies, Trinidad and Tobago

Women’s organisations need the People’s Forum to share, strategise and take collective action. It was fought for so that citizens of the Commonwealth could create open, fair and non-partisan dialogue and wide participation. In this space for civic dialogue, women must continually remind citizens and states of the Commonwealth what they want from the CHOGM process and the Commonwealth community.

Having learned from the work of the Trinidad and Tobago based Network of NGOs for the Advancement of Women, which has taken on all of the following issues, here are my top five non-negotiables:

1. State commitments are not made real until there are budgetary funds and institutional resources put to their implementation. Gender responsive budgeting must be transparently applied so that women and girls, and subordinated groups of men and boys are not left behind. This is not practiced in Trinidad and Tobago, but it defines true leadership on achieving real democracy and poverty eradication. CHOGM 2009, step up!

2. Women’s issues are all issues, not just those that seem specific to one sex or gendered experience. Equality, equity and empowerment must underlie Commonwealth governments’ action on all the MDGs, especially MDG # 7: Ensuring Environmental Sustainability. Its achievement requires publicly accessible, cost-benefit analyses that holistically account for the impact of heavy industrialization on communities, ecosystems, family health, natural resources, public utilities and gender relations. Securing a say in transparent, accountable and sustainable development is exactly the struggle of local women fighting against a future aluminum smelter. CHOGM 2009, we are watching!

3. Women want the implementation of commitments made in the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005 – 2015. No reference is even made to it in the Concept Paper for CHOGM 2009. How are agreements made at previous CHOGMs being honored if they are being forgotten? CHOGM 2009, keep your promises!

(Read more…)

By Yasmin Esack, Guest Writer

It seems, judging from the topics presented on this forum, that the whole issue of gender affairs and women’s rights will be a call for action by the CHOGM in Trinidad and Tobago next month. We have read the stirring comments from Adepeju Mabadeje and lately, Dr. Gabrielle Hosein. I feel that government heads who are attending this meeting should better be prepared to listen to the loud calls for real action on women’s issues that are constantly swept under the carpet.

The issue of abortion rights is going to be back with a bang this time. Significant percentages of populations in developing and underdeveloped countries are calling for abortions to be legalised. In these countries, it seems that governments simply do not want to deal with the matter. So, the poor woman with an unwanted pregnancy is left alone with a big, very serious problem. Where will she turn? To someone who will perform an abortion with no kind words and no support. Is this right? ‘Mistakes’ can happen to anyone and indeed they happen quite often. It is time for the powers that be to listen! To bring a child into this world is the easy part. Bringing up the child is incredibly challenging for the poor and even the not so poor. You must have heard of parents who sell their children to survive in India.

More financial assistance must be given to the Family Planning Associations in developing countries and these should be headed by women. Women in difficult situations must have a place to turn and a supportive and soothing voice to guide them in these times.

Other issues not addressed sufficiently include sexual abuse, violence of the worst kind and low pay packets coupled with oppressive work conditions.

We have heard so much of the Commonwealth Action Plan for Gender equality 2005 and Millennium Development Goals. Now we have the CHOGM concept paper 2009.

At the end of the day, who is listening to our poor women?

Isn’t it time to support the legalisation of abortion?

By Colin Robinson, CAISO: Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation, Trinidad and Tobago

Hope? I grew up listening to my now 80-something-year-old mother’s lampoon of Empire Day. How she and her schoolmates would be “lined up in the hot sun” on Harris Promenade and made to sing “Land of Hope and Glory”. For which they were rewarded with “a hot sweet drink and a cold bun”. So I can’t help but wonder, with a similar inartfulness, to what extent CHOGM and the People’s Forum (CPF) have become modern-day Empire Days. When we’re all lined up to sing a postcolonial anthem of hope in human rights, democratic governance, international cooperation – and youth. Capped off by the passing around of some toothless sweet drink-and-bun resolutions.

But I have different reasons.

Sexual Citizenship. Issues of sexual citizenship are still greeted with ambivalence or hostility not just from Commonwealth governments. (Around 40 of them still criminalise non-normative sexuality.) This is also often the response when these issues get raised in civil society advocacy forums like the CPF. Unlike many other issues raised on this blog that highlight differences over analysis or strategy, or the challenge of political will for particular solutions, in the case of same-sex sexuality or of citizens who cross gender boundaries in their self-presentation, it becomes a question of the legitimacy of the issue itself, and the moral worth of the citizens raising it. At the Commonwealth People’s Space at the 2007 summit, local advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people report they were attacked, prevented from speaking as scheduled and ejected, then beaten by security forces outside. “This is crazy! The word ‘people’ officially lost meaning today. They’re plainly saying we’re not people”, one said. To paraphrase M. Jacqui Alexander, it seems “Not just any body” can be a Commonwealth citizen.

(Read more…)

By Dr. Gabrielle Jamela Hosein, The Institute of Gender and Development Studies, Trinidad and Tobago

Heads of State must seriously address issues such as sex work, unsafe abortion and sexual orientation. These are all part of women’s ability to make safe, healthy and equitable choices about their bodies, sexualities, fertility and lives as women, partners, workers and mothers.

Heads of Government might pay both lip service and funds to counter stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV\AIDS, but sexual health, reproductive health, sexual rights and reproductive rights also need open, non-judgmental acknowledgement that public health issues such as maternal mortality and morbidity are fundamentally linked to lack of access to appropriate contraception and unsafe abortion.  They are also linked to larger issues of gender equality and equity, women’s economic and political participation, and freedom from gender based violence.

In the context of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting being held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009, there are three documents to which state officials, women’s rights advocates and scholars should refer when discussing SRHR.

The first is the Commonwealth Plan of Action for Gender Equality 2005 – 2015. The Plan of Action calls for “the promotion of reproductive and sexual health and rights…as a means to achieving the MDGs” (3.49, ii). From this, we see a commitment to which every government including the Government of Trinidad and Tobago must be held accountable.

Second are the relevant Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MDGs still need to comprehensively move from paper to policy to public funds. MDG # 5 calls for improvement to maternal health. Given that more than 3000 women in Trinidad and Tobago end up in public hospitals due to complications from unsafe abortions, CHOGM and the national government need to use such data to actually inform relevant and effective policy and action.

(Read more…)

By Adepeju Mabadeje, Guest Writer.

For years now, the issue of homosexuality across the globe has been not only contentious but also divisive. Different countries around the world have on behalf of their citizens made know their stand point on this controversial issue.

The diversity of opinions on the issue of homosexuality is remarkable as there appears to be no meeting point for all involved. From the religious perspective to the African traditional views through the lens of the law and the human rights angle, discordant analysis continues to trail this topic.

In Nigeria, homosexuality is frowned at by majority of the populace and punishable under some laws. For example, under the Sharia law which is applicable in 12 out of the 36 States of the Country, homosexuality is illegal and punishable with 100 lashes and one year imprisonment for unmarried men and death by stoning for married men and divorcees.

Last year, the Nigerian Government began the process of enacting a law that would prohibit sexual relationship between two persons of the same sex and the celebration of any marriage by them. The law extends its criminal ambit to include all persons who did, assist, presided over, witnessed or even cater such an occasion.

Human Rights activists have argued that this proposed law is a violation of the rights to sexual orientation of an individual just as the first gay church opens in Nigeria with the mission statement of bearing witness to the holy integration of spirituality and sexuality.

While I am neither a gay nor a fan of gays, the issue of human rights for gays must be examined dispassionately.

Our Constitution says every man has a right to self determination, autonomy of person and invariably, sexual orientation of his choice. So can you blame the gays from living within their constitutionally empowered rights?

<Blog ed note>: This issue raised alot of debate at the CPF 2007 in Uganda too. Here’s a link to one of the articles.

By Sean Samad, Guest Writer, Trinidad and Tobago

“This is an important Convention, and one which all Commonwealth countries should look to ratify”. Ransford Smith, Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Marlborough House, 11 March 2008.

What is the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions? I am sure many people in civil society, civil society organisations and governments across the Commonwealth would ask that question.

This convention, established four years ago, is key to the promotion of cultural /creative industries and the ability of sovereign states to determine cultural policies that will protect and promote their own cultures. The importance of this and its spinoffs should be taken seriously by all countries especially developing nations, since there has been a clearly established link between development and the approach to and treatment of culture.

To date, the convention has been ratified by over 100 countries but is still on the back burner and low on the priority lists of Commonwealth countries.

In comparing regions, 60% of Commonwealth countries have yet to ratify the Convention (most being developing countries) however, according to the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie it is the reverse with more than 60% of French speaking countries having ratified the Convention and well on their way to implementation. Is it that the francophone countries recognise the importance of cultural preservation and promotion of a diverse range of cultural products vis-à-vis the creative industry dominance of countries like the USA?

The key issue surrounding this convention and the progress of creativity and innovation throughout the Commonwealth is the lack of awareness that civil society has about the convention, its basis and purposes and the lack of Commonwealth Governments not only to ratify the convention formally but to take the action steps that will inevitably lead to greater development of creative industries and the growth of cultural expressions.

Why is it important to take notice of and support the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions?

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