CHOGM Samoa 2024: a snapshot of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies’ engagement
The Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICwS) is sending a delegation of 12 experts from across global civil society and justice sectors to lead and support several events at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which will take place in Apia, Samoa from 21-26 October 2024.
CHOGM Samoa 2024 will be the first CHOGM to be held in a Pacific Small Island Developing State and has been given the focus of "One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Common Wealth" by Samoa.
ICwS at the CHOGM
(1) Resilient Futures: Shaping Environment and Climate Justice Across the Commonwealth
The ICwS and its partners, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and the Association of Commonwealth Universities, are holding a CHOGM side event on shaping climate and environmental justice across the Commonwealth.
This event will delve into the pressing challenges and potential opportunities presented by existing national, regional, and international legal frameworks for advancing environmental and climate justice across the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth and the world are at a critical juncture, facing existential threats from climate change and environmental degradation.
This side event will encourage an inclusive dialogue that focuses on the interconnection of human, climate and environmental health, while discussing the violations resulting from the Triple Planetary Crisis (climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss) in many regions.
By tackling these issues, the organisers aim to enhance understanding of how innovative legal strategies can be applied to protect both the environment and the communities that depend on it.
Speakers include:
- Prof Kingsley Abbott, Director, Institute of Commonwealth Studies (Chair);
- Maud Sarliève, International lawyer, Expert on environment & climate justice and ICwS Fellow;
- Tevita Cagilaba, Legal Advisor at the Solicitor General's Office (Fiji);
- Prof Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, Lead counsel for Vanuatu in the international Court of Justice climate advisory proceedings (the Netherlands);
- Judge Kathy-Ann Brown, Member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Jamaica);
- Judge Tuiloma Neroni Slade, Former International Criminal Court Judge (Samoa); and
- Kaeden Watts, Indigenous climate activist (New Zealand).
The event will be held on 22 October, 13:00 to 14:30, Room LTC1.
(2) Decriminalising Poverty and Status: Breaking chains and building resilient societies across the Commonwealth
The ICwS and its partners, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Commonwealth Secretariat are holding a CHOGM side event on the need to decriminalise poverty and status across the Commonwealth as part of the global campaign.
Around the world, including within the Commonwealth, individuals are disproportionately represented in criminal justice systems as a direct result of laws, policies and practices that criminalise and punish poverty and status.
At the last CHOGM, Heads of Government pledged to “fully implement laws that promote and protect inclusion, to eliminate discriminatory laws, policies and practices, and to promote appropriate legislation, policies and action.”
In response, the organisers will launch a detailed Practitioners’ Guide on a human rights-based approach to criminal law, including to the decriminalisation of poverty and status which will serve as a reference and guide to justice sector actors and others including members of civil society.
The Guide was produced following consultations with civil society and justice sectors across Asia, the Caribbean and Africa following a presentation at the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting in Zanzibar.
The Institute of Commonwealth Studies will also launch a briefing paper on the decriminalisation of poverty and status in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Speakers include:
- Prof Kingsley Abbott, Director, Institute of Commonwealth Studies (Chair);
- Dr Elizabeth Macharia, Head of Rule of Law Section, Commonwealth Secretariat;
- Justice Aruna Devi Narain, Supreme Court Justice of Mauritius;
- Dr Cherisse Francis, Senior Law Lecturer, St Mary’s University and incoming ICwS Associate Fellow (Barbados); and
- Daron Tan, Legal Adviser, ICJ/ICwS Associate Fellow (Singapore).
The event will be held on 23 October, 13:00-14:15, Room SC1.
(3) Protecting Freedom of Speech and Expression in the Commonwealth
Together with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), the ICwS is co-hosting a CHOGM side event on freedom of expression across the Commonwealth.
Other partners include the Commonwealth Journalists Association, Commonwealth Lawyers Association, the ICJ, High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, and the Samoa Office of the Ombudsman/National Human Rights Institution.
Freedom of expression (FoE) is a cornerstone of vibrant democracies, safeguarded by international human rights law and the Commonwealth Charter. Still, many Commonwealth States maintain colonial-era laws restricting free expression Criminal sanctions are increasingly used to suppress diverse and critical voices, thus chilling public debate and restricting access to vital independent data sources for making informed decisions.
The 'Commonwealth Principles on FoE and the Role of Media in Good Governance', presented for endorsement at CHOGM, offer transformative potential. Article 2 urges Member States to repeal or amend laws which unduly restrict the right to FoE.
At this event, pathways to achieving legal and other reforms required to safeguard FoE will be explored and a research report on relevant legal frameworks across the Commonwealth will be launched.
Speakers include:
- Lance Polu, Editor, Talamua Media, Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA)
- Venkat Iyer, Barrister and legal academic, media law and ethics (Northern Ireland)
- Karuna Nundy, Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India, member of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom (India)
- Dario Milo, Partner at Webber Wentzel, member of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom (South Africa)
- Sneh Aurora, Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
- Daron Tan, Legal Adviser, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) (Singapore)
- Kingsley Abbott, Director, Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICwS)
- Alison Duxbury, Former Dean of Law, University of Melbourne and former CHRI Board Chair
- Luis Franceschi, Assistant Secretary General, Commonwealth Secretariat
- Representative of the Government of Canada
- With a welcome from Ms Ulugia Rosa Toese, Director of the Human Rights Unit, Samoa Office of the Ombudsman/National Human Rights Institution (NHRI)
The event is being held on 23 October, 11:00-12:15, Room SC1.
ICwS at the Commonwealth People’s Forum
(4) Decriminalise! A human rights-based approach to criminal law in the modern Commonwealth
Complementing the above CHOGM side event, this Commonwealth People’s Forum side event will facilitate a more civil society-focussed conversation about what a human rights based approach to criminal law in the modern Commonwealth looks like, including with respect to the decriminalisation of freedom of expression.
The aims are to (a) facilitate a civil society focussed cross-regional Commonwealth dialogue on what a human rights-based approach to criminal law looks like in the modern Commonwealth, including with respect to freedom of expression; (b) raise awareness of a number of publications and materials which may assist Commonwealth civil society in their work; and (c) develop new partnerships and relationships across Commonwealth civil society and justice sectors.
Speakers include:
- Louise Ehlers, Program Manager, Open Society Foundations and the Global Campaign;
- Dr Cherisse Francis, CHRI Executive Board, Senior Law Lecturer, St Mary’s University and incoming ICwS Associate Fellow (Barbados);
- Jeshua Bardoo, NGO Leader (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines);
- Nicholas Opiyo, Human Rights Lawyer (Uganda);
- Victor Mhango, Centre for Human Rights, Education Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) (Malawi);
- Melusi Simelane, Southern Africa Litiagtion Centre (Eswatini); and
- Daron Tan, Legal Adviser, ICJ/ICwS Associate Fellow (Singapore).
The event will take place on 22 October, 13:00-13:45, The Fale, Tanoa Tusitala Hotel, Beach Road, Apia.