Rwanda and the Commonwealth

Later this month Rwanda will host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigale, and act as the next Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth until 2024. What does this mean for the Commonwealth as a values-based association, set out in the Commonwealth Charter (2013)? Should the Commonwealth pay more attention to the process of selecting the host nation of the biennial summits of Commonwealth leaders? Should the balance of attention be on member nations’ developmental agenda and government efforts rebuild their domestic economies after the COVID pandemic? 

This seminar considers the debates around rights and development in the Commonwealth at a time of upheaval in the international system, and the implications for the Commonwealth as a soft-power association.

Speakers:

• Michela Wrong (Author, Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad)
• Professor Phil Clark (SOAS)
• Andrew Mitchell (MP, House of Commons)

In collaboration with the Commonwealth Journalists Association.