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Commonwealth summit opens with Queen's rallying call
published: Sunday | November 25, 2007
KAMPALA, Uganda (CMC):
"Commonwealth leaders on Friday opened their Uganda summit with calls for "urgent" action to combat climate change and to empower the grouping's young people.
Leading the charge for greater action to transform Commonwealth societies - which is reflective of the meeting's theme - was the head of the 53-nation grouping, Queen Elizabeth 11, who urged that governments and individuals be respectful of fundamental human rights and to "treat those around us as we would wish to be treated ourselves".
"That is the case for governments, as for communities, as for all of us individually. Moreover, the importance we all attach to dialogue, to hearing the voices of governments but also many of the other voices in society; to respect the fundamental human rights - these qualities still place the Commonwealth in a strong position to lead," she said in her address to the opening ceremony of the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
"I am especially pleased that this year, special attention is being paid to young people," she added.
Concern for youth
Of the two billion Common-wealth citizens, half are young people but the outgoing Secretary General, Don McKinnon, is concerned that they are often "voiceless".
"Without them at the core of our planning, our budgeting and our doing, our Commonwealth really has no future. We do have to do more for young people," he urged the gathering of delegates, including those from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis, whose heads of government are attending the Kampala meeting.
Environmental issues
Climate change also represents a major challenge for Common-wealth countries, which account for a third of the world's population...."(Retrieved on 11/25/2007 from http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean.../int/int2.html ).
published: Sunday | November 25, 2007
KAMPALA, Uganda (CMC):
"Commonwealth leaders on Friday opened their Uganda summit with calls for "urgent" action to combat climate change and to empower the grouping's young people.
Leading the charge for greater action to transform Commonwealth societies - which is reflective of the meeting's theme - was the head of the 53-nation grouping, Queen Elizabeth 11, who urged that governments and individuals be respectful of fundamental human rights and to "treat those around us as we would wish to be treated ourselves".
"That is the case for governments, as for communities, as for all of us individually. Moreover, the importance we all attach to dialogue, to hearing the voices of governments but also many of the other voices in society; to respect the fundamental human rights - these qualities still place the Commonwealth in a strong position to lead," she said in her address to the opening ceremony of the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
"I am especially pleased that this year, special attention is being paid to young people," she added.
Concern for youth
Of the two billion Common-wealth citizens, half are young people but the outgoing Secretary General, Don McKinnon, is concerned that they are often "voiceless".
"Without them at the core of our planning, our budgeting and our doing, our Commonwealth really has no future. We do have to do more for young people," he urged the gathering of delegates, including those from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis, whose heads of government are attending the Kampala meeting.
Environmental issues
Climate change also represents a major challenge for Common-wealth countries, which account for a third of the world's population...."(Retrieved on 11/25/2007 from http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean.../int/int2.html ).
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