Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, abbreviated to CHOGM, is a biennial summit meeting of the heads of government from all Commonwealth nations. Every two years the meeting is held in a different member state, and is chaired by that nation's respective Prime Minister or President. Most meetings include an appearance by Queen Elizabeth II, who is the Head of the Commonwealth. The meetings originated with the First Colonial Conference in 1877 and periodic meetings (known as Imperial Conferences beginning in 1911) of government leaders of the British Empire. From 1944 until 1971, the meetings were known as Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conferences and were generally held biennially in London, although the Commonwealth leaders met in Lagos in 1966. The first CHOGM was held in 1971.

In the past, CHOGMs have attempted to orchestrate common policies on certain contentious issues and current events, with a special focus on issues affecting member nations. In the past, CHOGMs have discussed the continuation of apartheid rule in South Africa and how to stop it, military coups in Pakistan and Fiji, and allegations of electoral fraud in Zimbabwe. Sometimes the member states agree on a common idea or solution, and release a joint statement declaring their opinion.

Under the Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme, each CHOGM is responsible for renewing the remit of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, whose responsibility it is to uphold the Harare Declaration on the core political principles of the Commonwealth.^[1]

1 History
2 Incidents and actions
3 Footnotes
4 External links

[edit] History

Year	Date	Country	City	Chairman-in-Office
1971	14 Jan–22 Jan	Singapore	Singapore	Lee Kuan Yew
1973	2 Aug–10 Aug	Canada	Ottawa	Pierre Trudeau
1975	29 Apr–6 May	Jamaica	Kingston	Michael Manley
1977	8 Jun–15 Jun	United Kingdom	London	James Callaghan
1979	1 Aug–7 Aug	Zambia	Lusaka	Kenneth Kaunda
1981	30 Sep–7 Oct	Australia	Melbourne	Malcolm Fraser
1983	23 Nov–29 Nov	India	New Delhi	Indira Gandhi
1985	16 Oct–22 Oct	Bahamas	Nassau	Lynden Pindling
1986	3 Aug–5 Aug	United Kingdom	London	Margaret Thatcher
1987	13 Oct–17 Oct	Canada	Vancouver	Brian Mulroney
1989	18 Oct–24 Oct	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	Mahathir bin Mohamad
1991	16 Oct–21 Oct	Zimbabwe	Harare	Robert Mugabe
1993	21 Oct–25 Oct	Cyprus	Limassol	George Vasiliou
1995	10 Nov–13 Nov	New Zealand	Auckland	Jim Bolger
1997	24 Oct–27 Oct	United Kingdom	Edinburgh	Tony Blair
1999	12 Nov–14 Nov	South Africa	Durban	Thabo Mbeki
2002	2 Mar–5 Mar	Australia	Coolum	John Howard
2003	5 Dec–8 Dec	Nigeria	Abuja	Olusegun Obasanjo
2005	25 Nov–27 Nov	Malta	Valletta	Lawrence Gonzi
2007	23 Nov–25 Nov	Uganda	Kampala	Yoweri Museveni
2009	To Be Announced	Trinidad and Tobago	Port of Spain	TBA

[edit] Incidents and actions

1978 - A bomb went off outside the venue of the 1978 CHOGM in Sydney, known as the Hilton Bombing.

2001 - CHOGM 2001, slated to be held in Brisbane on October 6-9, was cancelled for security reasons in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The Meeting was adjourned to March 2002, and held in the seaside resort of Coolum, Queensland.

2003 - Amongst other protests, Amnesty International ran a substantial campaign pressuring CHOGM attendees on issues relating to abuses of human rights, especially in Nigeria and Zimbabwe.