Arguing that “the world is being dragged back to an era in which might is right”, former Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding on Monday urged Commonwealth leaders to urgently implement long agreed reforms, arguing that the organisation must strengthen the principles that unite its members and shield itself from the influence or manipulation of any single political regime.

Addressing the Commonwealth Society of Beijing’s Commonwealth Day celebrations, Golding recalled that the reforms emerged from an Eminent Persons Group (EPG) established by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 2009 to review its effectiveness and operational modalities in response to serious doubts about its continued relevance.

“That EPG made 106 recommendations for reform, 90 of which were adopted by the Heads of Government in 2011,” Golding said.

“Most significant of these was the Commonwealth Charter, approved in 2012, that outlines the core values, principles, and commitments of the 56 member states. Of importance, too, the mandate of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, the organisation’s primary watchdog, was strengthened to better address serious or persistent violations of the charter.

“However, 15 years after the majority of reform measures were approved, there remains a huge implementation deficit. That implementation has lacked the required political will and sense of urgency and has been bedevilled by the need for further nurturing of consensus among member governments,” added Golding who served as Jamaica’s s eighth prime minister from September 2007 to October 2011.

He said that reforms involving human rights oversight — one of the most fundamental provisions in the charter — have met significant resistance from governments on the grounds that it amounts to interference with their sovereign authority.

“Additionally, some of the recommendations were adopted with caveats that some members of the Eminent Persons Group contend significantly undermined their intended purpose,” he said.

He also pointed out that implementation of the agreed reforms has been hampered by a lack of resources and the failure of some member states to honour their financial commitments.

“The next Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting is scheduled to be held in my region — specifically Antigua and Barbuda — in November, and I respectfully suggest that taking urgent action on this implementation deficit should be one of the principal items on its agenda,” Golding said.

“In the context of the collapsing international order, the Commonwealth has an inescapable duty to reinforce the values that bind it together and the crucial imperative of not just preserving the concept of multilateralism but helping to redefine it so that it can become more meaningful and is not as susceptible in the future to the machinations of any one political regime and so easily disrupted,” he argued.

“All of us across the world have, perhaps, been somewhat complicit in going along with a system on which we find it convenient or are forced to rely but which is so heavily dominated by a single power. Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, in his quest for cross-border realignment, seems to understand the pressing need to change course. I hope he appreciates that this cannot be structured around only rich and developed countries like Canada but must include countries that have been hard done by and have not benefited commensurately from the existing arrangement but which countries have much to contribute to global prosperity,” added Golding.

See full address: Building bridges of development – Commonwealth partnerships and the Belt and Road Initiative