{"id":172,"date":"2013-02-21T09:29:58","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T09:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/?page_id=172"},"modified":"2014-04-14T15:50:26","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T15:50:26","slug":"eminent-persons-group","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/commonwealth\/eminent-persons-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Eminent Persons Group"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>The Eminent Persons Group (EPG) is a body made up of highly regarded individuals who act as an esteemed advisory body to, and on behalf of, the Commonwealth that was re-established in 2009. The EPG\u2019s aim is to \u2018undertake an examination of options for reform in order to bring the Commonwealth\u2019s many institutions into a stronger and more effective framework of co-operation and partnership\u2019.<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" title=\"EPG pictured with the Commonwealth Secretary-General. Front row (from left to right): Sir Ieremia Tabai; Dr Asma Jahangir; Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi; the Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma; and Rt Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind. Back Row: Mr Samuel Kavuma; Dr Emmanuel Akwetey; The Hon. Michael Kirby; Sir Ronald Sanders; and Senator Hugh Segal. (Ms Patricia Francis is not included in this photograph).EPG pictured with the Commonwealth Secretary-General. Front row (from left to right): Sir Ieremia Tabai; Dr Asma Jahangir; Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi; the Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma; and Rt Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind. Back Row: Mr Samuel Kavuma; Dr Emmanuel Akwetey; The Hon. Michael Kirby; Sir Ronald Sanders; and Senator Hugh Segal. (Ms Patricia Francis is not included in this photograph).\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/epg1.jpg\" width=\"715\" height=\"395\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The EPG\u2019s mandate to advise on potential reform within the Commonwealth was most recently undertaken at CHOGM 2011 in Perth, Australia with its report \u2018A Commonwealth of the People: Time for Urgent Reform\u2019. The report reflected a desire to re-establish the Commonwealth\u2019s identity in order to make the Commonwealth relevant in the context of current affairs, with particular attention on human, political and civil rights; development; trade and investment; and environmental issues.<\/p>\n<p>The EPG comprises Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (Malaysia\/Chairperson),\u00a0and Dr Emmanuel Akwetey (Ghana), Ms Patricia Francis (Jamaica), \u00a0Dr Asma Jahangir (Pakistan), Mr Samuel Kavuma (Uganda\/Commonwealth\u00a0Youth Caucus), The Hon Michael Kirby (Australia), Rt Hon. Sir Malcolm\u00a0Rifkind (UK), Sir Ronald Sanders (Guyana), Senator Hugh Segal (Canada), Sir Ieremia Tabai (Kiribati).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi<\/strong> is a former Prime Minister of Malaysia and\u00a0minister of education, defence, foreign affairs, home affairs, finance and deputy prime minister. He succeeded Mahathir Mohamad as Prime Minister in 2003, building a progressive and modern multi-racial society as well promoting wide-range reform. He was a member of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group and an architect of the Commonwealth Youth Programme.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dr. Emmanuel O. Akwetey <\/strong>is the founding Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) in Ghana. He is an advocate of democratic governance and human development. He has been consulted by the Government of Ghana, the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the Government of Liberia, UNDP and several bilateral donor agencies.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ms. Patricia R. Francis<\/strong> is the Executive Director of the International Trade Centre in Geneva. She previously served as President of Jamaica Trade and Invest, where she served as President since 1995. She served twice as President of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies and chaired the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development\u2019s Caribbean Rim Investment Initiative as well as the China Caribbean Business Council.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dr. Asma Jilani Jahangir<\/strong> is a prominent human rights advocate from Pakistan.\u00a0She was Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan. At the United Nations, she serves as Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary execution and as Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mr. Samuel Kavuma<\/strong> is the interim Chairperson of the Commonwealth Youth Caucus. He has been a student leader in Uganda since 1997. In 2004, he was elected to the National Youth Council of Uganda and in 2007 he was elected to be the Regional Youth Caucus representative and he has helped pioneer the establishment of the one-stop youth centre by UN-Habitat.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG<\/strong> was a Justice of the High Court of Australia (1996\u20132009). He was President of the International Commission of Jurists (1995\u20131998) and in 2010 was named co-winner of the Gruber Justice Prize.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC<\/strong> served as a Minister in the United Kingdom\u00a0government from 1979\u20131997, first as Secretary of State for Defence then as Foreign Secretary. He is currently a Member of Parliament and is Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee which has oversight of the UK\u2019s Intelligence Agencies.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sir Ronald Sanders KCMG <\/strong>is an International Consultant, Writer, and former Caribbean diplomat who has served on Commonwealth advisory Committees and as a trade negotiator. He has held senior positions in the private and public sectors including as a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO. He has written extensively on small states.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Senator Hugh Segal CM<\/strong> was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 2005 and\u00a0has served as Chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and is currently Chair of the Anti-Terrorism Committee. He served as Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Canada, Associate Cabinet Secretary\u00a0(Ontario) for Federal-Provincial Affairs and Policies and Priorities, Legislative Assistant to the Leader of the Opposition (Ottawa). He was President of the independent Institute for Research on Public Policy.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sir Ieremia Tabai<\/strong> is currently a Member of Parliament of the Republic of Kiribati. He was the country\u2019s first President from 1979 to 1991 when he stepped down as required by law after serving the maximum of three terms or twelve years as Head of Government. Sir Ieremia was educated in both Kiribati and New Zealand. He spent three years at St Andrews College in Christchurch before going to Victoria University in Wellington where he did a degree in commerce.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-GB\">The EPG in History<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The EPG group has also existed before in such an advisory role from 1985-86, as a means to kick-start dialogue and negations in relation to the apartheid regime in South Africa. Its remit was \u2018to examine the situation in South Africa, to determine the way forward, and within that to look at the possibilities of dialogue, of the dismantling of apartheid and of sanctions.\u2019 Whilst there is debate as to the extent of their success, revisionists are now seeing the EPG as playing a major role in forming the constitution of a re-born South Africa.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Original EPG members:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Co-chairman: Malcolm Fraser, Australia. Prime Minister of Australia\u00a01975\u201383. Founding chairman of CARE, humanitarian aid organisation fighting\u00a0global poverty with special emphasis on empowering women.<\/li>\n<li>Co-chairman: General Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria. A career soldier\u00a0before serving twice as head of state, once as military ruler. Held in prison by\u00a0General Sani Abacha 1995\u201398.<\/li>\n<li>Lord Barber of Wentbridge, UK. Chancellor of the Exchequer under Edward Heath. Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank until 1987.<\/li>\n<li>Dame Nita Barrow, Barbados. Governor-General of Barbados from 1990\u00a0until she died in 1995. During EPG mission she entered restricted Alexandra\u00a0township disguised in African garb.<\/li>\n<li>John Malecela, Tanzania. Prime Minister of Tanzania 1990-94.\u00a0Representative to the UN 1964\u201366. High Commissioner to UK 1989\u201390.<\/li>\n<li>Sardar Swaran Singh, India. Foreign minister of India from 1964\u201366 and\u00a0again in 1970-74. Singh is also his country\u2019s longest serving cabinet minister.<\/li>\n<li>Archbishop Ted Scott, Canada. Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada\u00a01971-86.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Eminent Persons Group (EPG) is a body made up of highly regarded individuals who act as an esteemed advisory body to, and on behalf of, the Commonwealth that was re-established in 2009. The EPG\u2019s aim is to \u2018undertake an &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/commonwealth\/eminent-persons-group\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":27,"menu_order":60,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), whose mandate is to advise on potential reform within the Commonwealth.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eminent Persons Group - Commonwealth of Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn about the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), whose mandate is to advise on potential reform within the Commonwealth.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/commonwealth\/eminent-persons-group\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commonwealth of Nations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-14T15:50:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/epg1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CWN Admin\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/\",\"name\":\"Commonwealth of Nations\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/commonwealth\/eminent-persons-group\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/epg1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/commonwealth\/eminent-persons-group\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/commonwealth\/eminent-persons-group\/\",\"name\":\"Eminent Persons Group - Commonwealth of Nations\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/commonwealth\/eminent-persons-group\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-21T09:29:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-14T15:50:26+00:00\",\"description\":\"Learn about the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), whose mandate is to advise on potential reform within the Commonwealth.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/commonwealth\/eminent-persons-group\/\"]}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107801,"href":"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172\/revisions\/107801"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commonwealthofnations.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}