Senate House, University of London, 27 May 2022, 9.30am-6pm
The twice-postponed Kigali Commonwealth summit is now due to take place in the week beginning 20 June 2022. The leaders’ debate is likely to be lively. Can the significant decline in resources be reversed and new relevance and impact be restored to the Commonwealth’s programmes? With a hotly-contested election for the post of Secretary-General under way, a controversial Chair-in-Office and Prince Charles assuming a greater role in representing the Head, will the Commonwealth have the leadership necessary for future challenges? With recurrent questions about Rwanda’s commitment to human rights and controversy about how Commonwealth nations should treat refugees and migrants, is the association doing enough to sustain its values? And can the Commonwealth’s networks sustain it as a relevant soft power organisation for the twenty-first century, given the current turbulence in international relations following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
Is the Commonwealth working? Come and hear a wide spectrum of international panellists debate this important question.
PROGRAMME
9.30-9.40 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
Speakers: Wendy Thomson
9.30-11.00 NETWORKS
Chair: Amitav Banerji
Speakers:
- Anne Gallagher
- Indrajit Coomaraswamy
- Jon Davies
11.30-13.00 LEADERSHIP
Chair: Keshini Navaratnam
Speakers:
- Philip Murphy
- Euripides L. Evriviades
- Guy Hewitt
14.00-15.30 VALUES
Chair: Vijay Krishnarayan
Speakers:
- Cynthia Barrow-Giles
- William Horsley
- Sneh Aurora
16.00-17.30 PROGRAMMES
Chair: Sue Onslow
Speakers:
- Sandra Pepera
- Mischa Manderson-Mills
- Nicholas Watts
- Luis Franceschi
This event is organised by The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, in partnership with the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealth Association.
Post-conference note: Videos and presentations from this conference are now available.
