The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC, is in Papua New Guinea this week where she met with Prime Minister the Hon James Marape to discuss issues of mutual interest and strengthen partnerships between the Commonwealth and Papua New Guinea. The Prime Minister and Secretary-General also had fruitful discussion on gender issues, climate action and youth empowerment.
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Commonwealth Secretary-General visits Papua New Guinea to strengthen partnerships and encourage action on gender issues
Main page for this area of work
This report contributes to the Commonwealth study on online violence against women and girls (OVAWG) and considers the prevalence of online violence and the role of bystanders as well as therelevant laws, institutions, policies and practices to address the problem in the European region of the Commonwealth, namely Cyprus, Malta and the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland (UK).
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Addressing Online Violence Against Women and Girls in the Commonwealth Europe Region
As countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and face the compounding challenges of global inflation, debt, climate change and sociopolitical scenarios, there is a need to explore new investment strategies to accelerate economic development, build resilience and balance competing environmental, economic and social pressures. In this context, the concept of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) as a framework for sustainable growth has gained new relevance. This paper discusses the potential benefits of ESG in terms of enabling sustainable economic growth in the Commonwealth, including possible technical assistance, capacity building and policy development on ESG for public debt management and improved public sector sustainability, including collaboration with International Financial Institutions financing standards.
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Environmental, Social and Governance Practices for Value Creation in the Commonwealth
This report provides a summary of the phenomenon of online violence against women in various African Commonwealth membercountries and describes the legal frameworks and their limitations and the challenges these present.
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Addressing Online Violence Against Women and Girls in the Commonwealth Africa Region
4 April 2023 to 4 April 2023
Event
The , in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, will host its 7th annual Commonwealth Debate on Sport and Sustainable Development on 4 April.
This report focuses on the role of online bystanders in reducing online violence against women and girls (VAWG), including consideration of any related policies or laws.
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Addressing Online Violence Against Women and Girls in the Commonwealth Pacific Region
Online violence is increasing rapidly and is emerging as one of the biggest threats facing the online world today. Acts of online violence take multiple forms, including cyberstalking, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, sex trolling, doxing, hate speech, public shaming and intimidation.
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Addressing Online Violence Against Women and Girls in the Commonwealth Asia Region
As part of an ongoing commitment to support the development of a more inclusive education system across Commonwealth countries, the commissioned documentation to support good policy and practice, particularly on including students with disabilities in mainstream education.
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Realising Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The purpose of this report is to map the prevalence of online violence against women and girls, with a particular focus on so-called innocent bystanders and the state of laws, institutions, policies and practices within the Caribbean and Americas regionof the Commonwealth (Canada).
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Addressing Online Violence Against Women and Girls in the Commonwealth Caribbean and the Americas
The Commonwealth Secretary-General yesterday called for an unprecedented level of international co-operation to reach timely and orderly resolutions to the interlocking crises of environmental breakdown, economic insecurity and rising inequality.
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International co-operation is the only way to tackle interlocking global crises, says Commonwealth Secretary-General
2 December 2022 to 2 December 2022
Webinar
The 's Human Rights Unit will host a webinar on 2 December to examine effective solutions for eliminating all forms of discrimination faced by people with disabilities when engaging with police in Africa.
High-quality and accessible Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) lays the foundation for healthy and well-functioning societies. Effective ECCE systems equip young children with the means to develop to their fullest potential during their formative years, in a safe and inspiring environment, nurtured by well trained professional teachers and carers.
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Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Toolkit
This best practice guide supports Commonwealth member countries to integrate gender into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – the documents at the apex of national frameworks for climate mitigation and adaptation actions, through which gender equality outcomes can be progressed.
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Gender Integration in NDCs
High-quality and accessible Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) lays the foundation for healthy and well-functioning societies. Effective ECCE systems equip young children with the means to develop to their fullest potential during their formative years, in a safe and inspiring environment, nurtured by well trained professional teachers and carers.
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Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Toolkit
This report, updated from the first edition published in 2021, presents a macro-level overview of the extent of gender integration in Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), and new or revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by Commonwealth member countries submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under the 2021 revision cycle. Since the first edition of this report was published, a further 27 updated NDCs have been submitted, and Gabon and Togo have joined as Commonwealth member countries, bringing the total updated NDCs submitted to 47 of the 56 member countries.
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Gender Integration for Climate Action
The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland KC has made history by becoming the first Commonwealth Secretary-General to address the Pan-African Parliament.
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Commonwealth Secretary-General delivers a message of solidarity in historic address to African parliamentarians
Sporting institutions are urged to join a project seeking to measure the impact of sport and physical activity on sustainable development.
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Open call for sporting Commonwealth institutions to join data collection project
12 October 2022 to 12 October 2022
Webinar
Following the huge success of the first Black History Month event last Friday, you are cordially invited to the second event which is a webinar on the topic: ‘Unlocking the Power of Allyship in the Workplace'.
This week, the ’s Human Rights Unit (HRU) is in Antigua and Barbuda to assess the needs of persons with disabilities and mental health conditions and to help ensure their inclusion in public policy and society and the fulfilment of their rights.
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Commonwealth works with Antigua and Barbuda to help prioritise the rights of persons with disabilities
Commonwealth Education Ministers and stakeholders have consistently stressed the need to improve school leadership given the impact that it can have on school performance and learning outcomes.
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Commonwealth Educational Leadership Handbook
Grassroots organisations invited to join ‘Million Acts of Kindness’ project in honour of the Commonwealth and Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
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A Million Acts of Kindness
The Commonwealth Women’s Forum (CWF) was held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 20 to 21 June 2022, drawing together 500 delegates from around the Commonwealth.
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Commonwealth Women's Forum
The has recognised three outstanding people for their work in promoting Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) across the world.
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Three sport leaders awarded for promoting sport for development and peace
Op-ed by Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC
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Op-ed: Transformative week spent at Birmingham Commonwealth Games
As the 2022 Commonwealth Games opens in Birmingham today and the Commonwealth Decade of Sport commences, the is working to leverage the vital role that access to sport can play in promoting peace, better health, equal rights and sustainable development across the Commonwealth’s 56 member countries.
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The Commonwealth Games are an opportunity to promote inclusion and advance human rights through sport