BACKGROUND
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Events before 1981 CHGM
5. The Gambian President proposed a Commonwealth
Commission of Human Rights at the Lusaka Commonwealth
Heads of Government meeting (CHGM) in 1979; the
matter was remitted for study to a Working Party (Sir
Ian Sinclair, FCO Legal Adviser, was our
representative). The Secretary-General requested
preliminary comments from governments.
The UK
responded (Annex A). The Working Party met in April
1980 and produced an Interim Report, on which
governments were invited to comment. We did so
(Annex B). In these preliminary comments we made
clear our reservations about the Gambian proposal.
We felt it might lead to a duplication of existing
UN, and European regional, human rights machinery
(the UK has ratified the two UN Covenants on Civil
and Political and Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, as well as the European Covention on Human
Rights). We were also concerned about the financial
implications of the proposal.
6. The Working Party met again in April 1981, and
produced its Final Report (the relevant extract is
attached Annex C). This covered wider ground than
-
the Gambian proposal, but refrained from endorsing
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