Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

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The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, abbreviated to CHOGM, is a biennial summit meeting of the heads of government from all Commonwealth nations. Every two years the meeting is held in a different member state, and is chaired by that nation's respective Prime Minister or President. Most meetings include an appearance by Queen Elizabeth II, who is the Head of the Commonwealth. From 1944 until 1971, the meetings were known as Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conferences and were generally held in London, although the Commonwealth leaders met in Lagos in 1966. The first CHOGM was held in 1971.

In the past, CHOGMs have attempted to orchestrate common policies on certain contentious issues and current events, with a special focus on issues affecting member nations. In the past, CHOGMs have discussed the continuation of apartheid rule in South Africa and how to stop it, military coups in Pakistan and Fiji, and allegations of electoral fraud in Zimbabwe. Sometimes the member states agree on a common idea or solution, and release a joint statement declaring their opinion.

Under the Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme, each CHOGM is responsible for renewing the remit of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, whose responsibility it is to uphold the Harare Declaration on the core political principles of the Commonwealth.^[1]

1 History
2 Incidents and actions
3 Footnotes
4 External links

[edit] History

Year	Date	Country	City	Chairman-in-Office
1971	January 14-22	Singapore	Singapore	Lee Kuan Yew
1973	August 2-10	Canada	Ottawa	Pierre Trudeau
1975	April 29-May 6	Jamaica	Kingston	Michael Manley
1977	June 8-15	United Kingdom	London	James Callaghan
1979	August 1-7	Zambia	Lusaka	Kenneth Kaunda
1981	September 30-October 7	Australia	Melbourne	Malcolm Fraser
1983	November 23-29	India	New Delhi	Indira Gandhi
1985	October 16-22	Bahamas	Nassau	Lynden Pindling
1986	August 3-5	United Kingdom	London	Margaret Thatcher
1987	October 13-17	Canada	Vancouver	Brian Mulroney
1989	October 18-24	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	Mahathir bin Mohamad
1991	October 16-21	Zimbabwe	Harare	Robert Mugabe
1993	October 21-25	Cyprus	Limassol	George Vasiliou
1995	November 10-13	New Zealand	Auckland	Jim Bolger
1997	October 24-27	United Kingdom	Edinburgh	Tony Blair
1999	November 12-14	South Africa	Durban	Thabo Mbeki
2002	March 2-5	Australia	Coolum	John Howard
2003	December 5-8	Nigeria	Abuja	Olusegun Obasanjo
2005	November 25-27	Malta	Valletta	Lawrence Gonzi
2007	November 23-25	Uganda	Kampala	Yoweri Museveni
2009	To Be Announced	Trinidad and Tobago	Port of Spain	TBA

[edit] Incidents and actions

1978 - A bomb went off outside the venue of the 1978 CHOGM in Sydney, known as the Hilton Bombing.

2001 - CHOGM 2001, slated to be held in Brisbane on October 6-9, was cancelled for security reasons in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The Meeting was adjourned to March 2002, and held in the seaside resort of Coolum, Queensland.

2003 - Amongst other protests, Amnesty International ran a substantial campaign pressuring CHOGM attendees on issues relating to abuses of human rights, especially in Nigeria and Zimbabwe.