St Helena : Councillor Drabble Attends Conference in Abuja, Nigeria
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Juanita Brock) 20.09.2006 (Article Archived on 04.10.2006)
Councillor William Drabble, Chairman of the Public Health and Social Services Committee, has attended the 52nd Parliamentary Conference in Abuja, Nigeria along with over 350 members of the Commonwealth. Councillor Drabble departed St Helena on 21 August 2006 and travelled to Nigeria via Cape Town and Johannesburg
Councillor Drabble Attends Conference in Abuja, Nigeria
Councillor William Drabble, Chairman of the Public Health and Social Services Committee, has attended the 52nd Parliamentary Conference in Abuja, Nigeria along with over 350 members of the Commonwealth. Councillor Drabble departed St Helena on 21 August 2006 and travelled to Nigeria via Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The theme for this year’s conference was “Enhancing Standards of Democratic Governance and Public Perceptions of Parliament in the Commonwealth.”
The conference was officially opened by the President of Nigeria, who urged Parliamentarians to help each other find effective ways to deepen the democratic ethos in Nigeria and around the world.
At the conference, members agreed that Parliamentarians are well placed to mobilise their communities to help identify the sources of, and solutions to, the obstacles impeding development for the 30 per cent of the world’s people who live in the Commonwealth.
The conference also called for Commonwealth nations to take steps to reduce gender-based inequities and to increase the representation of women in political, social and economic decision-making.
Discussion also took place on the importance of civil society groups and it was recognised that partnerships with such groups would be particularly valuable in combating poverty and corruption.
The conference examined a number of other topics including ways to curb domestic violence, deal with security threats posed by unregulated migration, reduce the detrimental effects of climate change, reform parliamentary democracy and improve accountability for public spending.
While in Nigeria, Councillor Drabble also attended the 26th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference of Members from Small Countries. At this conference, Members called for small states to be treated more fairly in terms of globalisation policies. Youth crime was also discussed and it was proposed that, in order to curb anti-social behaviour, effective community services be developed including the provision of good education to attract young people away from a life of crime.
As well as attending these conferences, Councillor Drabble also attended a two-day conference of about 70 Members from the Commonwealth’s smaller jurisdictions to discuss climate change.
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association is an interparliamentary organisation established in 1911, which is now composed of 177 Parliaments and Legislatures in the nations, states, provinces and territories of the Commonwealth.
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20 September 2006
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