Commonwealth SG received at State House |30 June 2018

▪ Presents Charter to President Faure

President Danny Faure has received a copy of the Charter of the Commonwealth signed by the Queen which was officially handed over to him by the organisation’s secretary general, Baroness Patricia Scotland on Thursday afternoon.

Baroness Scotland was received by the Seychellois head of State for a tête à tête discussion before holding bilateral talks with other members of government and agency representatives. Bilateral talks were led by Vice-President Vincent Meriton.

Speaking to the local press after her discussion, Baroness Scotland said it was a pleasure to present President Faure a copy of the Commonwealth Charter that was signed by the Queen in 2013.

“It is the embodiment of all our values and aspirations. It contains 16 clauses which mirror the 16 clauses of the Sustainable Development Goals that were signed in 2015 and we believe it fitting to share a copy with each of the leaders when I visit. It represents who we are really, why we come together and what we believe in,” she stressed.

Born in Dominica, Baroness Scotland was their candidate for the post at the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. She is the second secretary general from the Caribbean and the first woman to hold the post. She is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Dominica.

She is a politician and barrister who served in different ministerial positions within the UK government, most notably as the Attorney General for England and Wales.  She assumed the position in April 2016.  

Baroness Scotland expressed her joy of being in Seychelles after a first visit here in 1985.

“It has been such a huge pleasure to be able to come to Seychelles and share with the government all the wonderful things that they have done to help our Commonwealth. Today we are looking at the economic cost of domestic violence and Seychelles has put itself forward as one of the countries willing to lead the way to look at how we can change this terrible scourge that is affecting all the world. I really think that everyone should be so proud of what Seychelles is trying to do and succeeding in doing.

“I am really proud of what Seychelles has done and I cannot commend Seychelles warmly enough for the many achievements together with supporting us on the blue charter and dealing with climate change,” Baroness Scotland pointed out, noting that the latter poses serious threats to many small island states.

Baroness Scotland said it was also an opportunity to talk about all the things that the Commonwealth is doing and Seychelles is a very proud member of that Commonwealth family who stand together at a time when there is so much distress in the world. Baroness Scotland described her meeting with President Faure as excellent and a good opportunity to be able to say thank you to him for his support.

For his part the Minister for Health Jean-Paul Adam, who attended the bilateral talks, said:

“It is a great opportunity for Seychelles to receive the Commonwealth SG. It is recognition for all the hard work we have been doing within the Commonwealth. It was also an occasion to say thank you for all the technical support and other assistance in various fields Seychelles has received from the Commonwealth.”

Following her visit at State House Baroness Scotland visited the Palais de Justice where she was received by the President of the Court of Appeal Justice Francis Macgregor and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Mathilda Twomey.

She was afterwards presented with judges, lawyers of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal as well as other members of the judiciary personnel where she discussed different law related issues.

A barrister herself, Baroness Scotland expressed the joy of being among lawyers to talk about what the Commonwealth is doing to help governments of member states uphold the law.

“We have created an office of civil and criminal justice reforms on our website. We have pulled all the laws from across the Commonwealth in one place so that it can be a shared platform where we can together look at how we can enforce,  implement the law and support our governments to do what is right and in accordance with the laws.”

For her part CJ Twomey said it was a great honour to welcome and receive  Baroness Scotland. She said the judiciary of Seychelles has a great collaboration and partnership with the Commonwealth in different areas.

“The Commonwealth has helped us a lot and recently has supported us with two judges who have helped cleared backlog cases. The Commonwealth continues to work with us and we appreciate and value its support and collaborations,” CJ Twomey stated, pointing out that the judiciary attends many of its conferences and it provides training for our judiciary personnel.

At the National Assembly which she visited soon after, Baroness Scotland was received by deputy Speaker Ahmed Afif, the leader of government business Charles de Commarmond and other members of the National Assembly before holding talks with Assembly leaders after which she interacted with other members in the lobby.

The chairperson of the International Affairs Committee (IAC) in the Assembly, Jean-François Ferrari, said after the talks that the Assembly greatly values its collaboration with the Commonwealth.

“For many years the Commonwealth, through its parliamentary arm, has done a lot to support the Assembly in enhancing its technical capacity and for us this collaboration is important and as the chairperson of the IAC, I have expressed the need for our collaboration to develop further and for us to receive more support in terms of training and capacity building,” Mr Ferrari said, noting that they had  fruitful discussions and noted that the prospect for future cooperation and collaboration is good.

The Baroness ended her visit at the National Assembly planting a Bwa Sousouri sapling in the Commonwealth Gardens in front of the Assembly building as a souvenir of her visit.