On March 11, HM Queen Elizabeth II signed the newly agreed Commonwealth Charter at a reception to mark Commonweath Day, attended by SI Programme Director Hilary Ratcliffe. It is the first time one document has been agreed by all 54 member states to enshrine a comprehensive range of principles and values. The Charter states: "We are implacably opposed to all forms of discrimination,whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political belief or other grounds”.
Despite having to cancel attending the Commonwealth day service in Westminster Abbey due to illness, the Queen, who is 86, was determined to attend the evening reception.
"I had the privilege of talking to her and assured her that we work throughout the Commonwealth to empower and enable women and girls", reports Hilary Ratcliffe. "I thanked her, as head of the Commonwealth, for her stance on gender equality."
"The Charter has significance for Soroptimist International because we are an acknowledged NGO attached to the Commonwealth. We have members of the Commonwealth in all our Federations and most important of all this Charter speaks to us all."
"The Queen said in her speech ‘I hope the carefully chosen words of the Charter will re-invigorate efforts,already begun,to make the Commonwealth fit and agile for the years ahead, so that it can apply its global wisdom to the hopes and needs of this and future generations’."
"We can all relate to those words and in the week when we are working so hard at CSW to include gender in all government decisions/thinking it was so good to be at this reception, representing Soroptimist International and to hear the Queen speak in this way."
Read more about Soroptimist International and the Commonwealth
Read more about the Commonwealth
Image: HM Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth, signs the Commonwealth Charter (photo by Commonwealth Secretariat, used under Creative Commons licence).