further publication, 'Approaches to Employment Problems in Africa and Asia', outlines comparative issues and prospective solutions. The Commonwealth Youth Programme has six components: Commonwealth youth service awards, to recognize and foster contributions made by young people to national development; regional Commonwealth centres for advanced studies in youth work, to provide training for key personnel; Commonwealth fellowships for applied research with particular reference to youth matters; Commonwealth bursaries for youth personnel to attend training courses; Commonwealth study fellowships to enable youth personnel to visit Commonwealth countries other than their own to study new developments; and a Commonwealth youth information service to meet the need for information on youth and development policies. The Youth Programme is being administered by the Secretariat. Health Besides organising and servicing Commonwealth Medical Conferences, the Secretariat arranges discussions between Commonwealth representatives before the annual meetings of the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva. Much of the preparatory work in connection with medical meetings and conferences is concerned with particular studies, such as those on health needs and priorities in developing countries and on continuing medical education for doctors, which were undertaken by the Secretariat in co-operation with member governments for the 1971 Medical Conference in Mauritius. Continuity between meetings and conferences is provided by the Medical Adviser, whose primary responsibility is to foster co-operation by ensuring that training opportunities (in developing as well as the more developed member countries), conferences and research projects are brought to the attention of all member governments. The Medical Adviser has undertaken extensive consultations with governments on the possibility of establishing closer regional co-operation in medical training and the pooling of specialist services. Following a meeting of the Ministers of Health of the four West African member countries with the Commonwealth Secretary-General in Geneva in 1972, a Commonwealth West African Health Secretariat, linked with the Commonwealth Secretariat, was set up in Lagos with assistance from the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation and a West African Postgraduate Medical College was formed. Closer co-operation between Commonwealth countries in East, Central and Southern Africa was advanced by meetings of their representatives in Lusaka and Geneva in 1972 and 1973, arranged by the Commonwealth Secretariat, and a Regional Health Bureau is being established. Information on specialist services in various Commonwealth countries and on drug-testing laboratories with facilities available to Commonwealth members is being compiled in the Secretariat. Information on family planning programmes, training courses and technical assistance has been brought to the attention of member governments. The Secretariat was requested by the Mauritius Conference to examine ways of expediting aid for health purposes and of securing wider recognition for medical qualifications awarded in different countries. Legal Matters The functions of the Legal Division of the Secretariat are to facilitate the exchange of information among member governments on legislation in their respective countries and on other legal matters, to bring to the attention of governments information on particular legal problems, to keep governments apprised of significant changes in the law of other Commonwealth countries, and to help with legal matters at Commonwealth conferences and in the work of the Secretariat generally. Member governments contemplating legislation on particular subjects are provided, on request, with information about similar legislation enacted in other Commonwealth countries. Examples of subjects covered are company law, strata titles, noise abatement, citizenship, and the office of Ombudsman. A bibliography of works on treaty succession has been compiled, and a number of specialist studies have been undertaken at the request of individual governments. Through the good offices of the Division contacts have been established between legal authorities in different Commonwealth countries. The Director of the Legal Division acted as Legal Adviser to the Commission on Anguilla in 1970 and was closely involved in the Fourth Commonwealth Law Conference and the Conferences of Commonwealth Chief Justices and of Ministers of Law/Justice and Attorneys-General in New Delhi in January 1971. The Secretariat was responsible for the organisation of the meeting of Commonwealth Law Ministers held in London in 1973 and was requested by the meeting to conduct a survey of the needs of member governments for the exchange and sharing of information on various aspects of the law and its development, and to review the extent to which their requirements could be met through Commonwealth co-operation. It was decided that the Legal Division should publish a regular bulletin containing information on significant legal developments in Commonwealth countries. The meeting also asked the Secretariat to make arrangements through the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation for an assessment of the need for legal draftsmen in each country and of the availability of expertise and tutors, with a view to overcoming the serious shortage of draftsmen, and to compile an inventory of legal education and training requirements of developing member countries and of facilities available in other developing Commonwealth countries. Information Proposals for a Commonwealth Information Programme were approved in principle by Heads of Government in January 1971 and endorsed in October 1971 by a meeting of officials who took the view that the flow of information on Commonwealth activities should be increased in a modest but practical way through existing channels. A small Information Division at the Secretariat is now carrying out the Programme, which provides for an increased flow of information to the news media, the production of reference publications on Commonwealth affairs, assistance with the development and co-ordination of journalist exchange schemes and training courses for Commonwealth communicators, close co-operation with kindred organisations, and co-ordination of information activities. 'Commonwealth Diary', listing coming events, and 'Commonwealth Record', containing factual summaries of recent events, are now published quarterly. Several 'Notes on the Commonwealth', reference papers on Commonwealth institutions and activities, and a basic booklet, 'The Commonwealth Today', have also been issued. Member governments have nominated home-based liaison officers to co-operate with the Information Division in the production and distribution of information material. The Commonwealth Information Centre at Marlborough House, which is open to the public and maintains a selection of Commonwealth newspapers and other publications, is now part of the Information Division. A MARLBOROUGH HOUSE T the Commonwealth Economic Conference in Montreal in September 1958 the British Government offered to provide, for the many Commonwealth activities and meetings which are held in London, suitable premises which might be regarded as a Commonwealth centre. This suggestion was welcomed by the Conference and in February 1959 the Prime Minister announced in the House of Commons that Her Majesty The Queen, who had shown a close personal interest in this project, had placed her Palace of Marlborough House at the disposal of the Government so that it might be available for this purpose. Few structural alterations were needed but some adjustment and modernisation was required to adapt the building to its new purpose and new furnishings and equipment were installed. The initial cost of adapting the building was met by the British Government, who also bear the cost of maintenance. The Governments of the twelve countries then Members of the Commonwealth each presented six chairs for the main conference room. On 28th March 1962 Marlborough House came into use as a Commonwealth centre. The main purpose of Marlborough House is to serve as a centre for Commonwealth meetings in London. The most important of these meetings are the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings. Fifteen Meetings of Commonwealth Heads of Government have been held in London since 1944; the 1962 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Meeting was the first to be held at Marlborough House. Marlborough House stands to the east of St. James's Palace, between the Mall and Pall Mall. The main central part of the house now provides on the ground floor a suite of conference rooms for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings and other Commonwealth meetings, together with secretariat offices and reception rooms. On the upper floors there are offices for Heads of Government and their accompanying delegations and staffs. A small radio and television studio is in the basement. The East and West Wings contain the offices of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Foundation. The Commonwealth Secretariat maintains a Commonwealth Information Centre on the ground floor of the West Wing, which is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Fridays. The Centre is used for briefings during official conferences. When Marlborough House is not in use for Commonwealth meetings the assembly and conference rooms and other former state apartments are open to the public at stated times from Easter Sunday until the last Sunday in September. |