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Commonwealth agrees to end royal succession rule
Mongolia News.Net
Friday 28th October, 2011
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, Australia has voted in favour of ending a centuries old royal succession rule.
From now on, the British monarchy's line of succession will be based only on the age of royal offspring and not gender.
For centuries, male heirs have been favoured, but the queen, despite her natural tendency to favour tradition, is said to be in support of the change.
The unexpectedly quick decision to change the rules regarding the line of succession came just hours after Queen Elizabeth II of the UK opened the summit.
Amid tight security in the Australian city of Perth, the British queen opened the Commonwealth summit, urging reforms that would ensure the organisation’s future.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings are held every two years and are a summit at which the 54 nations that constitute the Commonwealth can meet to discuss a range of international issues.
The Commonwealth is an organisation of nations with current or former colonial ties to Britain.
At this year’s summit in Perth, the nations attending will discuss economic growth, climate change and human rights.
In her opening address, Queen Elizabeth urged delegates to address the “new and fresh challenges” facing the some 2 billion people that live in the Commonwealth.
The queen said that the summit was the perfect opportunity to find solutions to “insecurity and uncertainty in finance, food supply, climate change and trade and development”.
By “adopting reforms that respond boldly to the aspirations of today”, the British queen said that the organisation would be kept “fit and fresh for tomorrow”.
Debates on issues such as food insecurity, financial reform and development will also be joined by discussions on reforms to the laws of succession to the British throne, to give females heirs the same status as males.
In addition, there will be discussions on reforms to the Commonwealth itself, including the appointment of a commissioner for human rights.
A recent 200-page report on the Commonwealth warned that the organisation is in danger of becoming irrelevant if it does not take a more proactive approach to world affairs.
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