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{{Short description|Group within the Commonwealth of Nations}}
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The '''Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration''', abbreviated to '''CMAG''', is a group of representatives of members of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] that is responsible for upholding the [[Harare Declaration]].  That Declaration dictates the Commonwealth's fundamental political values,<ref name="Commonwealth CMAG">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/38125/cmag/ |title=Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group |accessdate=2007-07-22 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927021528/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/38125/cmag/ |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and sets the core [[Commonwealth of Nations membership criteria|membership criteria]] of the organisation.  Its remit to evaluate the Harare Declaration lapses every two years; the remit must be renewed and its membership reviewed by the biennial [[Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting]].

CMAG was established in November 1995 at [[Millbrook Resort]], in [[Queenstown, New Zealand|Queenstown]], [[New Zealand]], as a result of the [[Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme]], to punish serious or persistent violations of the Harare Declaration.<ref name="Commonwealth CMAG" />  It is composed of the [[Foreign Minister]]s (or equivalent) of eight Commonwealth member states, which may be augmented by either one or two further representatives of a region or interest involved in a particular case.<ref name="Commonwealth CMAG" />  There have been twenty-seven ordinary meetings, two special meetings, and one extraordinary meeting, called unevenly over the past twelve years.<ref name="List of meetings">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/38125/141670/list_of_meetings/ |title=List of meetings |accessdate=2007-07-22 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611065325/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/38125/141670/list_of_meetings/ |archive-date=2007-06-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  For logistical reasons, 29 of the 30 meetings have been held in either [[London]] (headquarters of the Commonwealth) or [[New York City]] (headquarters of the [[United Nations]]).<ref name="List of meetings" />

==History==
In its first meeting, CMAG decided that its initial focus would be upon the three (then-)[[military dictatorship]]s of [[The Gambia]], [[Nigeria]], and [[Sierra Leone]],<ref name="First meeting">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=141671 |title=First Meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration |accessdate=2007-07-22 |date=1995-12-20 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927022417/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=141671 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and approved of the Commonwealth's suspension of Nigeria from the organisation earlier in the year.<ref name="First meeting" />  These three countries would form the mainstay of the work of CMAG, and form the whole of its reports, until the [[1999 Pakistani coup d'état|1999 coup d'état]] in [[Pakistan]] necessitated it to vote unanimously to suspend Pakistan from the Commonwealth.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=34708 |title=Special Meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration |accessdate=2007-07-22 |date=1999-10-18 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927022105/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=34708 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Nigeria's reintegration was deemed complete by 1999, when its suspension was lifted; indeed, it was chosen to be a member of CMAG prior to the thirteenth meeting.<ref name="Thirteenth meeting">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=140856 |title=Thirteenth Meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration |accessdate=2007-07-22 |date=2000-05-02 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927021551/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=140856 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2000, the situations in [[Fiji]] and the [[Solomon Islands]] were put under permanent scrutiny,<ref name="Second special meeting">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=141630 |title=Special Meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration |accessdate=2007-07-22 |date=2000-06-06 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927022150/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=141630 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> as was that in [[Zimbabwe]] in 2001.<ref name="Sixteenth meeting">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=34846 |title=Sixteenth Meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration |accessdate=2007-07-22 |date=2001-09-04 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927021702/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=34846 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Gambia was taken off the group's formal agenda at the seventeenth meeting.<ref name="Seventeenth meeting">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=34903 |title=Seventeenth Meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration |accessdate=2007-07-22 |date=2001-12-20 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611040248/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=34903 |archive-date=2007-06-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Due to its acrimonious withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 2003, the issue of Zimbabwe, which had dominated the affairs of the Commonwealth since 2001, became moot and was not discussed from 2004 onwards,<ref name="Twenty-third meeting">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=37863 |title=Twenty-third Meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration |accessdate=2007-07-22 |date=2004-05-22 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927022023/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=37863 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> while Fiji was taken off the agenda due to encouraging progress in that country's political progress.<ref name="Twenty-third meeting" />

At its twenty-fourth meeting, in September 2004, it was decided that (at least in principle) CMAG should meet once a year, and preferably in New York.<ref name="Twenty-fourth meeting">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=140483 |title=Twenty-fourth Meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration |accessdate=2007-07-22 |date=2004-09-25 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927022115/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=140483 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  An extraordinary meeting was called for the 8 December 2006 in light of the [[2006 Fijian coup d'état|2006 coup d'état]], at which it was decided to suspend Fiji's membership of the Commonwealth.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/document/34293/35144/157597/extraordinary_meeting_of_the_commonwealth_minister.htm |title=Extraordinary Meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration |accessdate=2007-07-22 |date=2006-12-08 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070712100030/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/document/34293/35144/157597/extraordinary_meeting_of_the_commonwealth_minister.htm |archive-date=2007-07-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  

On 12 November 2007, the Commonwealth gave Pakistan a 10-day deadline to restore its constitution and lift other emergency measures or face suspension. By 22 November 2007, the CMAG voted to suspend Pakistan from Commonwealth Membership.

==Membership==
Since 2003, the group has included the eight members, plus a representative of the [[Commonwealth Chairperson-in-Office]]'s country.  These have been, successively, [[Nigeria]], [[Malta]], [[Uganda]], and [[Trinidad and Tobago]].

{| class="wikitable" width=100%
! width=10%| Term
! width=10%| I
! width=10%| II
! width=10%| III
! width=10%| IV
! width=10%| V
! width=10%| VI
! width=10%| VII
! width=10%| VIII
! width=10%| Ex officio
|- align="center" 
! 1995 - 1997<br> <br>
| {{flag|Jamaica}}
| rowspan=3| {{flag|Canada}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|New Zealand}}
| rowspan=3| {{flag|Malaysia}}
| rowspan=3| {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| {{flag|South Africa}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Ghana}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Zimbabwe}}
| rowspan=4| V <br> A <br> C <br> A <br> N <br> T
|- align="center" 
! 1997 - 1999<br> <br>
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Barbados}}
| rowspan=3| {{flag|Botswana}}
|- align="center" 
! 1999 - 2002<br> <br>
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Australia}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Nigeria}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Bangladesh}}
|- align="center" 
! 2002 - 2003<br> <br>
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Bahamas}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Samoa}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|India}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Malta}}
|- align="center" 
! 2003 - 2005<br> <br>
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Canada}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Lesotho}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Tanzania}}
| rowspan=3| {{flag|Sri Lanka}}
| {{flag|Nigeria}}
|- align="center" 
! 2005 - 2007<br> <br>
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Saint Lucia}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Papua New Guinea}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Malaysia}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| {{flag|Malta}}
|- align="center" 
! 2007 - 2009<br> <br>
| rowspan=2| {{flag|New Zealand}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Namibia}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Ghana}}
| {{flag|Uganda}}
|- align="center" 
! 2009 - 2011<br> <br>
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Jamaica}}
| {{flag|Australia}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Bangladesh}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Vanuatu}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Maldives}}
| {{flag|Trinidad and Tobago}}
|- align="center" 
! 2011 - 2013<br> <br>
| {{flag|Canada}}
| {{flag|Trinidad and Tobago}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Tanzania}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Sierra Leone}}
| {{flag|Australia}}
|- align="center" 
! 2013 - 2015<br> <br>
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Guyana}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Solomon Islands}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Pakistan}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|Cyprus}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|India}}
| rowspan=2| {{flag|New Zealand}}
| {{flag|Sri Lanka}}
|- align="center" 
! 2015 - present<br> <br>
| {{flag|Kenya}}
| {{flag|Namibia}}
| {{flag|Malta}}
|}

==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.thecommonwealth.org/cmag/ Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group official website]

{{Commonwealth of Nations topics}}

[[Category:Institutions of the Commonwealth of Nations|Ministerial Action Group]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1995]]