That's a very important question. Our recommendation, very simply, is as follows. We would probably like to see a budgetary amount somewhere in the vicinity of 500,000 British pounds associated with the creation of this position, and some technical support. Also, we would like to see the democracy programming part of the secretariat report to that person.
We believe that individual should report simultaneously, for administrative purposes, to the Secretary-General and, on substantive issues, should be reporting to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. Classically, whether that person was based in London or not--and we're of the view that the Commonwealth may be a little too London-centric, and that it would be better if the footprint of the Commonwealth around its 54 countries was larger and London was a little bit smaller--ideally, that would be an individual who would be able to coordinate and stimulate the program.
We have a section in our report that talks about a secretariat “fit for purpose”, which is a very British expression, as you will recall from your diplomatic days, and which means spending its money properly. We don't think the present mix of expenditures in the secretariat focuses on the kinds of priorities around human rights, rule of law, and democracy that should be central. We'd like to see some reallocation of funds within that context.
So ideally, this would produce a free-standing commissioner who had more authority and who worked full time on human rights, democracy, and rule of law issues with an energized group working with him and with a solid basis throughout the Commonwealth. That would be the perfect outcome, were we to be successful with this report.