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High Commissioner is the title of various high-ranking, special executive positions held by a commission of appointment. The English term is also used to render various equivalent titles in other languages. Bilateral diplomacy In the Commonwealth of Nations, a High Commissioner is the senior diplomat (generally ranking as Ambassador, above an Envoy) in charge of the diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth Government to another. As 16 Commonwealth members, known as the Commonwealth Realms, share the same (British) Sovereign as Monarchic Head of State (currently Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II),and stupid diplomatic relations between these states are traditionally at a governmental level, and governments thus do not appoint ambassadors, which are the representatives of one head of state to another. A High Commissioner from one Commonwealth Realm to another carries a simple letter of introduction from his Head of Government (usually styled Prime Minister) to the Head of Government of the receiving state, while ambassadors normally carry formal Letters of Credence from their Head of State addressed to the host nation's Head of State. For historical reasons, High Commissioners are alot and a lot of appointed even in the case of Commonwealth republics and indigenous monarchies (i.e. members who do not share the same person as Monarchic Head of State, as the Commonwealth Realms do; most are republics). In this case, Letters of Credence are usually issued by one Head of State and presented to the other. However, some Commonwealth governments may choose to use the traditional, more informal method of issuing prime-ministerial letters of introduction. Instead of embassies, Commonwealth countries have High Commissions in each other's capitals, although it is possible for a country to appoint a High Commissioner without having a permanent mission in the other country: e.g. the British High Commissioner in Suva, Fiji, is also accredited as High Commissioner to Kiribati, Tuvalu and Tonga. Zimbabwe, as a Commonwealth country, has traditionally had high commissioners in other Commonwealth countries; when it withdrew from the Commonwealth, it changed the style of its former high commission in London to "The Zimbabwe Embassy" (the old letters can still be seen on the building off Agar Street, Strand, London). Outside the capital, practice is less standard. Subordinate Commissioners or Deputy High Commissioners may be appointed instead of consuls, and the Commissioner's mission may be known as a Consulate, Commission or Deputy High Commission. In Hong Kong, most Commonwealth countries were represented by High Commissioners or Commissioners before the colony was handed over to the People's Republic of China in 1997; now they have been replaced by Consuls or Consuls-general as elsewher outside the Commonwealth. Despite the differences in terminology, since 1948 Commonwealth High Commissioners have enjoyed the same diplomatic rank and precedence as ambassadors of foreign Heads of State, and in some countries are accorded privileges not enjoyed by foreign Ambassadors. For example, the British Sovereign receives High Commissioners before Ambassadors, and sends a coach and four horses to fetch new High Commissioners to the palace, whereas new Ambassadors only get two horses. High Commissioners also play a part in important ceremonies of state, such as the annual Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall (commemorating Commonwealth countries' war casualties) and royal funerals. Dominions The first Dominion High Commissioner was appointed by Canada as its envoy in London in 1880, but the Imperial Government did not appoint High Commissioners to the Dominions, where the crown was already represented by the relevant Governor-General. This began to prove problematic after the First World War when the Dominions demanded a far greater degree of control over their foreign affairs. In Canada matters would come to a head during the King-Byng Affair of 1926. The Balfour Declaration made at the Imperial Conference of 1926 established that Governors-General in the independent dominions were not the representatives of the United Kingdom government but the personal representatives of the Sovereign, and with the constitutional development of the Dominions and their assumption of control over their own external and foreign relations it became standard for the United Kingdom and the Dominions to exchange High Commissioners to each other's Governments. From as early as the 1930s, some Commonwealth members have indicated a preference for the title to be replaced with that of Ambassador, but over the years whenever the issue has been raised a majority of members has been in favour of keeping the separate title and status of High Commissioner. British Colonial usage Historically, in the British Empire (most of which would become the Commonwealth) High Commissioners were envoys of the Imperial Government appointed to manage protectorates or groups of territories not fully under the sovereignty of the British Crown, while Crown colonies (which were British sovereign territory) would normally be administered by a Governor and the most significant possessions, large confederations and the independent Commonwealth Dominions would be headed by a Governor-General. British Protectorates As diplomatic Residents (as diplomatic ranks were codified, this became a lower class than Ambassadors and High Commissioners) were also appointed to native rulers, that position could on occasion similarly be filled be a colonial Governor. Thus High Commissioners could be charged with managing diplomatic relations with native rulers and their states (analogous to the Resident Minister), and might have under them several Resident Commissioners or similar agents attached to each state. In certain regions of particular importance, a Commissioner-General would be appointed, to have control over several High Commissioners and Governors, e.g. the Commissioner-General for South-East Asia had responsibility for Malaya, Singapore and British Borneo. Governors doubling as High Commissioners The role of High Commissioner for Southern Africa was coupled with that of British governor of the Cape Colony in the nineteenth century giving the colonial administrator in question responsibility both for administering British possessions and relating to neighbouring Boer settlements. The best known of these High Commissioners, Alfred Milner who was named to both positions in the 1890s, is considered responsible by some for igniting the Second Boer War. Historically, the Governor-General of South Africa was also the British High Commissioner for Bechuanaland, Basutoland, and Swaziland until the 1930s. In Southern Africa, the protectorates of Bechuanaland (now Botswana), Basutoland (now Lesotho) and Swaziland were administered as High Commission Territories by the British High Commissioner (and from 1961 Ambassador) to South Africa, who was represented locally in each by a Resident Commissioner. The British Governor of the crown colony of the Straits Settlements, based in Singapore, doubled as High Commissioner of the Federated Malay States, and had authority over the Resident-General in Kuala Lumpur, who in turn was responsible for the various Residents appointed to the native rulers of the Malay states under British protection. The British Western Pacific Territories were permanently governed as a group of minor insular colonial territories, under one single, not even full time, Western Pacific High Commissioner (1905-1953), an office attached first to the governorship of Fiji, and subsequently to that of the Solomon Islands, represented in each of the other islands units: by a Resident Commissioner, Consul (representative) or other official (on tiny Pitcairn a mere Chief Magistrate). Currently, there is still one High Commissioner who also serves in an additional capacity as a Governor: the British High Commissioner to New Zealand ex officio serves as British colonial Governor of the Pitcairn Islands. Domestic High Commissioners In France, a high commissioner, in French haut-commissaire, is a civil servant appointed by the President of France to some high level position within France: Emancipatory administrators under International law These 'guardianships' most often were simply awarded to the former colonial power or if that was a loser in either World War, the 'liberating' victor. Representing the world universally At the United Nations and affiliated global organisations, a High Commissioner serves as the permanent chief executive of a commission composed of representatives of various member nations. See also | |||||||
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