Common Wealth Heads of Government meeting at Perth has decided to go in for further discussions on the issue of appointing a Commissioner for Human Rights. At a joint press briefing with Australian Prime Minister Jullia Gillard, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma said there is a variety of views on the issue among the member countries and further consultations are required. He said that the report by the Eminent Persons' Group – EPG- on the reforms in the Commonwealth only suggests that there should be a Commissioner for Human Rights but is silent on the modalities of it. He said there are 106 recommendations.

Earlier in the day, Former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned that the Perth edition of CHOGM summit would be seen as a failure if they do not embrace bold reforms on human rights and other contentious issues. He chaired the EPG that drafted the reforms for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

AIR Correspondent reports from Perth that the leaders from Commonwealth which consists of 54 countries met at a retreat to chalk out their response to a series of proposals they had commissioned. Badawi who presented the report on Saturday, said, there are high hopes that key proposals would be accepted. Later Badawi and other members of the Eminent Persons Group held a press conference to express their concerns that the three-day summit was in danger of wrapping up on Sunday with their report being largely ignored.

The Eminent Persons Group was created after the last CHOGM summit two years ago to deal with criticism that the Commonwealth was slipping into irrelevancy, largely due to its failure to uphold democracy and human rights among member nations. While some countries like Australia, Britain and Canada favour a stronger focus on human rights and other contentious issues, many developing nations resent outside influence. India has already made it clear that the stress should be on strengthening the existing organisations rather than creating new ones.