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What is the Commonwealth?

The Commonwealth is a unique grouping of 53 developed and developing nations spread over every continent and ocean in the world. It is a voluntary association of independent sovereign states of many religions, races, languages and cultures. Most of its members are republics. Its 1.8 billion people account for 30 per cent of the world’s population and 49 of its members are developing countries.

The promotion of human rights and democratic norms is an essential part of the Commonwealth’s mandate. The Commonwealth has played a positive role in promoting good governance among member countries, consistent with the principles in the Harare Declaration of 1991. The Secretary-General has deployed his Good Offices in support of conflict prevention and resolution in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Fiji and Solomon Islands in recent years.

The Commonwealth has a well-recognised role in observing elections in Commonwealth countries and provides important assistance to member governments to enable them to implement recommendations made by observer groups. Australia has sought to ensure that more resources are directed to this priority activity.

The Commonwealth also assists member countries by developing, in consultation with them, best practice guidelines on administrative, judicial, regulatory and other matters; and responding to their requests for assistance with administrative reform in government and the reassessment of existing structures and systems.

In addition to the Commonwealth’s activities in strengthening democratic processes and good governance, Australia has strongly supported an increased role for the Commonwealth in protecting human rights in member states, building on the Commonwealth’s commitment to the rule of law. The shared common law traditions of most Commonwealth countries provide a sound basis for cooperation in legal and judicial assistance and capacity building. The Commonwealth supports activity such as strengthening the domestic human rights machinery of member states, the establishment of Ombudsmen’s offices, workshops in such areas as criminal justice, administrative law and combating corruption, and implementation of international human rights conventions.

Commonwealth Membership

The modern Commonwealth of Nations bears little resemblance to the grouping from which it formally arose in 1931. The Commonwealth has its origins in the early nineteenth century when former colonies began to achieve Dominion status and became autonomous communities within the British Empire. They remained united by a common allegiance to the British Crown and freely associated as Members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of independent states. Unlike other international organisations such as the United Nations, the Commonwealth has no Charter or comparable instrument that makes express provision for the admission of new members. New members of the Commonwealth, with one exception (Mozambique, which is surrounded by Commonwealth countries), have had a past constitutional association with an existing Commonwealth country, as colonies or protectorates or trust territories. This has become the established understanding governing admission to the Commonwealth.

Only independent states can become members of the Commonwealth. However, some territories linked with Commonwealth members states both contribute to and benefit from Commonwealth voluntary funds and programs. Representatives of such territories do from time to time attend Ministerial meetings as part of the delegation of the member government with which they are linked. From Australia’s region this category includes Niue and the Cook Islands.

In considering guidelines on membership at the Edinburgh CHOGM in 1997, Leaders agreed that prospective members should comply with Commonwealth values, principles and priorities as set out in the 1991 Harare Declaration. CHOGM in Kampala in 2007 agreed on core criteria for membership including that an applicant country should, as a general rule, have had an historic constitutional association with an existing member, except in exceptional circumstances. Commonwealth membership also entails acceptance of Commonwealth practices and conventions, including the use of the English language as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations and acceptance of the Commonwealth style of informality and consensus.

Commonwealth Member States are:

Member Country

Joined Commonwealth

Status

Antigua and Barbuda

1981

M

Australia

1931

M

The Bahamas

1973

M

Bangladesh

1972

R

Barbados

1966

M

Belize

1981

M

Botswana

1966

RE

Brunei Darussalam

1984

M

Cameroon

1995 (independent 1960)

RE

Canada

1931

M

Cyprus

1961 (independent 1960)

RE

Dominica

1978

R

Fiji Islands

1970 (left 1987, rejoined 1997, suspended 2006)

R

The Gambia

1965

RE

Ghana

1957

RE

Grenada

1974

M

Guyana

1966

RE

India

1947

R

Jamaica

1962

M

Kenya

1963

RE

Kiribati

1979

RE

Lesotho

1966

M

Malawi

1964

RE

Malaysia

1957

M

Maldives

1982 (independent 1965)

RE

Malta

1964

R

Mauritius

1968

R

Mozambique

1995 (independent 1975)

RE

Namibia

1990

RE

Nauru

1968 (full member from 1999)

RE

New Zealand

1931

M

Nigeria

1960 (suspended 1995-99)

RE

Pakistan

1947 (left 1972, rejoined 1989, suspended 1999-2004, suspended 2007)

R

Papua New Guinea

1975

M

St Kitts and Nevis

1983

M

St Lucia

1979

M

St Vincent and the Grenadines

1979

M

Samoa

1970 (independent 1962)

R

Seychelles

1976

RE

Sierra Leone

1961

RE

Singapore

1965

R

Solomon Islands

1978

M

South Africa

1931 (left 1961, rejoined 1994)

RE

Sri Lanka

1948

RE

Swaziland

1968

M

Tonga

1970

M

Trinidad and Tobago

1962

R

Tuvalu

1978 (full member from 2000)

M

Uganda

1962

MRE

United Kingdom

 

M

United Republic of Tanzania

1961

RE

Vanuatu

1980

R

Zambia

1964

RE

M : National Monarchy, R: Republic, RE: Republic with executive president

Governance Arrangements

The work of the Commonwealth is administered by a Secretariat based in London. The Secretariat is headed by a Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Don McKinnon, a former Foreign Minister of New Zealand. Mr Kamalesh Sharma of India will succeed Mr McKinnon when his term expires as Secretary-General on 31 March 2008. He currently has two deputies: Mrs Florence Mugasha of Uganda and Mr Ransford Smith of Jamaica.

In 1999, CHOGM established a High Level Review Group to review the role of the Commonwealth and advise on how best it could respond to the challenges of the new century. The report of the Group was adopted by the Coolum CHOGM in 2002. Heads of Government agreed that the Commonwealth Secretariat’s governance arrangements should be streamlined and integrated in order to improve efficiency and transparency, and to improve Member State oversight of Commonwealth activities.

A Board of Governors consisting of London-based High Commissioners meets annually in May to give strategic direction to the Secretariat on major policy issues, to review the implementation of CHOGM mandates and to approve strategic plans, work programmes and budgets.

An Executive Committee of the Board of Governors meets every quarter to oversee budgets and audit functions and make policy recommendations to the annual meetings of the Board of Governors. Membership of the Executive Committee is geographically balanced and includes the major contributors to the Commonwealth budgets, of which Australia is one.

Commonwealth Documents

Many documents are available from the Commonwealth Secretariat website and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting website.

Commonwealth Declarations

More information about the Commonwealth