Commonwealth of Nations

Origins of the concept and establishment of the term

Draft of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, with "British Empire" crossed out and "British Commonwealth of Nations" added by hand.

The prime ministers of five members at the 1944 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference. (L-R) Mackenzie King (Canada), Jan Smuts (South Africa), Winston Churchill (United Kingdom), Peter Fraser (New Zealand) and John Curtin (Australia)

Queen Elizabeth II, in her address to Canada on Dominion Day in 1959, pointed out that the Confederation of Canada on 1 July 1867 had been the birth of the "first independent country within the British Empire". She declared: "So, it also marks the beginning of that free association of independent states which is now known as the Commonwealth of Nations."^[12] As long ago as 1884 Lord Rosebery, while visiting Australia, had described the changing British Empire, as some of its colonies became more independent, as a "Commonwealth of Nations".^[13] Conferences of British and colonial prime ministers occurred periodically from the first one in 1887, leading to the creation of the Imperial Conferences in 1911.^[14]

The Commonwealth developed from the imperial conferences. A specific proposal was presented by Jan Smuts in 1917 when he coined the term "the British Commonwealth of Nations" and envisioned the "future constitutional relations and readjustments in essence" at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, attended by delegates from the Dominions as well as the United Kingdom.^[15][16] The term first received imperial statutory recognition in the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, when the term British Commonwealth of Nations was substituted for British Empire in the wording of the oath taken by members of parliament of the Irish Free State.^[17]

Adoption and formalisation of the Commonwealth

In the Balfour Declaration at the 1926 Imperial Conference, the United Kingdom and its dominions agreed they were "equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations". The term "Commonwealth" was officially adopted to describe the community.^[18]

These aspects to the relationship were formalised by the Statute of Westminster in 1931, which applied to Canada without the need for ratification, but Australia, New Zealand, and Newfoundland had to ratify the statute for it to take effect. Newfoundland never did as due to economic hardship and the need for financial assistance from London, Newfoundland voluntarily accepted the suspension of self-government in 1934 and governance reverted to direct control from London. Newfoundland later joined Canada as its tenth province in 1949.^[19] Australia and New Zealand ratified the Statute in 1942 and 1947 respectively.^[20][21]

Although the Union of South Africa was not among the Dominions that needed to adopt the Statute of Westminster for it to take effect, two laws—the Status of the Union Act, 1934, and the Royal Executive Functions and Seals Act of 1934—were passed to confirm South Africa's status as a sovereign state.^[22]

Decolonisation and self-governance

After the Second World War ended, the British Empire was gradually dismantled. Most of its components have become independent countries, whether Commonwealth realms or republics, and members of the Commonwealth. There remain the 14 mainly self-governing British overseas territories which retain some political association with the United Kingdom. In April 1949, following the London Declaration, the word "British" was dropped from the title of the Commonwealth to reflect its changing nature.^[23]

Burma (Myanmar since 1989) and Aden (now part of the Republic of Yemen) are the only states that were British colonies at the time of the war not to have joined the Commonwealth upon independence. Former British protectorates and mandates that did not become members of the Commonwealth are Egypt (independent in 1922), Iraq (1932), Transjordan (1946), Palestine (part of which became the state of Israel in 1948), Sudan (1956), British Somaliland (which united with the former Italian Somaliland in 1960 to form the Somali Republic), Kuwait (1961), Bahrain (1971), Oman (1971), Qatar (1971), and the United Arab Emirates (1971).^[24]

The postwar Commonwealth was given a fresh mission by Queen Elizabeth II in her Christmas Day 1953 broadcast, in which she envisioned the Commonwealth as "an entirely new conception – built on the highest qualities of the Spirit of Man: friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace".^[25] Hoped-for success was reinforced by such achievements as climbing Mount Everest in 1953, breaking the four-minute mile in 1954, and a solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1966.^[26]

After the Second World War, the British treasury was so weak that it could not operate independently of the United States. The loss of defence and financial roles, furthermore, undermined Joseph Chamberlain's early 20th-century vision of a world empire that could combine Imperial preference, mutual defence, and social growth. In addition, the United Kingdom's cosmopolitan role in world affairs became increasingly limited, especially with the losses of India and Singapore.^[27] While British politicians at first hoped that the Commonwealth would preserve and project British influence, they gradually lost their enthusiasm, argues Krishnan Srinivasan. Early enthusiasm waned as British policies came under fire at Commonwealth meetings. Public opinion became troubled as immigration from non-white member states became large-scale.^[28]

Republics

On 18 April 1949, Ireland formally became a republic in accordance with the Irish Republic of Ireland Act 1948; in doing so, it also formally left the Commonwealth.^[29] While Ireland had not actively participated in the Commonwealth since the early 1930s, other dominions wished to become republics without losing Commonwealth ties. The issue came to a head in April 1949 at a Commonwealth prime ministers' meeting in London. Under the London Declaration, India agreed that, when it became a republic in January 1950, it would remain in the Commonwealth and accept the British Sovereign as a "symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth". Upon hearing this, King George VI told the Indian politician Krishna Menon: "So, I've become 'as such'".^[30] Some other Commonwealth countries that have since become republics have chosen to leave, while others, such as Guyana, Mauritius and Dominica, have remained members.^[31]

The London Declaration is often seen as marking the beginning of the modern Commonwealth. Following India's precedent, other nations became republics, or constitutional monarchies with their own monarchs. While some countries retained the same monarch as the United Kingdom, their monarchies developed differently and soon became essentially independent of the British monarchy. The monarch is regarded as a separate legal personality in each realm, even though the same person is monarch of each realm.^{[32][33][34][35]}

New Commonwealth

Planners in the interwar period, like Lord Davies, who had also taken "a prominent part in building up the League of Nations Union" in the United Kingdom, in 1932 founded the New Commonwealth Society, of whose British section Winston Churchill became the president.^[36] This new society was aimed at the creation of an international air force to be an arm of the League of Nations, to allow nations to disarm and safeguard the peace.

The term 'New Commonwealth' gained usage in the UK (especially in the 1960s and 1970s) to refer to recently decolonised countries, predominantly non-white and developing. It was often used in debates about immigration from these countries.^[37] The United Kingdom and the pre-1945 dominions became informally known as the 'Old Commonwealth', or more pointedly as the 'white Commonwealth',^[38] in reference to what had been known as the 'White Dominions'.

Plan G and inviting Europe to join

At a time when Germany and France, together with Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, were planning what later became the European Union, and newly independent African countries were joining the Commonwealth, new ideas were floated to prevent the United Kingdom from becoming isolated in economic affairs. British trade with the Commonwealth was four times larger than its trade with Europe. In 1956 and 1957 the British government under Prime Minister Anthony Eden considered a "Plan G" to create a European free trade zone while also protecting the favoured status of the Commonwealth.^[39][40][41] The United Kingdom also considered inviting Scandinavian and other European countries to join the Commonwealth, so that it would become a major economic common market.

At the time of the Suez Crisis in 1956, in the face of colonial unrest and international tensions, French prime minister Guy Mollet proposed to British prime minister Anthony Eden that their two countries be joined in a "union". When that proposal was turned down, Mollet suggested that France join the Commonwealth, possibly with "a common citizenship arrangement on the Irish basis". These ideas faded away with the end of the Suez Crisis.^[42][43][44]

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British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23 per cent of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered 35.5 million km2 (13.7 million sq mi), 24 per cent of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its constitutional, legal, linguistic, and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was described as "the empire on which the sun never sets", as the Sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.

Historiography of the British Empire

Historiography of the British Empire

The historiography of the British Empire refers to the studies, sources, critical methods and interpretations used by scholars to develop a history of Britain's empire. Historians and their ideas are the main focus here; specific lands and historical dates and episodes are covered in the article on the British Empire. Scholars have long studied the Empire, looking at the causes for its formation, its relations to the French and other empires, and the kinds of people who became imperialists or anti-imperialists, together with their mindsets. The history of the breakdown of the Empire has attracted scholars of the histories of the United States, the British Raj, and the African colonies. John Darwin (2013) identifies four imperial goals: colonising, civilising, converting, and commerce.

Anglo-Irish Treaty

Anglo-Irish Treaty

The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of Independence. It provided for the establishment of the Irish Free State within a year as a self-governing dominion within the "community of nations known as the British Empire", a status "the same as that of the Dominion of Canada". It also provided Northern Ireland, which had been created by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, an option to opt out of the Irish Free State, which the Parliament of Northern Ireland exercised.

Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference

Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conferences were biennial meetings of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominion members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Seventeen Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conferences were held between 1944 and 1969. As well, the prime ministers met for a Commonwealth Economic Conference in 1952. These series of conferences were a continuation and regularisation of the earlier Imperial Conferences which had been held periodically from 1887 to 1937. Since 1971, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings have been held.

William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal, he was the dominant politician in Canada from the early 1920s to the late 1940s. King is best known for his leadership of Canada throughout the Great Depression and the Second World War. He played a major role in laying the foundations of the Canadian welfare state and established Canada's international reputation as a middle power fully committed to world order. With a total of 21 years and 154 days in office, he remains the longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history.

Jan Smuts

Jan Smuts

Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and 1939 to 1948.

Union of South Africa

Union of South Africa

The Union of South Africa was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange River colonies. It included the territories that were formerly a part of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State.

John Curtin

John Curtin

John Curtin was an Australian politician who was the 14th prime minister of Australia, from 1941 until his death in 1945. He led the country for the majority of World War II, including all but the last few weeks of the war in the Pacific. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1935 to 1945, and its longest serving leader until Gough Whitlam. Curtin's leadership skills and personal character were acclaimed by his political contemporaries. He is frequently ranked as one of Australia's greatest prime ministers.

Canada Day

Canada Day

Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867, with the passing of the British North America Act, 1867, when the three separate colonies of the United Canadas, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were united into a single dominion within the British Empire called Canada. Originally called Dominion Day, the holiday was renamed in 1982, the same year that the Canadian constitution was patriated by the Canada Act, 1982. Canada Day celebrations take place throughout the country, as well as in various locations around the world attended by Canadians living abroad.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery

Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian, was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl of Rosebery, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.

Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east.

Imperial Conference

Imperial Conference

Imperial Conferences were periodic gatherings of government leaders from the self-governing colonies and dominions of the British Empire between 1887 and 1937, before the establishment of regular Meetings of Commonwealth Prime Ministers in 1944. They were held in 1887, 1894, 1897, 1902, 1907, 1911, 1921, 1923, 1926, 1930, 1932 and 1937.

Head of the Commonwealth

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving Head of the Commonwealth, was in office for 70 years.

Under the formula of the London Declaration, Charles III is the head of the Commonwealth.^[2][45] When the monarch dies, the successor to the crown does not automatically become the new head of the Commonwealth.^[46] However, at their meeting in April 2018, Commonwealth leaders agreed that Prince Charles should succeed his mother Elizabeth II as head after her death.^[47] The position is symbolic, representing the free association of independent members,^[45] the majority of which (36) are republics, and five have monarchs of different royal houses (Brunei, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malaysia, and Tonga).

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

The main decision-making forum of the organisation is the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), where Commonwealth heads of government, including (amongst others) prime ministers and presidents, assemble for several days to discuss matters of mutual interest. CHOGM is the successor to the Meetings of Commonwealth Prime Ministers and, earlier, the Imperial Conferences and Colonial Conferences, dating back to 1887. There are also regular meetings of finance ministers, law ministers, health ministers, etc. Members in arrears, as special members before them, are not invited to send representatives to either ministerial meetings or CHOGMs.^[45]

The head of government hosting the CHOGM is called the chair-in-office (CIO) and retains the position until the following CHOGM. Since the most recent CHOGM, in Rwanda in 2022, the chair-in-office has been the president of Rwanda.^[48]

The 26th CHOGM was initially to be held in Kigali, Rwanda, in June 2020. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was rescheduled to be held there in the week of 21 June 2021 before again being postponed to 25-26 June 2022. It was accompanied by meetings of a Commonwealth Youth Forum, a Commonwealth Women's Forum and a Commonwealth People's Forum.^[49]

Commonwealth Secretariat

Marlborough House, London, the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth's principal intergovernmental institution

The Commonwealth Secretariat, established in 1965, is the main intergovernmental agency of the Commonwealth, facilitating consultation and co-operation among member governments and countries. It is responsible to member governments collectively. The Commonwealth of Nations is represented in the United Nations General Assembly by the secretariat as an observer. The secretariat organises Commonwealth summits, meetings of ministers, consultative meetings and technical discussions; it assists policy development and provides policy advice, and facilitates multilateral communication among the member governments. It also provides technical assistance to help governments in the social and economic development of their countries and in support of the Commonwealth's fundamental political values.^[50]

The secretariat is headed by the Commonwealth secretary-general, who is elected by the Commonwealth heads of government for no more than two four-year terms. The secretary-general and two deputy secretaries-general direct the divisions of the Secretariat. The present secretary-general is Patricia Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, from Dominica, who took office on 1 April 2016, succeeding Kamalesh Sharma of India (2008–2016). The first secretary-general was Arnold Smith of Canada (1965–75), followed by Sir Shridath Ramphal of Guyana (1975–90), Chief Emeka Anyaoku of Nigeria (1990–99), and Don McKinnon of New Zealand (2000–2008).^[50]

Commonwealth citizenship and high commissioners

Initially, Commonwealth countries were not considered to be "foreign" to each other as their citizens were British subjects.^[51][52][53] Citizenship laws have evolved independently in each Commonwealth country. For example, in Australia, for the purpose of considering certain constitutional and legal provisions no distinction is made between Commonwealth and foreign countries: in the High Court case of Sue v Hill, other Commonwealth countries (specifically, the United Kingdom) were held to be 'foreign powers'; similarly, in Nolan v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, the nationals of other Commonwealth realms were held to be 'aliens'.

Nevertheless, some members treat resident citizens of other Commonwealth countries preferentially to citizens of non-Commonwealth countries (see Commonwealth citizen). The United Kingdom and several others, mostly in the Caribbean, grant the right to vote to Commonwealth citizens who reside in those countries.

The closer association amongst Commonwealth countries is reflected in the diplomatic protocols of the Commonwealth countries. For example, when engaging bilaterally with one another, Commonwealth governments exchange high commissioners instead of ambassadors.^[54] In non-Commonwealth countries in which their own country is not represented, Commonwealth citizens may seek consular assistance at the British embassy although it is for the embassy to decide, in its discretion, whether to provide any.^[55] Other alternatives can also occur such as the consular services agreement between Canada and Australia that began in 1986.^[56]

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Head of the Commonwealth

Head of the Commonwealth

The head of the Commonwealth is the ceremonial leader who symbolises "the free association of independent member nations" of the Commonwealth of Nations, an intergovernmental organisation that currently comprises 56 sovereign states. There is no set term of office or term limit and the role itself involves no part in the day-to-day governance of any of the member states within the Commonwealth. The position is currently held by King Charles III.

Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was head of state of 15 realms at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the longest verified reign of any female monarch in history.

London Declaration

London Declaration

The London Declaration was a declaration issued by the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference on the issue of India's continued membership of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of independent states formerly part of the British Empire, after India's transition to a republican constitution.

Charles III

Charles III

Charles III is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales, and at the age of 73, became the oldest person to accede to the British throne, upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, on 8 September 2022.

Republics in the Commonwealth of Nations

Republics in the Commonwealth of Nations

The republics in the Commonwealth of Nations are the sovereign states in the organisation with a republican form of government. As of June 2022, 36 out of the 56 member states were republics. While Charles III is the titular Head of the Commonwealth, the King is not the head of state of the republican members. The King is however, the reigning monarch in the Commonwealth realms. The Head of the Commonwealth role does not carry with it any power; instead, it is a symbol of the free association of Commonwealth members.

Brunei

Brunei

Brunei, formally Brunei Darussalam, is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang. Brunei is the only sovereign state entirely on Borneo; the remainder of the island is divided between Malaysia and Indonesia. As of 2020, its population was 460,345, of whom about 100,000 live in the capital and largest city, Bandar Seri Begawan. The government is an absolute monarchy ruled by its Sultan, entitled the Yang di-Pertuan, and implements a combination of English common law and sharia law, as well as general Islamic practices.

Eswatini

Eswatini

Eswatini, officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its north, west, south, and southeast. At no more than 200 km (120 mi) north to south and 130 km (81 mi) east to west, Eswatini is one of the smallest countries in Africa; despite this, its climate and topography are diverse, ranging from a cool and mountainous highveld to a hot and dry lowveld.

Lesotho

Lesotho

Lesotho officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over 30,000 km2 (11,600 sq mi) and has a population of about 2 million.

Malaysia

Malaysia

Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia shares a land and maritime border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. East Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Brunei and Indonesia, and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. Kuala Lumpur is the national capital, the country's largest city, and the seat of the legislative branch of the federal government. Putrajaya is the administrative center, which represents the seat of both the executive branch and the judicial branch of the federal government. With a population of over 32 million, Malaysia is the world's 45th-most populous country. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia is in Tanjung Piai. Located in the tropics, Malaysia is one of 17 megadiverse countries, home to numerous endemic species.

Tonga

Tonga

Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about 750 km2 (290 sq mi), scattered over 700,000 km2 (270,000 sq mi) in the southern Pacific Ocean. As of 2021, according to Johnson's Tribune, Tonga has a population of 104,494, 70% of whom reside on the main island, Tongatapu. The country stretches approximately 800 km (500 mi) north-south. It is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna (France) to the northwest; Samoa to the northeast; New Caledonia (France) and Vanuatu to the west; Niue to the east; and Kermadec to the southwest. Tonga is about 1,800 km (1,100 mi) from New Zealand's North Island.

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is a biennial summit meeting of the governmental leaders from all Commonwealth nations. Despite the name, the head of state may be present in the meeting instead of the head of government, especially among semi-presidential states. Every two years the meeting is held in a different member state and is chaired by that nation's respective prime minister or president, who becomes the Commonwealth Chair-in-Office until the next meeting. Queen Elizabeth II, who was the Head of the Commonwealth, attended every CHOGM beginning with Ottawa in 1973 until Perth in 2011, although her formal participation only began in 1997. She was represented by the Prince of Wales at the 2013 meeting as the 87-year-old monarch was curtailing long-distance travel. The Queen attended the 2015 summit in Malta and the 2018 summit in London, but was represented again by the Prince of Wales at the 2022 meeting in Rwanda.

Imperial Conference

Imperial Conference

Imperial Conferences were periodic gatherings of government leaders from the self-governing colonies and dominions of the British Empire between 1887 and 1937, before the establishment of regular Meetings of Commonwealth Prime Ministers in 1944. They were held in 1887, 1894, 1897, 1902, 1907, 1911, 1921, 1923, 1926, 1930, 1932 and 1937.

The members of the Commonwealth shaded according to their political status. Commonwealth realms are shown in blue, while republics are shaded pink, and members with their own monarchies are displayed in green.

Criteria

The criteria for membership of the Commonwealth of Nations have developed over time from a series of separate documents. The Statute of Westminster 1931, as a fundamental founding document of the organisation, laid out that membership required dominionhood. The 1949 London Declaration ended this, allowing republican and indigenous monarchic members on the condition that they recognised King George VI as "Head of the Commonwealth".^[57] In the wake of the wave of decolonisation in the 1960s, these constitutional principles were augmented by political, economic, and social principles. The first of these was set out in 1961, when it was decided that respect for racial equality would be a requirement for membership, leading directly to the withdrawal of South Africa's re-application (which they were required to make under the formula of the London Declaration upon becoming a republic). The 14 points of the 1971 Singapore Declaration dedicated all members to the principles of world peace, liberty, human rights, equality, and free trade.^[58]

These criteria were unenforceable for two decades,^[59] until, in 1991, the Harare Declaration was issued, dedicating the leaders to applying the Singapore principles to the completion of decolonisation, the end of the Cold War, and the end of apartheid in South Africa.^[60] The mechanisms by which these principles would be applied were created, and the manner clarified, by the 1995 Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme, which created the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), which has the power to rule on whether members meet the requirements for membership under the Harare Declaration.^[61] Also in 1995, an Inter-Governmental Group was created to finalise and codify the full requirements for membership. Upon reporting in 1997, as adopted under the Edinburgh Declaration, the Inter-Governmental Group ruled that any future members would have to have a direct constitutional link with an existing member.^[62]

In addition to this new rule, the former rules were consolidated into a single document. These requirements are that members must accept and comply with the Harare principles, be fully sovereign states, recognise King Charles III as head of the Commonwealth, accept the English language as the means of Commonwealth communication, and respect the wishes of the general population with regard to Commonwealth membership.^[62] These requirements had undergone review, and a report on potential amendments was presented by the Committee on Commonwealth Membership at the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.^[63] New members were not admitted at this meeting, though applications for admission were considered at the 2009 CHOGM.^[64]

New members must "as a general rule" have a direct constitutional link to an existing member. In most cases, this is due to being a former colony of the United Kingdom, but some have links to other countries, either exclusively or more directly (e.g., Samoa to New Zealand, Papua New Guinea to Australia, Namibia to South Africa, Bangladesh to Pakistan and Singapore to Malaysia). The first member to be admitted without having any constitutional link to the British Empire or a Commonwealth member was Mozambique in 1995 following its first democratic elections and South Africa's re-admission in 1994. Mozambique was a former Portuguese colony. Mozambique's controversial entry led to the Edinburgh Declaration and the current membership guidelines.^[65]

In 2009, Rwanda became the second Commonwealth member admitted not to have any constitutional links to Britain. It was a Belgian trust territory that had been a district of German East Africa until World War I.^[66] Consideration for Rwanda's admission was considered an "exceptional circumstance" by the Commonwealth Secretariat.^[67] Rwanda was permitted to join despite the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) finding that "the state of governance and human rights in Rwanda does not satisfy Commonwealth standards", and that it "does not therefore qualify for admission".^[68] CHRI commented that: "It does not make sense to admit a state that already does not satisfy Commonwealth standards. This would tarnish the reputation of the Commonwealth and confirm the opinion of many people and civic organisations that the leaders of its governments do not really care for democracy and human rights, and that its periodic, solemn declarations are merely hot air."^[68]

In 2022, Togo and Gabon joined the Commonwealth, despite never having been under British rule. Togo being a former German colony (later annexed by France) and Gabon a former French colony.^[69]

Members

Flags of the members of the Commonwealth in Parliament Square, London

The Commonwealth flag flying at the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa

The Commonwealth comprises 56 countries, across all inhabited continents.^[70] The members have a combined population of 2.4 billion people, almost a third of the world population, with 1.4 billion living in India, and 94% living in either Asia or Africa.^[71] After India, the next-largest Commonwealth countries by population are Pakistan (227 million), Nigeria (213 million), Bangladesh (167 million), and the United Kingdom (68 million). Tuvalu is the smallest member, with about 12,000 people.^[72]

The land area of the Commonwealth nations is about 31,500,000 km² (12,200,000 sq mi), or about 21% of the total world land area. The two largest Commonwealth nations by area are Canada at 9,984,670 km² (3,855,100 sq mi) and Australia at 7,617,930 km² (2,941,300 sq mi).^[73]

The status of "Member in Arrears" is used to denote those that are in arrears in paying subscription dues. The status was originally known as "special membership", but was renamed on the Committee on Commonwealth Membership's recommendation.^[74] There are currently no Members in Arrears. The most recent Member in Arrears, Nauru, returned to full membership in June 2011.^[75] Nauru has alternated between special and full membership since joining the Commonwealth, depending on its financial situation.^[76]

Economy of member countries

In 2019, the Commonwealth members had a combined gross domestic product of over $9 trillion, 78% of which is accounted for by the four largest economies: United Kingdom ($3.124 trillion), India ($3.050 trillion), Canada ($1.652 trillion), and Australia ($1.379 trillion).^[77]

Applicants

In 1997 the Commonwealth Heads of Government agreed that, to become a member of the Commonwealth, an applicant country should, as a rule, have had a constitutional association with an existing Commonwealth member; that it should comply with Commonwealth values, principles and priorities as set out in the Harare Declaration; and that it should accept Commonwealth norms and conventions.^[78]

South Sudanese politicians have expressed interest in joining the Commonwealth.^[79] A senior Commonwealth source stated in 2006 that "many people have assumed an interest from Israel, but there has been no formal approach".^[80] The State of Palestine is also a potential candidate for membership.^[80]

President Yahya Jammeh unilaterally withdrew the Gambia from the Commonwealth in October 2013.^[81] However, newly elected president Adama Barrow returned the country to the organisation in February 2018.^[82]

Other eligible applicants could be any of the remaining inhabited British Overseas Territories, Crown Dependencies, Australian external territories and the Associated States of New Zealand if they become fully independent.^[83] Many such jurisdictions are already directly represented within the Commonwealth, particularly through the Commonwealth Family.^[84] There are also former British possessions that have not become independent. Although Hong Kong has become part of China, it continues to participate in some of the institutions within the Commonwealth Family, including the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel^[85][86] and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).

All three of the Crown dependencies regard their existing situation as unsatisfactory and have lobbied for change. The States of Jersey have called on the UK foreign secretary to request that the Commonwealth heads of government "consider granting associate membership to Jersey and the other Crown Dependencies as well as any other territories at a similarly advanced stage of autonomy". Jersey has proposed that it be accorded "self-representation in all Commonwealth meetings; full participation in debates and procedures, with a right to speak where relevant and the opportunity to enter into discussions with those who are full members; and no right to vote in the Ministerial or Heads of Government meetings, which is reserved for full members".^[87] The States of Guernsey and the Government of the Isle of Man have made calls of a similar nature for a more integrated relationship with the Commonwealth,^[88] including more direct representation and enhanced participation in Commonwealth organisations and meetings, including Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings.^[89] The Chief Minister of the Isle of Man has said: "A closer connection with the Commonwealth itself would be a welcome further development of the Island's international relationships".^[90]

Suspension

Members can be suspended "from the Councils of the Commonwealth" for "serious or persistent violations" of the Harare Declaration, particularly in abrogating their responsibility to have democratic government.^[91] Suspensions are agreed by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), which meets regularly to address potential breaches of the Harare Declaration. Suspended members are not represented at meetings of Commonwealth leaders and ministers, although they remain members of the organisation.

Nigeria was suspended between 11 November 1995 and 29 May 1999,^[92] following its execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa on the eve of the 1995 CHOGM.^[93] Pakistan was the second country to be suspended, on 18 October 1999, following the military coup by Pervez Musharraf.^[94] The Commonwealth's longest suspension came to an end on 22 May 2004, when Pakistan's suspension was lifted following the restoration of the country's constitution.^[95] Pakistan was suspended for a second time, far more briefly, for six months from 22 November 2007, when Musharraf called a state of emergency.^[96] Zimbabwe was suspended in 2002 over concerns regarding the electoral and land reform policies of Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF government,^[97] before it withdrew from the organisation in 2003.^[98] On 15 May 2018, Zimbabwe applied to rejoin the Commonwealth.^[99]

The declaration of a Republic in Fiji in 1987, after military coups designed to deny Indo-Fijians political power, was not accompanied by an application to remain. Commonwealth membership was held to have lapsed until 1997, after discriminatory provisions in the republican constitution were repealed and reapplication for membership made.^[100][101] Fiji has since been suspended twice, with the first imposed from 6 June 2000^[102] to 20 December 2001 after another coup.^[97] Fiji was suspended yet again in December 2006, following the most recent coup. At first, the suspension applied only to membership on the Councils of the Commonwealth.^[100][103] After failing to meet a Commonwealth deadline for setting a date for national elections by 2010, Fiji was "fully suspended" on 1 September 2009.^[100][103] The secretary-general of the Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma, confirmed that full suspension meant that Fiji would be excluded from Commonwealth meetings, sporting events and the technical assistance programme (with an exception for assistance in re-establishing democracy). Sharma stated that Fiji would remain a member of the Commonwealth during its suspension, but would be excluded from emblematic representation by the secretariat.^[100] On 19 March 2014 Fiji's full suspension was amended to a suspension from councils of the Commonwealth by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, permitting Fiji to join a number of Commonwealth activities, including the Commonwealth Games.^[104] Fiji's suspension was lifted in September 2014.^[105] The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group fully reinstated Fiji as a member following elections in September 2014.^[106]

Most recently, during 2013 and 2014, international pressure mounted to suspend Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth, citing grave human rights violations by the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. There were also calls to change the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2013 from Sri Lanka to another member country. Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper threatened to boycott the event, but was instead represented at the meeting by Deepak Obhrai. UK Prime Minister David Cameron also chose to attend.^[107][108] These concerns were rendered moot by the election of opposition leader Maithripala Sirisena as president in 2015.^[109]

Withdrawal and termination

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As membership is purely voluntary, member governments can choose at any time to leave the Commonwealth. The first state to do so was Ireland in 1948 following its decision to declare itself a republic. At the time, all members accepted the British monarch as head of state as a condition of membership. This rule was changed after Ireland's departure to allow India to retain membership when it became a republic, although Ireland did not rejoin. Pakistan left on 30 January 1972 in protest at the Commonwealth's recognition of breakaway Bangladesh, but rejoined on 2 August 1989. Zimbabwe's membership was suspended in 2002 on the grounds of alleged human rights violations and deliberate misgovernment, and Zimbabwe's government terminated its membership in 2003.^[110] The Gambia left the Commonwealth on 3 October 2013,^[81] and rejoined on 8 February 2018.^[82]

The Maldives withdrew from the Commonwealth on 13 October 2016,^[111][112] citing Commonwealth's "punitive actions against the Maldives since 2012" after the allegedly forced resignation of Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed among the reasons for withdrawal.^[112] Following the election of Ibrahim Mohamed Solih as president in November 2018, the Maldives announced its intention to reapply to join the Commonwealth.^[113] They rejoined on 1 February 2020.^[114]

Although heads of government have the power to suspend member states from active participation, the Commonwealth has no provision for the expulsion of members.

Until 1948, there was a consensus among the existing half-dozen Commonwealth members that Commonwealth realms that became a republic would cease to be members but the situation changed in 1948 when newly independent India announced its intention to become a republic on 1 January 1950 although it wished to remain in the Commonwealth. This was granted. Now, the majority of the Commonwealth members, including all those from Africa, are republics or have their own native monarch.

Ireland withdrew from participation in the Commonwealth in the 1930s, attending its last Commonwealth governmental heads' meeting in 1932. For some years Ireland considered itself to be a republic outside the Commonwealth but the Commonwealth considered Ireland to still be a Commonwealth member. Its treatment as a member ended on 18 April 1949 when Irish legislation that the Commonwealth chose to regard as having caused Ireland to become a republic became law. It is the only country whose membership terminated without any declaration withdrawing from the organisation. Instead, it was (with its own tacit support) excluded from the organisation.

South Africa was barred from continuing as a member after it became a republic in 1961, due to hostility from many members, particularly those in Africa and Asia as well as Canada, to its policy of racial apartheid. The South African government withdrew its application to remain in the organisation as a republic when it became clear at the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference that any such application would be rejected. South Africa was re-admitted to the Commonwealth in 1994, following its first multiracial elections that year.^[115]

The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 ended the territory's status as a part of the Commonwealth through the United Kingdom. Non-sovereign states or regions are not permitted to become members of the Commonwealth. The government of the People's Republic of China has not pursued membership. Hong Kong has nevertheless continued to participate in some of the organisations of the Commonwealth Family, such as the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (hosted the Commonwealth Lawyers Conference in 1983 and 2009), the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (and the Westminster Seminar on Parliamentary Practice and Procedures), the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel,^[85][86] as well as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).

Discover more about Membership related topics

Commonwealth of Nations membership criteria

Commonwealth of Nations membership criteria

The criteria for membership in the Commonwealth of Nations, which apply to current and prospective member states, have been altered by a series of documents issued over the past eighty-two years.

London Declaration

London Declaration

The London Declaration was a declaration issued by the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference on the issue of India's continued membership of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of independent states formerly part of the British Empire, after India's transition to a republican constitution.

Head of the Commonwealth

Head of the Commonwealth

The head of the Commonwealth is the ceremonial leader who symbolises "the free association of independent member nations" of the Commonwealth of Nations, an intergovernmental organisation that currently comprises 56 sovereign states. There is no set term of office or term limit and the role itself involves no part in the day-to-day governance of any of the member states within the Commonwealth. The position is currently held by King Charles III.

Liberty

Liberty

Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant. It is a synonym for the word freedom.

Human rights

Human rights

Human rights are moral principles or norms for certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly protected in municipal and international law. They are commonly understood as inalienable, fundamental rights "to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being" and which are "inherent in all human beings", regardless of their age, ethnic origin, location, language, religion, ethnicity, or any other status. They are applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of being universal, and they are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone. They are regarded as requiring empathy and the rule of law and imposing an obligation on persons to respect the human rights of others, and it is generally considered that they should not be taken away except as a result of due process based on specific circumstances.

Egalitarianism

Egalitarianism

Egalitarianism, or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all humans are equal in fundamental worth or moral status. Egalitarianism is the doctrine that all citizens of a state should be accorded exactly equal rights. Egalitarian doctrines have motivated many modern social movements and ideas, including the Enlightenment, feminism, civil rights, and international human rights.

Free trade

Free trade

Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist and left-wing political parties generally support protectionism, the opposite of free trade.

Harare Declaration

Harare Declaration

The Harare Commonwealth Declaration was a declaration of the Commonwealth of Nations, setting out the Commonwealth's core principles and values, detailing the Commonwealth's membership criteria, and redefining and reinforcing its purpose. The Declaration was issued in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 20 October 1991, during the twelfth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It reaffirmed the political principles laid out in the Singapore Declaration of twenty years before, and is considered one of the two most important documents to the Commonwealth's uncodified constitution, until the adoption of the Charter of the Commonwealth in 2012.

Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term cold war is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported opposing sides in major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The conflict was based on the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945. Aside from the nuclear arsenal development and conventional military deployment, the struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means such as psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, espionage, far-reaching embargoes, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race.

Apartheid

Apartheid

Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap, which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically through minoritarianism by the nation's dominant minority white population. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Indians and Coloureds, then black Africans. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day, particularly inequality.

Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group

Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group

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, and sets the core 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.

Edinburgh Declaration

Edinburgh Declaration

The Edinburgh Declaration was a declaration by the heads of government of the Commonwealth of Nations concerning the organisation's membership criteria. Part of the final communiqué issued at the end of the fifteenth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the Declaration was an endorsement of the report of the Inter-Governmental Group on Criteria for Commonwealth Membership (IGCCM). It was issued on 27 October 1997, in Edinburgh, the United Kingdom.

Objectives and activities

The Commonwealth's objectives were first outlined in the 1971 Singapore Declaration, which committed the Commonwealth to the institution of world peace; promotion of representative democracy and individual liberty; the pursuit of equality and opposition to racism; the fight against poverty, ignorance, and disease; and free trade.^[116] To these were added opposition to discrimination on the basis of gender by the Lusaka Declaration of 1979,^[58] and environmental sustainability by the Langkawi Declaration of 1989.^[117] These objectives were reinforced by the Harare Declaration in 1991.^[118]

The Commonwealth's current highest-priority aims are on the promotion of democracy and development, as outlined in the 2003 Aso Rock Declaration,^[119] which built on those in Singapore and Harare and clarified their terms of reference, stating, "We are committed to democracy, good governance, human rights, gender equality, and a more equitable sharing of the benefits of globalisation."^[120] The Commonwealth website lists its areas of work as: democracy, economics, education, gender, governance, human rights, law, small states, sport, sustainability, and youth.^[121]

Through a separate voluntary fund, Commonwealth governments support the Commonwealth Youth Programme, a division of the Secretariat with offices in Gulu (Uganda), Lusaka (Zambia), Chandigarh (India), Georgetown (Guyana) and Honiara (Solomon Islands).

Competence

In recent years, the Commonwealth has been accused of not being vocal enough on its core values. Allegations of a leaked memo from the Secretary General instructing staff not to speak out on human rights were published in October 2010.^[122]

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2011 considered a report by a Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group (EPG) panel which asserted that the organisation had lost its relevance and was decaying due to the lack of a mechanism to censure member countries when they violated human rights or democratic norms.^[123] The panel made 106 "urgent" recommendations including the adoption of a Charter of the Commonwealth, the creation of a new commissioner on the rule of law, democracy and human rights to track persistent human rights abuses and allegations of political repression by Commonwealth member states, recommendations for the repeal of laws against homosexuality in 41 Commonwealth states and a ban on forced marriage.^[124][125] The failure to release the report, or accept its recommendations for reforms in the area of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, was decried as a "disgrace" by former British Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a member of the EPG, who told a press conference: "The Commonwealth faces a very significant problem. It's not a problem of hostility or antagonism, it's more of a problem of indifference. Its purpose is being questioned, its relevance is being questioned and part of that is because its commitment to enforce the values for which it stands is becoming ambiguous in the eyes of many member states. The Commonwealth is not a private club of the governments or the secretariat. It belongs to the people of the Commonwealth."^[125]

In the end, two-thirds of the EPG's 106 urgently recommended reforms were referred to study groups, an act described by one EPG member as having them "kicked into the long grass". There was no agreement to create the recommended position of human rights commissioner, instead a ministerial management group was empowered with enforcement: the group includes alleged human rights offenders. It was agreed to develop a charter of values for the Commonwealth without any decision on how compliance with its principles would be enforced.^[123]

The result of the effort was that a new Charter of the Commonwealth was signed by Queen Elizabeth on 11 March 2013 at Marlborough House, which opposes "all forms of discrimination, whether rooted in gender, race, colour, creed, political belief or other grounds".^[126][127]

Discover more about Politics related topics

Free trade

Free trade

Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist and left-wing political parties generally support protectionism, the opposite of free trade.

Langkawi Declaration

Langkawi Declaration

The Langkawi Declaration on the Environment was a declaration issued by the assembled Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations on the issue of environmental sustainability. It was issued on October 21, 1989, at Langkawi, Malaysia, during the tenth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Harare Declaration

Harare Declaration

The Harare Commonwealth Declaration was a declaration of the Commonwealth of Nations, setting out the Commonwealth's core principles and values, detailing the Commonwealth's membership criteria, and redefining and reinforcing its purpose. The Declaration was issued in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 20 October 1991, during the twelfth Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It reaffirmed the political principles laid out in the Singapore Declaration of twenty years before, and is considered one of the two most important documents to the Commonwealth's uncodified constitution, until the adoption of the Charter of the Commonwealth in 2012.

Aso Rock

Aso Rock

Aso Rock is a large outcrop of granitic rock located on the outskirts of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The Aso Rock is a 400-metre (1,300 ft) prominent monolith with a peak height of 936-metre (3,071 ft) above sea level. It is one of the city's most noticeable features. The Nigerian Presidential Complex, Nigerian National Assembly, and Nigerian Supreme Court are located around it. Much of the city extends to the south of the rock. "Aso" means victorious in the native language of the Asokoro ethnic group.

Commonwealth Youth Programme

Commonwealth Youth Programme

The Commonwealth Youth Programme, also known as CYP, is an international development agency working with young people between the ages of 15 and 29. Part of the Commonwealth Secretariat, CYP is active in the Commonwealth's 54 member countries. CYP has a head office in London with four centres in Africa, Lusaka, Zambia, Asia Chandigarh, India, Caribbean Georgetown, Guyana and Pacific Honiara, Solomon Islands. Currently there are Four Regional Directors and 16 programme officers plus support staff are working there.

Gulu

Gulu

Gulu is a city in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District.

Chandigarh

Chandigarh

Chandigarh is a union territory and planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the State of Punjab to the north, west and the south, and by the State of Haryana to the east, the states for which it serves as the capital. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which also includes the adjacent satellite cities of Panchkula and Mohali. It is located 260 km north of New Delhi and 229 km southeast of Amritsar.

Georgetown, Guyana

Georgetown, Guyana

Georgetown is the capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is the retail, administrative, and financial services centre of the country, and the city accounts for a large portion of Guyana's GDP. The city recorded a population of 118,363 in the 2012 census.

Honiara

Honiara

Honiara is the capital and largest city of Solomon Islands, situated on the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal. As of 2021, it had a population of 92,344 people. The city is served by Honiara International Airport and the seaport of Point Cruz, and lies along the Kukum Highway.

Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group

Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group

Several Eminent Persons Groups, abbreviated to EPG, have been founded by the Commonwealth of Nations.

LGBT rights by country or territory

LGBT rights by country or territory

Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.

Homosexuality

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to people of the same sex. It "also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions."

Economic data by member

Economies of the Commonwealth of Nations 2012

Member states Population[128][129] (2021) GDP (nominal, US$) GDP (PPP, US$) Comm. realm? millions[130] per capita[131] millions[132] per capita[133]  Antigua and Barbuda 93,219 1,176 12,480 1,778 18,492 Yes  Australia 25,921,089 1,520,608 61,789 1,008,547 41,974 Yes  Bahamas 407,906 8,149 22,431 11,765 31,978 Yes  Bangladesh 169,356,251 115,610 743 291,299 1,777 No  Barbados 281,200 3,685 13,453 — — No  Belize 400,031 1,448 4,059 2,381 6,672 Yes  Botswana 2,588,423 14,411 8,533 34,038 14,746 No  Brunei 445,373 16,954 40,301 21,992 51,760 No  Cameroon 27,198,628 24,984 1,260 50,820 2,359 No  Canada 38,155,012 1,821,424 50,344 1,489,165 40,420 Yes  Cyprus 1,244,188 22,981 30,670 26,720 32,254 No  Dominica 72,412 480 7,154 906 13,288 No  Ghana 32,833,031 40,710 1,570 51,943 1,871 No  Grenada 124,610 790 7,780 1,142 10,837 Yes  Guyana 804,567 2,851 3,408 2,704 — No  India 1,407,563,842 3,049,700 2,171 11,468,022 7,874 No  Jamaica 2,827,695 14,840 5,335 — — Yes  Kenya 53,005,614 37,229 808 76,016 1,710 No  Kiribati 128,874 176 1,649 248 2,337 No  Lesotho 2,281,454 2,448 1,106 4,027 1,691 No  Malawi 19,889,742 4,264 365 14,344 893 No  Malaysia 33,573,874 303,526 9,977 501,249 16,051 No  Maldives 521,457 2,222 6,405 3,070 8,871 No  Malta 526,748 8,722 21,380 12,138 27,504 No  Mauritius 1,298,915 10,492 8,755 20,210 14,420 No  Mozambique 32,077,072 14,588 533 25,805 975 No  Namibia 2,530,151 12,807 5,383 16,918 6,801 No  Nauru 12,511 — — — — No  New Zealand 5,129,727 139,768 36,254 139,640 31,082 Yes  Nigeria 213,401,323 262,606 1,502 449,289 2,533 No  Pakistan 231,402,117 231,182 1,189 517,873 2,745 No  Papua New Guinea 9,949,437 15,654 1,845 20,771 2,676 Yes  Rwanda 13,461,888 7,103 8,874 15,517 1,282 No  Saint Kitts and Nevis 47,606 748 13,144 966 17,226 Yes  Saint Lucia 179,651 1,186 7,154 2,016 11,597 Yes  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 104,332 713 6,291 1,202 10,715 Yes  Samoa 218,764 677 3,485 853 4,475 No  Seychelles 106,471 1,032 12,321 2,371 25,788 No  Sierra Leone 8,420,641 3,796 496 8,125 1,131 No  Singapore 5,941,060 274,701 46,241 328,323 60,688 No  Solomon Islands 707,851 1,008 1,517 1,718 2,923 Yes  South Africa 59,392,255 384,313 8,070 585,625 10,960 No  Sri Lanka 21,773,441 59,421 2,835 126,993 5,582 No  Eswatini 1,192,271 3,747 3,831 6,458 6,053 No  Tanzania 63,588,334 28,249 532 74,269 1,512 No  Tonga 106,017 472 4,152 527 4,886 No  Trinidad and Tobago 1,525,663 23,986 16,699 35,638 25,074 No  Tuvalu 11,204 37 3,636 — — Yes  Uganda 45,853,778 19,881 487 49,130 1,345 No  United Kingdom 67,281,039 3,124,650[134] 38,974 3,174,921 35,598 Yes  Vanuatu 319,137 785 3,094 1,139 4,379 No  Zambia 19,473,125 20,678 1,425 24,096 1,621 No  Commonwealth 2,418,964,000 9,766,209 3,844 13,119,929 4,035 —  Commonwealth (realms) 144,033,000 5,966,408 43,493 4,945,842 36,053 —

Postwar

During the Second World War, the British Empire played a major role in supporting British finances. Foreign exchange reserves were pooled in London, to be used to fight the war. In effect the United Kingdom procured £2.3 billion, of which £1.3 billion was from India. The debt was held in the form of British government securities and became known as "sterling balances". By 1950, India, Pakistan and Ceylon had spent much of their sterling, while other countries accumulated more. The sterling area included all of the Commonwealth except for Canada, together with some smaller countries especially in the Persian Gulf. They held their foreign-exchange in sterling, protecting that currency from runs and facilitating trade and investment inside the Commonwealth. It was a formal relationship with fixed exchange rates, periodic meetings at Commonwealth summits to coordinate trade policy, and domestic economic policies. The United Kingdom ran a trade surplus, and the other countries were mostly producers of raw materials sold to the United Kingdom. The commercial rationale was gradually less attractive to the Commonwealth; however, access to the growing London capital market remained an important advantage to the newly independent nations. As the United Kingdom moved increasingly close to Europe, however, the long-term ties began to be in doubt.^[135]

UK joins the European Economic Community

By 1961, with a sluggish economy, the United Kingdom attempted to join the European Economic Community, but this was repeatedly vetoed by Charles de Gaulle.^[136] Entry was finally achieved in 1973. Queen Elizabeth was one of the few remaining links between the UK and the Commonwealth. Historian Ben Pimlott argues that joining Europe "constituted the most decisive step yet in the progress of severance of familial ties between the United Kingdom and its former Empire... It reduced the remaining links to sentimental and cultural ones, and legal niceties."^[137]

The newly independent countries of Africa and Asia concentrated on their own internal political and economic development, and sometimes their role in the Cold War. The United States, international agencies, and the Soviet Union became important players, and the British role receded. While there was opposition to British entry into the EEC from many countries, such as Australia, others preferred the economic advantages brought by British access to the Common Market.^[138] The historic ties between the former dominion nations and the United Kingdom were rapidly fraying. The Canadian economy increasingly focused on trade with the United States, and not on trade with the United Kingdom or other Commonwealth nations. Internal Canadian disputes revolved around the growing American cultural and economic presence, and the strong force of Quebec nationalism. In 1964 the Maple Leaf flag replaced the Canadian Ensign, to the sorrow of many Anglophiles, with Gregory Johnson describing it as "the last gasp of empire".^[139] Australia and New Zealand were generally opposed to the United Kingdom's entry and exerted considerable influence on the eventual terms of accession in 1972, for which the United Kingdom agreed to transitional arrangements and monetary compensation to protect important export markets.^[140][141] Nevertheless, the implications of British entry into Europe seemed shattering to most Australians, particularly to older people and conservatives. Russell Ward summarises the period in economic terms: "In fact the United Kingdom, as Australia's chief trading partner, was being very rapidly replaced just at this time by the United States and an economically resurgent Japan, but most people were scarcely aware of this.... It was feared that British entry into the Common Market was bound to mean abolition, or at least scaling down, of preferential tariff arrangements for Australians goods."^[142]

Trade

Although the Commonwealth does not have a multilateral trade agreement, research by the Royal Commonwealth Society has shown that trade with another Commonwealth member is up to 50% more than with a non-member on average, with smaller and less wealthy states having a higher propensity to trade within the Commonwealth.^[143] At the 2005 Summit in Malta, the heads of government endorsed pursuing free trade among Commonwealth members on a bilateral basis.^[144]

Following its vote in June 2016 to leave the EU,^[145] some in the United Kingdom suggested the Commonwealth as an alternative to its membership in the European Union;^[146] however, it is far from clear that this would either offer sufficient economic benefit to replace the impact of leaving the EU or be acceptable to other member states.^[147] Although the EU is already in the process of negotiating free trade agreements with many Commonwealth countries such as India and Canada, it took the EU almost ten years to come to an agreement with Canada,^[148][149] due to the challenge associated with achieving the necessary EU-wide approvals.

On 17 December 2021, following the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, Australia and the United Kingdom signed the Australia–United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement, which on ratification will eliminate tariffs and increase opportunities for movement between the two countries.^[150][151]

Discover more about Economy related topics

Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda is a sovereign island country in the West Indies. It lies at the conjuncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17.060816°N latitude and -61.796429°W.

Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population of around 169 million people in an area of 148,460 square kilometres (57,320 sq mi). Bangladesh is among the most densely populated countries in the world, and shares land borders with India to the west, north, and east, and Myanmar to the southeast; to the south it has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal. It is narrowly separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor; and from China by the Indian state of Sikkim in the north. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation's political, financial and cultural centre. Chittagong, the second-largest city, is the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal. The official language is Bengali, one of the easternmost branches of the Indo-European language family.

Barbados

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of 432 km2 (167 sq mi) and has a population of about 287,000. Its capital and largest city is Bridgetown.

Belize

Belize

Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a water boundary with Honduras to the southeast. It has an area of 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 sq mi) and a population of 441,471 (2022). Its mainland is about 290 km (180 mi) long and 110 km (68 mi) wide. It is the least populated and least densely populated country in Central America. Its population growth rate of 1.87% per year is the second-highest in the region and one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Its capital is Belmopan, and its largest city is the namesake city of Belize City. Belize is often thought of as a Caribbean country in Central America because it has a history similar to that of English-speaking Caribbean nations. Belize's institutions and official language reflect its history as a British colony.

Botswana

Botswana

Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It is connected by the Kazungula Bridge to Zambia, across the world’s shortest border between two countries.

Brunei

Brunei

Brunei, formally Brunei Darussalam, is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak. It is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang. Brunei is the only sovereign state entirely on Borneo; the remainder of the island is divided between Malaysia and Indonesia. As of 2020, its population was 460,345, of whom about 100,000 live in the capital and largest city, Bandar Seri Begawan. The government is an absolute monarchy ruled by its Sultan, entitled the Yang di-Pertuan, and implements a combination of English common law and sharia law, as well as general Islamic practices.

Cameroon

Cameroon

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Its coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Due to its strategic position at the crossroads between West Africa and Central Africa, it has been categorized as being in both camps. Its nearly 27 million people speak 250 native languages.

Canada

Canada

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's second-largest country by total area, with the world's longest coastline. It is characterized by a wide range of both meteorologic and geological regions. The country is sparsely inhabited, with most residing south of the 55th parallel in urban areas. Canada's capital is Ottawa and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It is geographically in Western Asia, but its cultural ties and geopolitics are overwhelmingly Southeastern European. Cyprus is the third-largest and third-most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located north of Egypt, east of Greece, south of Turkey, and west of Lebanon and Syria. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. The northeast portion of the island is de facto governed by the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Dominica

Dominica

Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically situated as part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. Dominica's closest neighbours are two constituent territories of the European Union, the overseas departments of France, Guadeloupe to the northwest and Martinique to the south-southeast. Dominica comprises a land area of 750 km2 (290 sq mi), and the highest point is Morne Diablotins, at 1,447 m (4,747 ft) in elevation. The population was 71,293 at the 2011 census.

Ghana

Ghana

Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Togo in the east. Ghana covers an area of 238,535 km2 (92,099 sq mi), spanning diverse biomes that range from coastal savannas to tropical rainforests. With over 32 million inhabitants, Ghana is the second-most populous country in West Africa, after Nigeria. The capital and largest city is Accra; other major cities are Kumasi, Tamale, and Sekondi-Takoradi.

Commonwealth House, the headquarters of the Royal Commonwealth Society

Commonwealth countries share many links outside government, with over a hundred non-governmental organisations, notably for sport, culture, education, law, and charity claiming to operate on a Commonwealth-wide basis.

The Commonwealth Secretariat regulates formal accreditation with the Commonwealth through its Accreditation Committee. The admittance criteria includes upholding a commitment to the Commonwealth Charter. There are currently approximately 80 organisations holding formal accreditation.^[152] These include the Association of Commonwealth Universities which manages the Commonwealth Scholarship allowing students to study in other Commonwealth countries, and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association which links together over 180 Commonwealth parliaments.

Commonwealth Foundation

The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation, resourced by and reporting to Commonwealth governments, and guided by Commonwealth values and priorities. Its mandate is to strengthen civil society in the achievement of Commonwealth priorities: democracy and good governance, respect for human rights and gender equality, poverty eradication, people-centred and sustainable development, and to promote arts and culture.

The Foundation was established in 1965 by the Heads of Government. Admittance is open to all members of the Commonwealth, and in December 2008, stood at 46 out of the 53 member countries. Associate Membership, which is open to associated states or overseas territories of member governments, has been granted to Gibraltar. 2005 saw celebrations for the Foundation's 40th Anniversary. The Foundation is headquartered in Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London. Regular liaison and co-operation between the Secretariat and the Foundation is in place. The Foundation continues to serve the broad purposes for which it was established as written in the Memorandum of Understanding.^[153]

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games are the third-largest multi-sport event in the world, bringing together globally popular sports and peculiarly "Commonwealth" sports, such as rugby sevens, shown here at the 2006 Games in Melbourne.

The Commonwealth Games, a multi-sport event, is held every four years; the 2018 Commonwealth Games were held in Gold Coast, Australia and 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham; the 2026 Commonwealth Games are to be held across Victoria, Australia. As well as the usual athletic disciplines, as at the Summer Olympic Games, the games include sports particularly popular in the Commonwealth, such as bowls, netball, and rugby sevens. Started in 1930 as the Empire Games, the games were founded on the Olympic model of amateurism, but were deliberately designed to be "the Friendly Games",^[154] with the goal of promoting relations between Commonwealth countries and celebrating their shared sporting and cultural heritage.^[155]

The games are the Commonwealth's most visible activity^[154] and interest in the operation of the Commonwealth increases greatly when the Games are held.^[156] There is controversy over whether the games—and sport generally—should be involved in the Commonwealth's wider political concerns.^[155] The 1977 Gleneagles Agreement was signed to commit Commonwealth countries to combat apartheid through discouraging sporting contact with South Africa (which was not then a member), whilst the 1986 games were boycotted by most African, Asian, and Caribbean countries for the failure of other countries to enforce the Gleneagles Agreement.^[157]

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission serves to commemorate 1.7 million Commonwealth war dead and maintains 2,500 war cemeteries around the world, including this one in Gallipoli.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is responsible for maintaining the war graves of 1.7 million service personnel who died in the First and Second World Wars fighting for Commonwealth member states. Founded in 1917 (as the Imperial War Graves Commission), the commission has constructed 2,500 war cemeteries, and maintains individual graves at another 20,000 sites around the world.^[158] The vast majority of the latter are civilian cemeteries in the United Kingdom. In 1998, the CWGC made the records of its buried online to facilitate easier searching.^[159]

Commonwealth war cemeteries often feature similar horticulture and architecture, with larger cemeteries being home to a Cross of Sacrifice and Stone of Remembrance. The CWGC is notable for marking the graves identically, regardless of the rank, country of origin, race, or religion of the buried.^{[159][note 1]} It is funded by voluntary agreement by six Commonwealth members, in proportion to the nationality of the casualties in the graves maintained,^[158] with 75% of the funding coming from the United Kingdom.^[159]

Commonwealth of Learning

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organisation created by the Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning/distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. COL is helping developing nations improve access to quality education and training.

Commonwealth Local Government Forum

The Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) is a global local government organisation, bringing together local authorities, their national associations and the ministries responsible for local government in the member countries of the Commonwealth. CLGF works with national and local governments to support the development of democratic values and good local governance and is the associated organisation officially recognised by Commonwealth Heads of Government as the representative body for local government in the Commonwealth.^[161]

CLGF is unique in bringing together central, provincial and local spheres of government involved in local government policy and decision-making. CLGF members include local government associations, individual local authorities, ministries dealing with local government, and research and professional organisations who work with local government. Practitioner to practitioner support is at the core of CLGF's work across the Commonwealth and within the region, using CLGF's own members to support others both within and between regions. CLGF is a member of the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, the formal partner of the UN Major Group of Local Authorities.^[162]

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Association of Commonwealth Universities

Association of Commonwealth Universities

Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) was established in 1913, and has over 500 member institutions in over 50 countries across the Commonwealth. The ACU is the world's oldest international network of universities. Its mission is to promote and support excellence in higher education for the benefit of individuals and societies throughout the Commonwealth and beyond. It has a combined population of 3 billion, mainly under the age of 30, in Commonwealth countries.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), previously known as the Empire Parliamentary Association, is an organisation which works to support good governance, democracy and human rights.

Parliament

Parliament

In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. The term is similar to the idea of a senate, synod or congress and is commonly used in countries that are current or former monarchies. Some contexts restrict the use of the word parliament to parliamentary systems, although it is also used to describe the legislature in some presidential systems, even where it is not in the official name.

Commonwealth Foundation

Commonwealth Foundation

The Commonwealth Foundation (CF) is an intergovernmental organisation that was established by the Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1966, a year after its sister organisation, the Commonwealth Secretariat. The Foundation is located at Marlborough House in London, a former royal palace which was assigned for the use of these Commonwealth institutions by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Head of the Commonwealth. As the Commonwealth agency for civil society, the Foundation is funded by 49 member states to support participatory governance through its programmes. The Foundation provides resources, grants and access to platforms to encourage better engagement between civil society and institutions of governance. Membership of the Commonwealth Foundation is voluntary and is separate from membership of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Marlborough House

Marlborough House

Marlborough House, a Grade I listed mansion in St James's, City of Westminster, London, is the headquarters of the Commonwealth of Nations and the seat of the Commonwealth Secretariat. It was built in 1711 for Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, the favourite and confidante of Queen Anne. For over a century it served as the London residence of the dukes of Marlborough. It became a royal residence through the 19th century and first half of the 20th. The house was expanded for the Prince of Wales, the future king Edward VII, and became closely associated with the prince in the Victorian era. Queen Mary lived there when she was Princess of Wales and took a special interest in the house; she returned to live there in her widowhood. The building was leased by Queen Elizabeth II to the Commonwealth Secretariat beginning in 1965.

Pall Mall, London

Pall Mall, London

Pall Mall is a street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, Central London. It connects St James's Street to Trafalgar Square and is a section of the regional A4 road. The street's name is derived from pall-mall, a ball game played there during the 17th century, which in turn is derived from the Italian pallamaglio, literally "ball-mallet".

Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, and colloquially referred to as the Coms or Commies are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, have successively run every four years since. The Games were called the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966, and British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974. Athletes with a disability are included as full members of their national teams since 2002, making the Commonwealth Games the first fully inclusive international multi-sport event. In 2018, the Games became the first global multi-sport event to feature an equal number of men's and women's medal events and four years later they are the first global multi-sport event to have more events for women than men.

2006 Commonwealth Games

2006 Commonwealth Games

The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held in Melbourne, Australia between 15 and 26 March 2006. It was the fourth time Australia had hosted the Commonwealth Games. It was also the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.

Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a 9,993 km2 (3,858 sq mi) metropolitan area known as Greater Melbourne, comprising an urban agglomeration of 31 local municipalities, although the name is also used specifically for the local municipality of City of Melbourne based around its central business area. The metropolis occupies much of the northern and eastern coastlines of Port Phillip Bay and spreads into the Mornington Peninsula, part of West Gippsland, as well as the hinterlands towards the Yarra Valley, the Dandenong and Macedon Ranges. It has a population over 5 million, mostly residing to the east side of the city centre, and its inhabitants are commonly referred to as "Melburnians".

Multi-sport event

Multi-sport event

A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of international significance was the Olympic Games, first held in modern times in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and inspired by the Ancient Olympic Games, one of a number of such events held in antiquity. Most modern multi-sport events have the same basic structure. Games are held over the course of several days in and around a "host city", which changes for each competition. Countries send national teams to each competition, consisting of individual athletes and teams that compete in a wide variety of sports. Athletes or teams are awarded gold, silver or bronze medals for first, second and third place respectively. Each game is generally held every four years, though some are annual competitions.

2018 Commonwealth Games

2018 Commonwealth Games

The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, between 4 and 15 April 2018. It was the fifth time Australia had hosted the Commonwealth Games and the first time a major multi-sport had an equal number of events for male and female athletes.

Gold Coast, Queensland

Gold Coast, Queensland

The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately 66 kilometres (41 mi) south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nation's largest non-capital city, and Queensland's second-largest city after Brisbane. The city's Central Business District is located roughly in the centre of the Gold Coast in the suburb of Southport, with the suburb holding more corporate office space than anywhere else in the city. The urban area of the Gold Coast is concentrated along the coast sprawling almost 60 kilometers, joining up with the Greater Brisbane Metropolitan Area to the north and to the state border with New South Wales to the south.

Many Commonwealth nations possess traditions and customs that are elements of a shared Commonwealth culture. Examples include common sports such as cricket and rugby, driving on the left, the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, common law, widespread use of the English language, designation of English as an official language, military and naval ranks, and the use of British rather than American spelling conventions (see English in the Commonwealth of Nations).

Sport

Many Commonwealth nations play similar sports that are considered quintessentially British in character, rooted in and developed under British rule or hegemony, including cricket, football, rugby, field hockey and netball. These ties are particularly strong between the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa across rugby union, cricket, netball, and field hockey, with Australia in rugby league, with the Caribbean nations in cricket and netball, and with the Indian subcontinent in cricket and hockey. Canada, by contrast, is dominated by North American sports, including baseball instead of cricket, basketball rather than netball, ice hockey rather than field hockey and Canadian football, rather than rugby union or league. Canada does, however, maintain small enthusiastic communities in all the more traditional Commonwealth sports, having reached the World Cup in each of them, and is the homeplace of the Commonwealth Games, hosting the inaugural edition in Hamilton in 1930.^[163]

This shared sporting landscape has led to the development of friendly national rivalries between the main sporting nations that have often defined their relations with each other, and in the cases of India, Australia and New Zealand, have played a major part in defining their emerging national character (in cricket, cricket and rugby league, and rugby union respectively). Indeed, said rivalries preserved close ties by providing a constant in international relationships, even as the Empire transformed into the Commonwealth.^[164] Externally, playing these sports is seen to be a sign of sharing a certain Commonwealth culture; the adoption of cricket at schools in Rwanda is seen as symbolic of the country's move towards Commonwealth membership.^[165][166]

The Commonwealth Games, a quadrennial multi-sports event held in the middle year of an Olympic cycle is the most visible demonstration of these sporting ties. The Games include standard multi-sports disciplines like athletics, swimming, gymnastics, and cycling, but also includes sports popular in the Commonwealth that are distinct to the Games such as netball, squash and lawn bowls. They are also more avowedly political than events like the Olympics, promoting what are seen as Commonwealth values; historically, a history of shared military endeavor was celebrated and promoted, parasport and disability sport is fully integrated, and the Commonwealth Games Federation has publicly backed the rights of LGBT people, despite the continuing criminalisation of homosexuality in many Commonwealth countries.

The most recent edition of the games was held in 2022 in Birmingham, England. The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in the state of Victoria, Australia.

Literature

The shared history of British presence has produced a substantial body of writing in many languages, known as Commonwealth literature.^[167][168] The Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies has 11 branches worldwide and holds an international conference every three years.^[169]

In 1987, the Commonwealth Foundation established the annual Commonwealth Writers' Prize "to encourage and reward the upsurge of new Commonwealth fiction and ensure that works of merit reach a wider audience outside their country of origin". Prizes are awarded for the best book and best first book in the Commonwealth; there are also regional prizes for the best book and best first book in each of four regions. Although not officially affiliated with the Commonwealth, the prestigious annual Man Booker Prize, one of the highest honours in literature,^[170] used to be awarded only to authors from Commonwealth countries or former members such as Ireland and Zimbabwe. Since 2014, however, writers of any nationality have been eligible for the prize providing that they write originally in English and their novels are published by established publishers in the United Kingdom.^[171]

There had been a few important works in English prior to 1950 from the then British Empire. From 1950 on, a significant number of writers from the countries of the Commonwealth began gaining international recognition, including some who migrated to the United Kingdom.

South African writer Olive Schreiner

The South African writer Olive Schreiner's famous novel The Story of an African Farm was published in 1883 and New Zealander Katherine Mansfield published her first collection of short stories, In a German Pension, in 1911. The first major novelist, writing in English, from the Indian sub-continent, R. K. Narayan, began publishing in England in the 1930s, thanks to the encouragement of English novelist Graham Greene.^[172] Caribbean writer Jean Rhys's writing career began as early as 1928, though her most famous work, Wide Sargasso Sea, was not published until 1966. South Africa's Alan Paton's famous Cry, the Beloved Country dates from 1948. Doris Lessing from Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, was a dominant presence in the English literary scene, frequently publishing from 1950 on throughout the 20th century. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007.^[173]

Salman Rushdie is another post-Second World War writer from the former British colonies who permanently settled in the United Kingdom. Rushdie achieved fame with Midnight's Children (1981). His most controversial novel, The Satanic Verses (1989), was inspired in part by the life of Muhammad. V. S. Naipaul (born 1932), born in Trinidad, was another immigrant, who wrote among other things A Bend in the River (1979). Naipaul won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001.^[174]

Many other Commonwealth writers have achieved an international reputation for works in English, including Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, and playwright Wole Soyinka. Soyinka won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, as did South African novelist Nadine Gordimer in 1995. Other South African writers in English are novelist J. M. Coetzee (Nobel Prize 2003) and playwright Athol Fugard. Kenya's most internationally renowned author is Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, who has written novels, plays and short stories in English. Poet Derek Walcott, from Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, was another Nobel Prize winner in 1992. An Australian, Patrick White, a major novelist in this period, whose first work was published in 1939, won in 1973. Other noteworthy Australian writers at the end of this period are poet Les Murray, and novelist Peter Carey, who is one of only four writers to have won the Booker Prize twice.^[175]

Political system

Parliament House, New Delhi, India. The Commonwealth Charter states the Commonwealth's commitment to democracy, and many Commonwealth countries use the Westminster system.

Due to their shared constitutional histories, most countries in the Commonwealth have similar legal and political systems. The Commonwealth requires its members to be functioning democracies that respect human rights and the rule of law. Most Commonwealth countries have the bicameral Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association facilitates co-operation between legislatures across the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth Local Government Forum promotes good governance amongst local government officials. Most Commonwealth members use common law, modelled on English law. The Latimer House Principles adopted in 2003 are aware of the separation of powers. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the supreme court of 14 Commonwealth members.^[176]

Symbols

The Commonwealth has adopted a number of symbols that represent the association of its members. The English language is recognised as a symbol of the members' heritage; as well as being considered a symbol of the Commonwealth, recognition of it as "the means of Commonwealth communication" is a prerequisite for Commonwealth membership. The flag of the Commonwealth consists of the symbol of the Commonwealth Secretariat, a gold globe surrounded by emanating rays, on a dark blue field; it was designed for the second CHOGM in 1973, and officially adopted on 26 March 1976. 1976 also saw the organisation agree to a common date on which to commemorate Commonwealth Day, the second Monday in March, having developed separately on different dates from Empire Day celebrations.^[177]

Recognition

In 2009, to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth, the Royal Commonwealth Society commissioned a poll of public opinion in seven of the member states: Australia, Canada, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. It found that most people in these countries were largely ignorant of the Commonwealth's activities, aside from the Commonwealth Games, and indifferent toward its future. Support for the Commonwealth was twice as high in developing countries as in developed countries; it was lowest in the United Kingdom.^{[178][179][180][181]}

Commonwealth Anthem

Also to mark the 60th anniversary (Diamond Jubilee) of the Commonwealth in 2009, the Commonwealth Secretariat commissioned Paul Carroll to compose "The Commonwealth Anthem". The lyrics of the Anthem are taken from the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.^[182] The Commonwealth has published the Anthem, performed by the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra, with and without an introductory narrative.^[183][184]

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Cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a 22-yard (20-metre) pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striking the ball bowled at one of the wickets with the bat and then running between the wickets, while the bowling and fielding side tries to prevent this and dismiss each batter. Means of dismissal include being bowled, when the ball hits the stumps and dislodges the bails, and by the fielding side either catching the ball after it is hit by the bat, but before it hits the ground, or hitting a wicket with the ball before a batter can cross the crease in front of the wicket. When ten batters have been dismissed, the innings ends and the teams swap roles. The game is adjudicated by two umpires, aided by a third umpire and match referee in international matches. They communicate with two off-field scorers who record the match's statistical information.

Rugby football

Rugby football

Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league.

Westminster system

Westminster system

The Westminster system or Westminster model is a type of parliamentary government that incorporates a series of procedures for operating a legislature. This concept was first developed in England.

Common law

Common law

In law, common law is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions.

List of countries by English-speaking population

List of countries by English-speaking population

The following is a list of English-speaking population by country, including information on both native speakers and second-language speakers.

Military rank

Military rank

Military ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships, within armed forces, police, intelligence agencies or other institutions organized along military lines. The military rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibility in a military hierarchy. It incorporates the principles of exercising power and authority into the military chain of command—the succession of commanders superior to subordinates through which command is exercised. The military chain of command constructs an important component for organized collective action.

English in the Commonwealth of Nations

English in the Commonwealth of Nations

The use of the English language in current and former member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited from British colonisation, with some exceptions. English serves as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations.

Association football

Association football

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposite team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing side. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is considered the world's most popular sport.

Field hockey

Field hockey

Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting circle and then into the goal. The match is won by the team that scores the most goals. Matches are played on grass, watered turf, artificial turf, synthetic field, or indoor boarded surface.

Netball

Netball

Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own goal ring. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifically played in schools. Netball is most popularly played in Commonwealth nations.

Rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. Rugby is simply based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.