Commonwealth of Nations - History, Purpose, Structure, Members, Importance, Issues & More

Commonwealth of Nations is a global intergovernmental organization of nations, mainly former territories of the British Empire and dependencies. The organization was constituted by the London Declaration in 1949. Queen Elizabeth II, the Commonwealth's insignia, is regarded as the head of the Commonwealth nations. Many nations from Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific have joined and possess membership in the Commonwealth. The present membership includes 56 nations, and the membership is based on free and equal voluntary cooperation. The headquarters of the Commonwealth of Nations is in London.

In this article, let us look at the Commonwealth of Nations, its background, Commonwealth of Nations members, the organization’s structure, Commonwealth Secretariat, importance and issues with the Commonwealth, India, and Commonwealth for the UPSC IAS Examination as the topic is important from the context of International Relations section which is a part of UPSC mains GS 2 paper.

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Latest Updates

• Gabon and Togo joined the Commonwealth as its 55th and 56th members.
  • The Commonwealth of Nations has acknowledged Gabon and Togo as its 55th and 56th members. Both nations are former French colonies.
  • The organization's leaders accepted applications by the two West African nations at the concluding session of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.
  • Rwanda was the last nation to join the Commonwealth in 2009.
  • Gabon is a sparsely populated nation of two million people, adjoining Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo.
  • Ghana, Benin, and Burkina Faso bound Togo. It has a population of almost 7.8 million people.
  • Neither of these Commonwealth countries has a historical association with the Commonwealth, with both obtaining independence from France in the 1960s.
• Maldives re-joined the Commonwealth as its 54th member.
• The Maldives re-joined the Commonwealth more than three years after the island nation pulled out of the Commonwealth in 2016 amidst mounting criticism of its human rights.
• Maldives has been officially reinstated into the Commonwealth as its 54th member nation.

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What is the Commonwealth of Nations?

The Commonwealth of Nations, formerly the British Commonwealth, consists of fifty-six states that were once under British colonial rule. These states declared sovereignty and gained self-governance from the British Empire. The Commonwealth declares its member nations to be "free and equal," with Queen Elizabeth II serving as the symbolic head of the association. Although not legally bound, the member nations are united by language, history, culture, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. The Commonwealth Charter outlines their shared values, and the Commonwealth Games, held every four years promote harmony among member states. Some former British mandates, such as Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, and others, did not become members of the Commonwealth.

Quick Overview of the Commonwealth

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Commonwealth of Nations – Historical Background

The Commonwealth has its roots in the imperial conferences of the late 19th and early 20th centuries when some of the colonies within the British Empire started to acquire larger autonomy and became more independent.

The timeline of the Commonwealth Organizations has been listed below:

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Purpose of the Commonwealth of Nations

• The Commonwealth's initial purpose, outlined in the 1971 Singapore Declaration, encompassed world peace, representative democracy, individual liberty, equality, opposition to racism, poverty eradication, healthcare improvement, and free trade.
• Subsequent declarations, such as the Lusaka Declaration of 1979 and the Langkawi Declaration of 1989, added opposition to gender discrimination and environmental sustainability, respectively.
• The Harare Declaration of 1991 further strengthened the Commonwealth's purposes.
• The current highest-priority focuses, according to the 2003 Aso Rock Declaration, include encouraging democracy, promoting development, ensuring good governance, upholding human rights, achieving gender equality, and distributing the benefits of globalization more equitably.
• The Commonwealth's areas of work, as listed on its website, cover democracy, economics, education, gender, governance, human rights, law, small states, sport, sustainability, and youth.
• The Commonwealth Youth Program, supported by voluntary funding from member governments, operates in various locations worldwide to empower and engage young people.

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Structure of Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth, frequently mentioned as a ‘family’ of nations, has three intergovernmental organizations as its heart, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head.

Head of the Commonwealth

According to the London Declaration, Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Commonwealth, a designation that is by law a part of Elizabeth’s royal titles in each of the Commonwealth realms, the 15 member states of the organization that acknowledge her as their monarch.

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

• This is the main decision-making forum of the organization, where Commonwealth heads of states gather once in two years to analyze matters of common interest.
• The head of the government who hosts the CHOGM is termed the chair-in-office (CIO) and holds the place until the next CHOGM.

Commonwealth Secretariat

• The Commonwealth Secretariat, constituted in 1965, is the primary intergovernmental agency of the Commonwealth, facilitating consultation and cooperation among member governments and nations and is accountable to them collectively. The Commonwealth of Nations is represented by the secretariat as an observer in the United Nations General Assembly.
• The secretariat arranges Commonwealth summits, meetings of ministers, advisory meetings, and technical discussions; it aids in policy development and offers policy advice, and enables multilateral communication among the member governments.
• It also offers technical support to help governments in the social and economic advancement of their nations and in support of the Commonwealth’s key political values.
• The secretariat is headed by the Commonwealth secretary-general, who is chosen by the Commonwealth heads of government for not more than two four-year terms. The secretary-general and two deputy secretaries-general guide the divisions of the Secretariat.
• The present secretary-general is Patricia Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal from Dominica, who assumed charge on 1st April 2016, succeeding Kamalesh Sharma of India (2008–2016). Arnold Smith of Canada (1965–75) was the first secretary-general of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Commonwealth Citizenship and High Commissioners

• At first, Commonwealth nations were not considered to be “foreign” to one another as their inhabitants were British subjects. Citizenship laws have developed separately in each of the Commonwealth nations.
• A few member states handle resident citizens of other Commonwealth nations preferentially to people of non-Commonwealth nations. Britain and various others, largely in the Caribbean, provide the right to vote to Commonwealth citizens who live in those nations.
• The close relationship amongst Commonwealth nations is evident in the diplomatic protocols of the Commonwealth nations. For instance, when engaging bilaterally with each other, Commonwealth nations swap high commissioners rather than ambassadors.

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Member Countries of the Commonwealth of Nations

• Membership in the Commonwealth is open to nations that share the association's basic aims and have a current or past constitutional connection with the United Kingdom or another Commonwealth member.
• The Commonwealth consists of 56 nations spread across Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific.
• Out of the member nations, 32 are classified as small states, making them vulnerable to factors like climate change and development challenges.
• The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) convenes every 2 years for member nations to discuss global and Commonwealth-related issues.
• Within the Commonwealth, all member nations have an equal voice, regardless of their size or wealth, ensuring that even the smallest nations have a say in shaping the association.

Commonwealth of Nations Members
Africa	Caribbean and Americas
Botswana Cameroon The Gambia Ghana Kenya Kingdom of Eswatini Lesotho Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Nigeria Rwanda Seychelles Sierra Leone South Africa Uganda United Republic of Tanzania Zambia	Antigua and Barbuda The Bahamas Belize Canada Dominica Grenada Guyana Jamaica Saint Lucia St Kitts and Nevis St Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago
Asia	Pacific
Bangladesh Brunei Darussalam India Malaysia Maldives Pakistan Singapore Sri Lanka	Australia Fiji Kiribati Nauru New Zealand Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu
Europe
Cyprus Malta United Kingdom

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Importance of Commonwealth

• From the Indian perspective, the Commonwealth provides opportunities to reach out to small states that constitute around 60% of Commonwealth members. In some of these nations, India has no diplomatic presence, and establishing relations with these nations might aid India secure crucial votes during UN or multilateral contests it may be involved in.
• On a geo-political scale, the Commonwealth of Nations remains to be an impressive show of the force of a peaceful partnership.
• For India, it gives an excellent chance to give shape to a model of global cooperation and partnership different from that of China.
• It is also a wider network of nations than any other, apart from the UN, which provides an opportunity for smaller nations to have their voices heard and make their projects and issues known.
• It also remains a pretty good platform for development aid, democratic values, and educational opportunities, but its significance is not likely to rise unless it adopts a more egalitarian and inclusive stance to its next generation of Commonwealth citizens.

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Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)

• The primary decision-making forum of the organization is the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), where Commonwealth heads of government, including prime ministers and presidents, gather for several days to discuss topics 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.
• Regular meetings of finance ministers, law ministers, health ministers, etc. are also convened. Members in arrears, as special members before them, are not called upon to send delegates to either ministerial meetings or CHOGM.
• The head of the government hosting the CHOGM is termed the chair-in-office (CIO) and holds the position until the subsequent CHOGM. From the most recent CHOGM that was held in 2018 in the United Kingdom, the prime minister of the United Kingdom has remained the chair in the office.
• The 26th CHOGM was first to be held in Kigali, Rwanda, in June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed to be held there on 25-26 June 2022. It was also accompanied by meetings of a Commonwealth Youth Forum, a Commonwealth Women’s Forum, and a Commonwealth People’s Forum.
• Till now, there have been 24 CHOGMs held since 1971.

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India and Commonwealth

India has been involved in every important part of the Commonwealth network of institutions, and it is one of its top sources of funds, experts, and training. It also accounts for a huge share of trade among the member nations.

• India was a dominion from 1947 to 1950 until our constitution became effective.
• The constituent assembly of India approved the association's membership in 1949, proclaiming the extension of full membership.
• India convened the 24th commonwealth summit in New Delhi in 1983.
• In the fiscal year 2015–2016, India was the fourth-largest contributor to the Commonwealth’s budget and the third-largest financier of its joint office at the United Nations in New York.
• India has been playing a significant role at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
• India provides many experts to several programs of the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation, the most significant proportion of CFTC experts provided by any evolving nation of the Commonwealth.
• The GOI hosted the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) meeting in New Delhi in 2002. The board's ‘Good Practice Scheme’ was enacted in India after this meeting.
• Indian expertise has been employed in building distance education capacity in other parts and the Commonwealth through the Commonwealth of Learning.
• The 19th Commonwealth Games (CWG) was convened by India in New Delhi in 2010.
• The 53rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) held in September 2007 was conducted in New Delhi.
• India is the third largest contributor to the Commonwealth Youth Program’s (CYP) budget.
• There are a few reasons behind India’s political interest in the Commonwealth.
  • First, the membership of the Commonwealth virtually spans the entire world. For India, membership in the Commonwealth helps strengthen its bilateral links with individual nations.
  • Since 60 percent of the Commonwealth members are small states, there exists rising importance for India’s foreign policy among them.
  • Commonwealth-wide prevalence of Indian diaspora.

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Issues with the Commonwealth

• The Commonwealth has no political or economic power, and even previous immigration benefits between Commonwealth nations have ceased.
• Amid the calls for the position of Commonwealth Head to be more democratically shared or rotated, the declaration of Prince Charles as the successor has also put a dent in its democratic credentials.
• Given its reduced importance, former Indian PM Manmohan Singh skipped two CHOGM meets, while Narendra Modi didn’t attend the last meeting in Malta in 2015.

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Conclusion

The Commonwealth of Nations is a political organization comprising 56 member states, almost all of which were once British colonies. The Commonwealth of Nations is descended from the British Empire. However, any nation can join the Commonwealth as a member. The membership of the Commonwealth virtually stretches across the entire globe. For any country, Commonwealth membership assists in creating new diplomatic ties and helps strengthen the existing bilateral links with individual nations.

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