2. Introduction
The Commonwealth of Nations
formerly known as British
Commonwealth.
Intergovernmental Organization.
54 independent member states.
3. Main Objective
To Promote
◦ Democracy.
◦ Human rights.
◦ Good governance.
◦ Rule of law.
◦ Individual liberty.
◦ Equality among people.
◦ Free trade.
◦ International Relations.
◦ World peace.
4. Head Of
Commonwealth
Queen Elizabeth ll since 6
February 1952.
Secretary General
◦ Kamalesh Sharma since 1 April
2008.
5.
6. Commonwealth
Secretariat
Established In 1965
The main intergovernmental
agency of the Commonwealth.
Facilitating, consultation and
cooperation among member
governments and countries.
7. Secretariat
The Commonwealth of Nations is
represented in the United
Nations General Assembly by the
Secretariat, as an observer.
Organizes Commonwealth
summits, meetings of ministers,
consultative meetings and
technical discussions.
8. Background
The Commonwealth consists
almost entirely of countries which
were once part of the British
empire.
Burma, on becoming
independent, chose not to join.
9. Decolonization
The old Dominions were
confirmed in their independence
by the 1931 Statute of
Westminster.
India and Pakistan became
independent in 1947.
10. Members
by 1965 the Commonwealth
member states numbered 22
by 1985 : 49
by 2006 : 53
In Present : 54
11. Members
The largest member of the Commonwealth
is Canada, at nearly 10 million square
kilometers.
The most populous Commonwealth country
is India, with nearly 1.1 billion people.
The smallest member is Nauru, with only
13,000 inhabitants.
The Commonwealth also includes the
world's driest and most sparsely populated
12.
13. States Detached
1949 – Ireland
1961 – South Africa
readmitted in 1994
( Hedrick Verwoerd unsuccessful
assassination)
(Sharpeville massacre
demonstration)
1972 – Pakistan left
readmitted in 1989
15. Organizations
The Commonwealth of
Learning (COL) is an
intergovernmental organization
created by the Heads of
Government to encourage the
development and sharing of open
learning/distance education
knowledge.
16. The Commonwealth Games
a multi-sport event is held every
four years.
the goal is promoting relations
between Commonwealth
countries and celebrating their
shared sporting and cultural
heritage.
17. The Commonwealth War
Graves Commission (CWGC)
responsible for maintaining
the war graves of 1.7 million
service personnel that died in the
First and Second World Wars
fighting for Commonwealth
member states.
18. The Commonwealth Business
Council (CBC) was formed
at 1997
The aim was to utilize the global
network of the Commonwealth
more effectively for the promotion
of global trade and investment for
shared prosperity.
19. Commonwealth Events
CHOGM Commonwealth Heads Of
Government Meeting, which is held
after every 2 years.
CGF Commonwealth Games
Federation, games event held after
every 4 years.
22. Commonwealth
Benefits
All members have seen the
advantages of remaining in a
group, that bridges the gap
between the world’s ‘north’ and
‘south’.
It has survived bitter disputes, and
even wars, between its members.
23. What does the
commonwealth do?
Have assistance which monitor
elections in different countries.
Training of judges.
Teachers training.
Scholarships for students.
Training of medical persons.
Commonwealth heads meet with
government to discuss how to work
together.
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.
Humanrightsinitiative.org
Fiji had seen four definitive coups in the past two decades. At the heart of the previous three of these lay the tensions between the ethnic Fijians and Indian Fijians.
Religion played a significant role; the majority of ethnic Fijians belong to the Methodist church whereas the majority of the Indians are Hindu.
The suspensions of Fiji, Nigeria and
Zimbabwe were moves intended to encourage a return to democracy in those countries.
In each coup, one of the sides sought to establish reduced rights for the Indian Fijians; the other side sought to grant greater rights and equality to the Indian Fijians.
The coups of 1987 led by Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka resulted in a constitution that ensured that Indian Fijians could only have less than half of all seats in parliament and banned Indians from the post of prime minister.
The coup of 2000 by George Speight removed the elected Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudry, who is a Hindu of Indian origin.
The church in Fiji frequently played a significant role—Methodist church leaders supported the 2000 coup and the subsequent proposal to pardon those involved. Even the possibility of declaring Fiji a theocratic Christian state was proposed in the past.[4] This has brought Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama, leader of the December 2006 coup, in conflict with the Methodist church in the past.
Issues discussed include international peace and security, democracy, good governance, sustainable development, debt management, education, environment, gender equality, health, human rights, information and communication technology, law, multilateral trade issues, small states and youth affairs.
The 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 15 to 17 November.
