An Essay by Kamalesh Sharma - Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth at 60:the uncut diamondsCommonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh SharmaThe world stood on the cusp of a historic transformation in 1949, when the modern Commonwealth wasfounded. It does so, too, 60 years later in 2009. The abiding strengths of the Commonwealth – in its values,concerns, vitality and foresight – can make it ever more meaningful in its 60th anniversary year and beyond.Kamalesh Sharma,the CommonwealthSecretary-GeneralThe 60th anniversary of the creation of the modernCommonwealth in 2009 is cause for celebration: we are proud tobe part of this great global good. More important, it should spurserious reflection on the Commonwealth’s future direction, in theage of anxieties, promise and flux now upon us. In a fast-changingand ever more challenging world, we must continually ask how weserve our purpose for our 53 member countries, and also for theglobal community beyond. We approach the landmark with a keenawareness both of the enormous achievements of theCommonwealth over 60 years, and the need to build on them.The Commonwealth has indeed served the needs of itsmembership, and will continue to do so. Standing still is not anoption, and never has been: a vital ingredient in theCommonwealth’s success has been the way it has grown andevolved, responding to the challenges of its times.Change and constancy:the 60-year-old CommonwealthThe world of today is shedding the political and economic markersthat were the fixtures of the old global order. The polarity of Eastand West in global politics has all but vanished, and the onebetween North and South in global economics is steadilyevaporating. Centres of political and economic influence havemultiplied, and the global community looks to new guardians andpromoters of the collective good in a rapidly globalising andcompacting world.The Commonwealth is part of this search, and part of the solution. Itis a partner in bolstering the intrinsic strengths of its member states,through building capacity and strengthening institutions, and throughpursuing the values of democracy and public ethics. It also championsthe search for global arrangements which embrace the interests ofthe small and vulnerable in the global community. It believes thatethical and sustainable globalisation can only be inclusiveglobalisation. It advocates development, and also the ends of justice.In 60 years, its challenges have been transformed, its populationand its membership have grown, but the values guiding it haveremained constant. The Commonwealth principles of democracy,freedom, peace, the rule of law and opportunity for all, were setdown and progressively deepened in Singapore in 1971, Harare in1991 and Millbrook in 1995. They were strengthened by the 2003Latimer House Principles defining and differentiating the roles ofthe three pillars of government: the executive, the legislature andthe judiciary. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG)has been the primary safeguard against serious and persistentviolation of those values, as well as being a prime mover in therestoration of those values, and of democratic constitutionalism.These Commonwealth values have found expression in the work ofCommonwealth special envoys in countries across the Caribbean,Africa, Asia and the Pacific – brokering dialogue, and buildingsupport for the institutions of democratic governance.Equally, the Commonwealth has always advocated developmentand worked towards it. The association knows full well that itsmembers seek growth and prosperity. In the World TradeOrganization and other international and regional tradenegotiations, its tireless campaigning for both freer and fairerglobal trade is testimony to this. The lobbying has had practicalback-up in Commonwealth efforts to allow countries to benefitfrom the potential of easier trade access – for instance, throughnegotiating support in Geneva and Brussels for small states, andthrough helping to bring about better trained officials, easiercustoms services, higher standards and new national approaches toexport products and services. The same development stimulus hasbeen achieved in its work on cancelling debt burdens, developingsmall- and medium-sized business strategy and capacity, andunlocking some US$800 million in investment through the variousCommonwealth funds which have been injected into theCaribbean, Africa, Asia and the Pacific.2 The Commonwealth Yearbook 2009

The Commonwealth at 60: the uncut diamondsThe ‘organisation of values’ has been seen most obviously in theCommonwealth’s perennial support for vulnerable and fragilestates, threatened by marginalisation. The clearest sign of itsconcern for equality of opportunity has been its tirelesscampaigning for the interests of its smaller member states – oftenexposed to much more powerful economic forces, yet equally oftenresilient and resourceful, in building societies around the quality oftheir people.The challenges facing this modern Commonwealth today are asgreat as ever. Nearly three-quarters of a billion of its people live indollar-a-day subsistence poverty; 75 million of its children are not inschool, whether primary or secondary. Nearly 30 million of itscitizens carry the HIV virus or AIDS. While its low-lying islands anddeltas face submersion, its deserts expand, its crop yields arepinched and its food prices rise. The Commonwealth is aschallenged as any international organisation in seeing its memberswalk tall on the long and difficult path to democratic stability,economic prosperity and social harmony.Looking back: the Commonwealthin 2008Commonwealth member states have had to cope with themounting global crises of climate change, food security, energy andfinancial turmoil. The task of the association is to establish where itcan add concretely to meeting worldwide challenges, not least byusing its enormous convening power.There is no better example than its contribution in the context ofthe debate on the reform of the international financial institutions.Heads of Government themselves (Kampala, November 2007) hadtasked the Commonwealth Secretariat with looking at how thoseglobal institutions could better reflect the realities and challenges ofthe twenty-first century.We responded by bringing 11 Commonwealth leaders to Londonin June 2008, to address the reform of the Bretton Woodsinstitutions, the continuing quest for coherence across the UnitedNations system, and the coherence and effectiveness of globalenvironmental governance.The resulting Marlborough House Statement established theoverarching principle of inclusiveness, that international institutionsshould be designed to benefit all their members, and shouldtherefore give a voice and platform to all – especially the smallerand developing states.Beyond inclusiveness, the Commonwealth called for the matchingprinciples of legitimacy, responsiveness, flexibility, transparency andaccountability, and effectiveness. All 53 Commonwealthgovernments then formally endorsed the Statement, when ourHeads of Government met on the eve of the UN General Assemblyin New York in September 2008. We will continue to work throughthe UN and the G20 on our inclusive vision of reform of theBretton Woods institutions, while our Commonwealth environmentministers will discuss the issue of global governance in Nairobi,Kenya, in February 2009.Meanwhile a year that began with violence and unrest in the wakeof Kenyan elections ended with collapse and disease in a formerCommonwealth member, Zimbabwe. In Kenya, we played a partboth in observing elections and offering practical support to therebuilding of democratic institutions, above all the electoral andhuman rights commissions. In Zimbabwe we have been vocal inexpressing support and solidarity with the people of that country,and with African efforts to bring about democratic and economicstability. The year saw Pakistan readmitted to the councils of theCommonwealth after successful elections in February, while FijiIslands remains suspended from those councils and on the agendaof CMAG. The Commonwealth has played important roles in otherelections, too, and most notably in Bangladesh, Ghana andMaldives. Having helped introduce a new national constitution inMaldives, the Commonwealth observed elections there that sawthe peaceful transfer of power after two closely and fairlycontested rounds of voting.Our 2008 ministerial agenda, too, saw us placed firmly at the toptable of topicality.• Commonwealth youth ministers in Colombo in April discussedthe vital youth element – in policy, practice and budget – thatshould feature in every government department and decision.• Our health ministers in Geneva in May discussed the potential ofe-health, not just to improve the quality of health services, butalso the quantity – both of services and of people reached.• Law ministers in Edinburgh in July discussed a range of highlytopical subjects, from juvenile justice, to combating corruption,to prison overcrowding.• Sports ministers in Beijing in August discussed the central role ofsport as a tool for the empowerment and education of youngpeople, individually and collectively.• Foreign ministers in New York in September discussed progresson the governmental mandates given to the Commonwealth inUganda last year in areas like climate change and promotingrespect and understanding between different communities.• Finance ministers in St Lucia in October discussed the food, fueland finance crises, and took forward the Heads of Governments’direction on reforming international institutions.• Tourism ministers in London in November discussed ways ofsupporting employment for the poor in the industry, when facedwith a global downturn.And just as importantly, our Commonwealth people have been onthe ground – strengthening election and human rightscommissions, training young people and women entrepreneurs,advising on maritime boundaries, and myriad other tasks in whicha small amount of technical assistance can yield the benefits ofnew and shared best practice, often with investment to follow.Much of the best of Commonwealth work is practical, painstaking,unglamorous and out of sight. It confirms our status as a tried-andtrustedpartner.In any given year, we have more than 450 experts and residentin-house advisers executing 600 small-scale projects, worth some£25 million, in more than 45 developing member states andoverseas territories. Their pursuit is sustainable development andgood governance.The Commonwealth Yearbook 2009 3

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh SharmaLooking ahead: the Commonwealthin 2009 and beyondAs we enter a new year, in which our topicality and relevance willagain define us, I see several continued challenges for 2009 andbeyond.Young people: the future of the CommonwealthYoung people are at the core of those challenges and are central tothe theme the Commonwealth has chosen for its anniversary year:thecommonwealth@60 – serving a new generation.We are a young Commonwealth, with half of our populationunder 25 and a quarter under 5. It is young people who will inheritthe century and live through most of it. They carry a fatefulresponsibility to see us through the dilemmas and dangers we havecreated for ourselves. We need timely, wise and sustainablesolutions. Our attitudes and policies have to equip and empoweryoung people to take on their responsibilities with confidence.A strong element of the Commonwealth vision of youthempowerment should be a sustained and coherent promotion ofyouth entrepreneurship in a way that can embrace the educationsystem, the trade and industry bodies, the national andinternational financing bodies, and above all governments. Manyof our ideas have been pioneering: the Commonwealth YouthProgramme, set up in 1974, was the first of its kind amonginternational organisations. Through it, we have developedsuccessful models of youth training, mentoring and microfinancing,through the CYP and its Youth Credit Initiative. Thechallenge for 2009 is to ensure that governments embrace our bestCommonwealth practice and take it higher and wider. The newgeneration expects and deserves nothing less.The environment: the future of the planetIt is young people, more than any, who are more alive to theenvironmental threats to the planet, which will continue topreoccupy the Commonwealth in 2009. Global warming isbeginning to receive the collective attention it deserves. TheCommonwealth is focusing on the six elements of the Lake VictoriaClimate Change Action Plan, which, from within the largeenvironmental agenda, was adopted at the Kampala CHOGM inNovember 2007. We chose those few, targeted areas where weknew we could make a difference.Efforts continued to encourage wider ownership of the pioneeringCommonwealth initiative in the Iwokrama rainforest in Guyana,both as a model and as an individual project. Its innovative thinkinginvolves private sector funding, local ownership, governmentsupport and international partnership, and the underlyingconviction that a rainforest is worth more alive than dead.In 2008, the Commonwealth initiated a programme of support inenvironmental negotiations for small states, as it has done in thearea of trade for some years. Leading up to the CopenhagenConference in December, the year 2009 will be a significant one inglobal environmental negotiations. Linked to them are theCommonwealth’s attempts to advance recognition of the fracturedand thereby diminished impact of current instruments for ‘global’environmental governance. Our environment ministers may wellwiden the Commonwealth remit when they meet in Nairobi inFebruary 2009.Women: the ‘litmus test’ of developmentWith the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),the world community gave itself – for the first time – a universalset of targets. Within these, those affecting women constitute the‘litmus test’ of core development. The Commonwealth recognisesthis, and works for it. It adopted a long-term Plan of Action forGender Equality in 2005. Its work in fields such as women’sentrepreneurship, gender-sensitive budgeting and the role ofwomen in governance is already recognised. This solidarity of theCommonwealth in the advancement of women’s rights and causes,through advocacy and engagement, must continue and bestrengthened.Technology: a catalyst for developmentTechnology is now a prime enabler and solution provider to thechallenges of development, whether through ICT penetration,distance learning or e-services. The Commonwealth should lift itsimpact through its Commonwealth Connects programme, andother means, to assist in the building of digital bridges to overcomethe development divide. The scope of networking and interactivetools also opens up the field of connectivity between memberstates. There are huge potential benefits in sharing information,disseminating best practices and opening channels of collaboration.We therefore intend to explore the creation of a portal as aPartnership Platform – a web resource that can function as amarketplace for the sharing of best developmental and democraticpractice across the Commonwealth.Collective action and partnership: a global communityThe Commonwealth works in concert with the like-minded. Ourwork thus far with bodies affiliated to the UN, and otherinternational and regional bodies, illustrates the theme that if anorganisation is looking out on its members’ and the world’sinterest, it must partner with the rest of the world, and make itsown best thinking and practice available beyond its borders.On its own, the Commonwealth – not unlike other, much betterendowed organisations – does not have the capacity or theleverage to meet all its goals. Hence the need to build alliances andstrategic partnerships, towards shared purposes.Commonwealth ideas have been taken up by the World Bank onsmall states, by the World Health Organization on migratingdoctors and nurses, by the International Labour Organization onmigrating teachers, and by the UN system on indicators of youthdevelopment. Our support and expertise have been enlisted by theEuropean Union and the African Union on building governance inAfrica, and by the EU and the Pacific Islands Forum on buildinggovernance in the Pacific. Perhaps best known, theCommonwealth initiatives of bilateral and multilateral debt relief(first discussed at our Finance Ministers Meetings of 1987 and1997 respectively) have led to well over US$100 billion worth ofdebt burden removed and funds redeployed where they are mostneeded, especially in health and education.4 The Commonwealth Yearbook 2009

The Commonwealth at 60: the uncut diamondsYoung people at an election rallySeen from afar, this might be taken as ‘globalisation by accident’.Wisdom is a resource to be shared, and the Commonwealth cando more – in new working relationships, new funding partnershipsand in information-sharing as we build on our own 53-nation,public-, private and third-sector network, and make it available toothers.The Commonwealth past, present,future: moving with the timesThe modern Commonwealth has been an association that hasmade historic contributions appropriate for the times. More thanany other organisation, it introduced in the post-colonial era thepioneering idea of a diverse and emerging internationalcommunity, with a common stake in the world. It steppedseamlessly from the old world into the new. This was amomentous development, progressively achieved. A collaborativebody of nations emerged, representing enormous differences, yetat peace with itself and engaged towards the shared purpose ofshaping a better world.It did not shy away from the hard political task posed by obdurate,racist states in Southern Africa resisting the tide of Africanindependence. The Commonwealth was the organisation that tookup the gauntlet and helped to navigate this historic and torridpassage.The Commonwealth was saved from the sterility of the Cold Warand moved quickly to grasp the opportunities of the post-Cold Warera. It established a body of far-reaching governance benchmarks,which have no parallel elsewhere. In turn, these have influencedstandard-setting in both regional and global organisations. Itmoved its progressive agenda across a broad front of stakeholders,including the third sector and the private sector.The Commonwealth is now tooling itself for the challenges andopportunities of the twenty-first century. As a versatile, responsive,creative organisation, unhampered by self-regulation – alwayscontemporary in spirit and style – it is eminently equipped to do soin the face of today’s threats and opportunities, and to continue toexercise the core wisdom function which is more sorely needed nowthan ever. The world has seen the escalating globalisation of factorsof production, connectivity, communication, economic and culturallife, movement of people, the civil society and – unfortunately – theuncivil society as well. In the light of the critical challenges before us,it would be well served by the globalisation of wisdom. TheCommonwealth has shown itself to be capable of addressing thisdeficit: it is and will remain a force for enlightened change.This is the ‘globalist’ Commonwealth within a ‘globalising’ world.Globalism is different from globalisation: it is an actively pursuedmindset, which sees the world as joined and interdependent, andforges collective responses to shared challenges. The Commonwealthis uniquely placed to do that. Simply put, it should enhance its statusas an enlightened and engaged actor on the world stage.This is the Commonwealth at 60 – lifted by and alive to what it hasachieved, but ever more mindful of the need to move onwards,outwards, upwards. The hexagenerian, on its diamond anniversary,has cause to examine its precious stones. Many of its diamonds areproudly worn – while as many are as yet uncut.January 2009The Commonwealth Yearbook 2009 5