Citizenship and the Commonwealth The Active Commonwealth ...

Citizenship in the Commonwealthpeoples will initially find themselves stateless, living in a refugee camp.From there, many will enter rehabilitation centres before attempts toreintegrate them into a community where the new citizen will be acceptedor rejected by the community. (In situations where women have beenthe targets of war, restoring the dignity of female citizens can be a crucialfactor.) New citizens that are accepted into a community take part incommunity rituals which act as a cleansing process. Rehabilitation andreintegration are therefore key to helping those in post-conflict situationsto become ‘new’ citizens.With its commitment to helping the marginalised, the Commonwealthcould have a role in helping these young people, who, if ignored,could become criminals and cause insecurity to other citizens. TheCommonwealth is already working with young people formerly engagedin conflict, particularly in its Northern Uganda Youth Development Centre.The Centre’s work on education and employment could be expandedto include education about young people’s rights and responsibilities ascitizens, as well as engaging them in campaigns to educate other citizensand end stigma for their children.Citizens with dementia: the meaning of citizenship in the light of cognitivedecline (Speaker: Ruth Bartlett, University of Bradford)Dementia literally means ‘without mind’. Dementia is a collection ofdisorders, including Alzheimer’s disease and affects a person’s abilityto think, reason, and communicate. It is incurable and is a global healthproblem.With the widespreaduse of the internet,people with disabilitiesand illnesses can beactive citizens even athomePeople with a disability havereceived scant attention incitizenship discourse. For peoplewith dementia, citizenship is asmuch about recognition as it isabout access to rights. People withhealth problems are increasinglyprepared to accept their diagnosisand use it as the basis for socialaction.28