1. Commonwealth

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.

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

13. States Detached
 1949 – Ireland
 1961 – South Africa
readmitted in 1994
( Hedrick Verwoerd unsuccessful
assassination)
(Sharpeville massacre
demonstration)
 1972 – Pakistan left
readmitted in 1989

14. Membership
Suspended
 Fiji’s membership was
suspended from 2000 to 2001,
and again in 2006
 Zimbabwe in 2002–3
 Pakistan’s from 1999 to 2004

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.

20. Commonwealth Events

21. Commonwealth Events

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.

24. Questions?