Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, hosted the recently concluded 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting from June 20 to 25. It had to be postponed from 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. India’s delegation was led by External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar.
This Meeting was special not just because it was held after a gap of four years (the last one was in April 2018), or that it was hosted in Africa after 2007, or even that the host was a new Member, having joined the Commonwealth only in 2009. It was special for several reasons.
This was the first Commonwealth meeting of the Heads of Government held in a country that had not been a part of the erstwhile British empire. Between the First World War and its independence in 1962, French was the language used administratively under the Belgian administration. With the return of large numbers of Tutsi refugees from anglophone Uganda, the usage of English in the administration increased and in 2008, the government changed the medium of education from French to English, though French continues to be taught in schools in Rwanda.
This was the first meeting to be addressed by the Prince of Wales, after being designated as the queen’s successor as head of the Commonwealth by the leaders at the London meeting in 2018, when it was agreed that he will automatically follow the Queen as head of the Commonwealth. The Queen had said earlier it was her "sincere wish" that Prince Charles would follow her in the role. The head role is non-hereditary so is not automatically passed on upon the death of the monarch. The role carries no formal functions and has symbolic significance.
There are growing voices supporting Republican movements in some of the 14 Commonwealth countries outside the UK where the queen is head of state. In November last year, Prince Charles visited Barbados on behalf of the Queen to witness the Caribbean island becoming the world’s newest republic. Some other Caribbean nations are understood to be considering the same course. Another member, Australia, has also appointed a minister for the republic.
In his address to Commonwealth leaders, Prince Charles directly addressed this issue. Saying that the Commonwealth contains within it countries that have had constitutional relationships with the British Royal family, some that continue to do so, and increasingly those that have had none, "I want to say clearly, as I have said before, that each member's constitutional arrangement, as republic or monarchy, is purely a matter for each member country to decide." The Commonwealth is a grouping of mainly former British colonies, he emphasised that it would always be "a free association of independent, self-governing nations".
Another important issue that appeared in the statement was an acknowledgement of the wrongs that shaped the past. “Many of those wrongs”, he said, “belong to an earlier age with different, and in some ways lesser, values." He spoke of his “personal sorrow” and of “slavery's enduring impact”, describing it as “the most painful period of our history". Any talk of reparations would, however, be premature. The UK was one of several western countries to be involved in the slave trade, and as for colonialism, Britain claimed, at one stage, an empire where the sun never set!
Critics of the Commonwealth have long predicted its demise. Most people, anywhere in the world, would be at a loss to describe the role of the Commonwealth or what it represents. This notwithstanding, the Commonwealth remains a network where small and large nations can come to the table as equals. It is not a formal group like NATO or the UN; rather, it is a network of countries that are bound mainly through historical and cultural ties, not formal obligations. Neither is there any formal trade agreement between Commonwealth member states? Instead, it serves as a conduit or platform through which ministers can meet informally and discuss the trading potential. Perhaps its significance lies in its smallest member states, with 32 of the world’s 42 small states being Commonwealth members.
Amongst its notable moments, the organisation can count on its role in the dismantling of the system of apartheid in South Africa. An agreement of Commonwealth leaders on a programme of economic sanctions against the South African regime in 1986 is widely credited with contributing to the end of apartheid. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group also serves as a strong voice of support for democracies. Thus, in 2007, members moved to suspend Pakistan from the Commonwealth for a second time due to the imposition of emergency rule that was judged to be in direct contravention of democracy, rule and law, and “the Commonwealth's fundamental political values”. Pakistan returned to the fold a year later.
For the Commonwealth to remain relevant in the future, it would have to stay focussed on the current and future challenges of its members and look for innovative ways to address these, while finding out-of-the-box solutions. With two more countries joining the Commonwealth at the Kigali meeting, Togo and Gabon, neither of which has any past association with the anglophone world, the Commonwealth seems to have retained its appeal for now.
