Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations is an international organisation that evolved out of the British Empire. It was informally established in 1926 as a result of the Imperial Conference, but was formally recognised under the terms of the Statute of Westminster, 1931. Between 1931 and 1949, the membership consisted entirely of the United Kingdom and the Dominions. A republic was banned from membership until 1949, when India was granted permission to remain a member after becoming a republic in 1950. Ireland was a member until it withdrew to become the Republic of Ireland.

Name of the organisation

Although the organisation is officially known as the Commonwealth of Nations, it is more commonly known as the British Commonwealth, or as the Commonwealth for short.

Administration

Like the United Nations, the British Commonwealth is led by a Secretary-General, but Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain is the Head of the Commonwealth.

Membership

Since 1950, the membership of the British Commonwealth has expanded, not only to include the Dominions, but republics, and several local monarchies. In theory, a colony or Dominion has to seek permission to remain a member after becoming a republic. This is usually granted, but there has been a couple of instances where permission has been refused. South Africa was refused to continue its membership in 1961, because of international criticism of its apartheid policies. Fiji's membership was deemed to have lapsed as a result of Sitiveni Rabuka's coups d'etat and proclamation of Fiji as a republic in October 1987.

Membership of the British Commonwealth is purely voluntary. Member states are free to withdraw for whatever reason they choose. Pakistan withdrew in January 1972 in protest at the recognition of the secession of East Pakistan and its independence under the name of Bangladesh. Pakistan attempted to rejoin later in the 1970's and 1980's ,but its application to rejoin was vetoed by the Government of India, because of the ongoing dispute over Jammu and Kashmir. It was eventually allowed to rejoin in October 1989. Zimbabwe withdrew from the British Commonwealth in December 2003 in protest at the international community's opposition to the ZANU-PF regime's controversial land seizure policy and the regime's human rights abuses.

A member state can have its membership suspended, which means that the country concerned is not allowed to send representatives to any meetings such as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.For example, Nigeria had its membership suspended between 1995 and [[1999] as a protest against the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists by the military regime of General Sani Abacha. Fiji has had its membership suspended in 2000 to 2001 and since 2006, due to coups having occurred there.

Since 1995, the decision to admit Cameroon and Mozambique has proved to be extremely controversial,as only a small part of Cameroon was ever under British rule, and Mozambique is a former Portuguese colony. In late 2006, Rwanda has reportedly applied for membership, but it has attracted a lot of criticism, as Rwanda is a former Belgian colony. There has been calls since 1991 for the unrecognised Republic of Somaliland to be granted both international recognition as an independent state and full membership of the British Commonwealth.

Commonwealth Games

Since 1930, the athletes of the British Commonwealth has come together in an Olympic Games-type atmosphere every four years, halfway between each Olympiad. The first Commonwealth Games (then called the Empire Games) was held in Hamilton, Ontario.

See also

• British Commonwealth numismatics
• Commonwealth Games
• Commonwealth Games Federation
• Dominion
• British Commonwealth republic
• Secretary-General of the Commonwealth

Official website

• The official website of the British Commonwealth.