Is it time to quit Commonwealth?
Over the next two days, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will try to convince leaders from around the world to get serious about protecting human rights and fighting climate change.
Trudeau will make the pitch during the Commonwealth summit in London, which brings together leaders of the 53 countries belonging to the organization that dates back to the days of the British Empire.
“There’s always an opportunity for me at the Commonwealth to nudge people forward on human rights, on gender equality, on LGBT rights,” Trudeau told The Times of London on the eve of today’s leaders’ phase of the five-day summit. “I’m certainly going to keep that language at the forefront of our approach with our Commonwealth partners.”
On Wednesday, Trudeau met with Queen Elizabeth, who remains the head of the Commonwealth, although Prince Charles is expected to succeed her soon.
While his goals at this year’s summit are laudable, Trudeau should give serious thought to Canada’s continued membership in the Commonwealth.
That’s because the Commonwealth is a costly, obsolete, discredited and ineffectual organization that should be disbanded — not praised and revered.
It has struggled for decades to find a reason for existing beyond historical ties primarily as former British colonies and as a way for poor members to get financial aid from Canada and the only other donor nations, namely Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Indeed, this week’s conference is a prime example of bureaucracy gone crazy. Described as the largest summit ever held in London, the meetings are marked by fancy limousines, outrageously expensive hotel rooms, thousands of bureaucrats and thousands of pages of immediately forgotten documents.
Canada first joined what was then called the British Commonwealth in 1931. It dropped the “British” name after the Second World War. Today, the Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 53 countries, ranging in size from India, with 900 million people, to islands with barely a few thousand.
Its bloated headquarters is in London, where some 300 well-paid staffers are based. Besides the lavish summit meetings, which normally occur every two years, the Commonwealth struggles to pay its bills and finance a few scholarship programs and economic development projects. Significantly, more than 30 countries are far behind in paying their share of the costs. Canada is the second biggest donor, contributing about $12 million a year
At each summit, leaders debate how to improve the organization’s image and to define what it should do or be. It’s failed to do so almost every time.
A major reason is that the organization is a loose collection of nations that have little in common. Leaders include presidents, prime ministers, despots and dictators. Members include some of the world’s most developed nations and some of its least.
It also has zero ability to ensure its members comply with anything that is approved at the summits. For example, it has a terrible record of enforcing nations to live up to human rights standards. In fact, former prime minister Stephen Harper boycotted the 2013 summit in Sri Lanka to protest that country’s human rights violations against its Tamil minority and refusal to investigate possible war crimes. Harper also threatened to withdraw our annual contribution to the Commonwealth.
And at the London summit, Trudeau will have a tough, if not impossible, time selling his arguments on human rights and equality. That’s because three dozen of the 53 nations still have some form of anti-homosexuality laws on their books. To add to the organization’s irrelevance is the fact it’s virtually invisible. Outside of the Commonwealth Games sports event I bet most Canadians know little about the group — and care even less.
At the end of the summit, as always, the leaders will endorse a long communique praising themselves for the work they’ve done and the goals they’ve set. But they’ve been doing that for 60 or more years, with nothing to show for it.
Ultimately, despite its lofty rhetoric, the Commonwealth lacks real purpose, has no teeth to enforce its own decrees and doesn’t change. Because of that, we should simply quit — and do it quickly.