Commonwealth secretary general underscores importance of organisation to world development
COMMONWEALTH SECRETARY General, Patricia Scotland, on Friday underscored the importance of the Commonwealth to the continued future development of the international community. Delivering the inaugural Commonwealth Lecture at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), commemorating the 75th anniversary of the voluntary association of 56 independent countries, Scotland acknowledged that while “sometimes our experience is uncomfortable… there is no escape from the truth that the Commonwealth’s story is one of a family at times scarred by old hurts and resentments”.
“Why would countries which were former colonies willingly decide to create such a union based on equality and friendship?” she questioned.
“I asked my father the same question. The answer is a combination of principle and practicality which means that the reality of the modern Commonwealth is remarkable and hopeful precisely because of our difficult history. Today, we meet as equals.”
Scotland described the myriad achievements of the Commonwealth since its formation, recalling that the late Queen Elizabeth II had observed a Commonwealth which “bears no resemblance to the empires of the past – an entirely new conception, built on the highest qualities of the spirit of man: friendship, loyalty and the desire for freedom and peace – and an equal partnership of nations and races”.
“From that initial group of eight, the Commonwealth today stands as a voluntary association of 56 independent sovereign states, spread across five continents and six oceans. At 2.5 billion people, 60 per cent of whom are under the age of 30, we encompass around a third of the world’s population,” said the secretary general.
“We comprise developed and developing economies; island states and landlocked states; some of the largest populations of any country in the world, and some of the smallest; five of the 10 fastest growing cities on the planet; and some of the most remote indigenous communities.”
LARGEST ASSOCIATION OF DEMOCRATIC NATIONS
Scotland told the audience that the enduring strength of “our connections and relationship” came to the fore when Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley was able to lead the island into a new constitutional era “calmly and without rancour, while continuing to be a powerful force within the Commonwealth and around the world”.
“Each of our member states is different, with different history, and different experiences. But each is united in active, engaged membership of the modern Commonwealth, bound by the blend of practical advantages, common interests, shared values, which make the Commonwealth unique,” she said.
She said arising from all this is an essential truth that t he Commonwealth is the world’s largest association of democratic nations “which is bound, above all, by values to which we all aspire: the values enshrined in our groundbreaking Charter”.
“The strength of our combination of advantages, interests and values shines in the fact that, with a multilateral system under strain, the Commonwealth as a multilateral organisation is growing precisely because of what we stand for and what we can deliver,” said the secretary general.
“We have difficult conversations in a constructive spirit; and we face the world’s challenges together. This has been the Commonwealth’s hallmark,” she said, adding that the modern Commonwealth is an “enigma of diversity and equality”.
“If it wasn’t like this, if it didn’t so confound its own history, and if it were not brave enough to look evil straight in the face and call it what it is, then it would not survive, and I certainly would not be secretary general,” she said, noting that the Commonwealth’s interventions over the years “have been groundbreaking, and have often shifted the dial”.
She continued, “And today, in the face of the enormous challenges which are thrust upon us, we must have the courage to break new ground and shift the dial again. We are living in a world which is under enormous pressure. Tightly bound by a tangled knot of crises spanning global systems. A world still living with the social, political and economic consequences of COVID-19. A world of crippling debt, inflation and high interest rates, of spiralling costs for food and energy.
“A world which is rocked by the tremors of instability and conflict in which the process, culture and institutions of democracy are under threat. And as we attempt to navigate these straits, all the time, our nations are buffeted by the increasingly harsh impacts of climate change.”
‘GRAVE AND SERIOUS CRISIS’
Scotland said that each of these challenges can be characterised as a “grave and serious crisis,” but they interconnect, entwine and worsen one another.
“What we feel in our lives is the relationship between these crises and the unique political, economic, social and geographical circumstances and inequalities of the societies in which we live,” she said.
“The shocks are disparate, but they interact, so the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. They combine and accelerate to amplify existing social, political and economic inequalities, and bring forward the tipping point for conflict. “
The Dominican-born secretary general said that the resulting impact is acute bursts of pain, combined with the gradual worsening of collective human prospects.
“It is a grim reality. But the world has faced grave challenges before,” she said, adding “what defines our present predicament as unique is the lack of single causes and single fixes”.
She spoke of the impact of climate change, including the production of food and energy, to finance, trade and international security.
“What makes it so intractable is the dilemmas it creates, where attempts to resolve one crisis worsens another, like when poverty reduction measures increase fossil fuel emissions,” she said.
A ROLE TO PLAY
Scotland said that the Commonwealth has a role t o play going forward, adding that more now than ever “we require a level of international political and economic cooperation which is unprecedented in this century”.
She acknowledged that these crises are manifesting at a time when t he multilateral system is under immense pressure, contributing to the current situation.
“The world feels as though it is fracturing. In an increasingly polarised environment, people are anxious about the capacity of governments and international institutions to provide the leadership and action required,” she said.
It is in precisely a context such as this that the Commonwealth can mobilise its greatest qualities, she emphasised. The world today insists that we are dependent on each other, she said, “75 years of friendship, connection and common action mean something”.
“Whether on climate change and biodiversity loss, youth opportunity and education, global health, or economic co-operation, the Commonwealth can play and does play an indispensable role in the most pressing issues of our time, offering us unparalleled strength not merely to face the future, but t o build it,” said Scotland.
“The credibility of the Commonwealth, and our leadership, lies in our programme of practical action, support and assistance for our member states, which is more comprehensive today than at any other time in our 75-year history.”
‘In an increasingly polarised environment, people are anxious about the capacity of governments and international institutions to provide the leadership and action required.’
Patricia Scotland, Secretary General of the Commonwealth