Individual citizens and their professional, cultural and civil society networks are one of the Commonwealth’s greatest assets. With the proposals for a Commonwealth Charter under consideration, Mark Collins explains why citizenship and citizen engagement are key issues for the future
From its headquarters in Marlborough House it would be easy to think of the Commonwealth only in terms of governments and diplomats, ministerial meetings, and the pomp and ceremony of an international organisation. Commonwealth successes in addressing apartheid and the help it provides newly-emerging democracies may also be called to mind. But to most of its 2 billion people the Commonwealth is first and foremost a community of citizens, cross-linked and interconnected in countless ways; bonded by history, conflict, language, sport, and a shared hope for a fair and peaceful future. The Commonwealth’s vision is based on a set of community values, not derived from governments, but from citizens themselves.
The central belief we share is the right to decide our own future, and to see it materialise through a social contract that empowers and binds the Commonwealth’s governments. Of course this is a goal shared with many others outside the Commonwealth, but the association is incomparable in the array of public service, business and civil society networks available to take the vision forward through partnership. The Commonwealth’s diversity has created an extraordinary web of people-to-people alliances, services and mutual benefits. What citizens need from their governments now is the opportunity to be heard, and the infrastructure to make partnerships work.
Networks for education, language and law will be paramount in many people’s minds. For 25 years the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize has launched successful careers in fiction; for 50 years Commonwealth Scholarships have created leaders in all walks of life; and for more than 100 years Commonwealth parliamentarians have shared their experience and ideas on governance. Professional networks of foresters, engineers, teachers, doctors, nurses, civil servants, local governments, judges, lawyers and many, many more, engage with thousands of people every day, meeting voluntarily and building the social capital that puts Commonwealth’s values into practice.
The most recent Remembrance Day was a reminder that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission manages 23,000 locations in 150 countries. There is no lack of evidence of the sacrifice and bravery displayed by Commonwealth citizens – such as at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in World War I, the building of the Burma Railway during the Second World War, the leadership of Sir Keith Park, the New Zealand flying ace, or the heroism displayed by Johnson Beharry during the Iraq War. And with the Commonwealth Games recently concluded, we can also recall our sporting links through cricketing heroes such as Don Bradman and Viv Richards, or world-class athletes like Paula Radcliffe and Usain Bolt.
Such connections and networks make the Commonwealth special and, what’s more, they lie at the heart of the Commonwealth’s soft power and political achievements, now and for the future. Jeffrey Sachs, in his book Common Wealth, writes: “No major problem can be solved by government, or the business sector, or one community alone. Complex social problems have multiple stakeholders… Gaining cooperation among [them] is the toughest challenge of all.”
The Commonwealth is pre-adapted to succeed in bringing stakeholders together to tackle problems by using its people-to-people links. It is time to recognise the power of citizen engagement, and to re-evaluate the significance of the professions, cultural organisations, and civil society. We need to re-assess the official structures established to serve our nations, and integrate civil society to reflect its centrality to the soft power and success of the Commonwealth’s political and intergovernmental future.
Many Commonwealth values have a timeless quality, but their interpretation and implementation are constantly challenged by new technologies and changes in society. Among the issues which today are the subject of hot debate can be listed major concerns like euthanasia, freedom of information, the use of DNA fingerprinting, gay rights and stem cell research. There are many more, and legislation is always catching up with what the public feel is right. The Commonwealth needs to express these changing values in contemporary ways that reach out to people and help them work with their governments to achieve change in a considered and democratic way. The Commonwealth Charter, proposed by former Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi of Malaysia, Chairperson of the Commonwealth’s Eminent Persons Group, could be useful in carrying the Commonwealth’s message forward. But to be successful it must become a citizens’ charter, built up from the grass roots by asking people in all 54 countries what is important to them. Such a consultation, and subsequent agreement, will see enthusiastic Commonwealth networks not only benefiting, but also asking how they can help the Commonwealth.
With the Commonwealth Charter as a guide, our governments, networks, professions, businesses, NGOs and associations will see how each can contribute to achieving the vision. Through a system of pledging at community, national, regional and pan-Commonwealth levels, citizens in every walk of life will have the opportunity to implement the Charter in their own way, thereby helping to build the sustainable and reinvigorated Commonwealth that we need.
‘Citizenship and the Commonwealth’ was the subject of the first ever Commonwealth Conference in Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, 10-12 November 2010
