Commonwealth, the (British)

Voluntary association of 53 sovereign (self-ruling) countries and their dependencies, the majority of which once formed part of the British Empire and are now independent sovereign states. They are all regarded as ‘full members of the Commonwealth’; the newest member being Mozambique, which was admitted in 1995. Additionally, there are 13 territories that are not completely sovereign and remain dependencies of the UK or one of the other fully sovereign members, and are regarded as ‘Commonwealth countries’. The ceremonial head of the Commonwealth is Queen Elizabeth II and (from 2008) its secretary-general is former Indian high commissioner to the UK, Kamalesh Sharma.

Heads of government meet every two years, apart from those of Nauru and Tuvalu; however, Nauru and Tuvalu have the right to take part in all functional activities. The Commonwealth, which was founded in 1931, has no charter or constitution, and is founded more on tradition and sentiment than on political or economic factors. However, it can make political statements by withdrawing membership; a recent example was Nigeria's suspension 1995–99 because of human-rights abuses. Fiji was readmitted in 1997, ten years after its membership had been suspended as a result of discrimination against its ethnic Indian community.