Traditionally, the Modern Commonwealth has been regarded as a ‘white gentlemen’s club’ by scholars, an outdated association that has failed to capture the hearts of the British public. The Commonwealth Games will arrive in Birmingham in 2022, but the debate surrounding the significance of the association will once again be in the spotlight. According to the survey conducted by the 2009 Commonwealth poll, the association has no place in our modern age. Whilst the successes of the Modern Commonwealth are limited, having an awareness of the Commonwealth is vital to continue the growth of legal education in third-world countries and helps establish Britain’s place on the world stage.
The English language is the leading media that connects the teaching of Law across different Commonwealth countries. Mr Alport (Conservative Politician) in 1957 expressed the demand for the learning of the English language. The Commonwealth contributes to the development of English teaching through funding for universities. The school of Applied Linguistics for training in teaching English at the University of Edinburgh is one example. A recent meeting at the school highlights a plan to send more teachers to Malaya, Pakistan, and India. Sociologists have argued that a shared sense of loyalty and collective understanding is developed, with most legal teaching being delivered in English. This strengthens Britain’s position in the network of communication. Art and culture displays accelerated in the 1960s, emphasising British culture and the appreciation for understanding different cultures.
An essential aspect of how the modern Commonwealth stays relevant in promoting legal education for the youth. The Commonwealth Institute’s educational programmes within the four years it had been open had 66,000 visitors, 12,000 a week through funded school trips from mixed-race schools in London and exchange trips from Africa and Asia. The Management Development Plan and The Commonwealth Youth Plan develops strategies to promote Youth employment and improve managerial skills in public enterprises. The success of these projects was reflected, as thirty-six hundred awards of development and study were given at universities overseas in 1961. These awards were funded by The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship plan founded in 1959. The Commonwealth of learning acts as a virtual university covering the 30 minor states of the Commonwealth. The significance of these programmes reflects how the commonwealth network is working effectively to fund these projects and steers away from glorifying the connection of the modern Commonwealth with the British Empire, an assumption that haunts the Commonwealth’s reputation.
The Commonwealth has and continues to be an influence on the legal system in third world countries. The Commonwealth has allowed the migration of the British legal system to developing countries, which was regarded as a ‘profound achievement’. For example, India’s adoption of Thomas Macaulay’s ‘penal code’ recognised the principle of equality of the rajah and the peasant in the eyes of the Law. The Commonwealth in the twenty-first century offers training towards legal equality. The Cyber Capability programme funded by the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth Office is used to create new laws to help with security. Namibia recently benefited from this program; the Commonwealth Media Team described Namibia’s progress on the Commonwealth website as ‘the fight aga; President together. Rwanda is also the Commonwealth’s newest member since 2009, President Paul Kagame told Voice of America this was ‘in the pursuit of opportunities and openness for Rwandan citizens. The news article also expresses a commitment to work alongside the United Nations 2015 agenda to legal equality for all social groups.
The Commonwealth is often criticised for not going far enough to act against countries guilty of severe human rights abuses. Of the 53 Commonwealth nations, 42 in 2014 have anti-homosexuality legislation. Campaigners argue that the organisation has done nothing to ensure a change in these laws and attitudes. In October 2010, the Guardian criticised the Commonwealth Secretariat for the failure to respond to the arrest of men who were having a gay marriage ceremony in Malawi. This action faced criticism and pressure from the United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon. F. Cowell argues that it is the fault of laws dating from the colonial era. The ‘sodomy’ law is still in place in some Asia and African nations. The fact it was a colonial law brings attention to Britain’s history of empire. C. Lennox and M. Waites investigation into legal equality and LGBTQ rights published in 2013 by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in London reflects Britain is aware of the issues. However, the lack of coverage on this issue on the website or through social media pages arguably reflects a commonwealth not engaging this issue with a broad audience. Critics continue to argue that the lack of awareness and need to get younger generations of British society involved with Commonwealth issues will damage future British involvement. In terms of education towards legal equality, of course, there is room for improvement within the Commonwealth.
The Modern Commonwealth in the post-war period acted as a tool for British security. The uncertainty of Britain’s role, and the pressure to avoid a reputation of neo-colonialism, contributes to the argument being made by scholars such as K. Bradley that the Commonwealth in the twenty-first century ‘is not concerned with politics. For the Commonwealth to remain relevant to the modern age, a big concern is decreased Britain’s investments into the association. The Commonwealth’s strategic plan 2009 estimated a 48-million-pound budget, the main contributors being Britain and the middle-tier powers. However, this is significantly less when compared with previous years Boris Johnson as the secretary for Commonwealth Affair explains in 2017,’ the 38.1 per cent reduction in the budget given to the Commonwealth Office’ is due to a global Britain with the interest of the British people’ The legal training the Commonwealth provides is vital for the modern challenges the third world faces such as cyber security; however, its influence is limited. S. Strange’s study highlights that ‘international organisations ‘never die out as long as they are recognised as a ‘common good'.
Whilst more capital could be used to fuel this association’s global achievements for legal training. So let’s start by making the modern Commonwealth’s potential visible to the next generation of society.
References
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‘The Commonwealth: Why it struggles to remain relevant’, The Week (1 August 2014) <The Commonwealth: why it struggles to remain relevant | The Week UK>
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‘The Commonwealth: Why it struggles to remain relevant’, The Week (1 August 2014)
S. Bull, ‘Commonwealth helps countries make new cybercrime laws and fight crime together’, The Commonwealth of Nations News, (17 March 2020)
‘The Commonwealth: Why it struggles to remain relevant’, The Week (1 August 2014)
D. Smith, ‘Human rights campaigners attack Malawi gay couple conviction,’ The Guardian (18 May 2010)
F. Cowell, LGBT Rights in Commonwealth Forums: Politics Pitfalls and Progress? (London: University of London Press, 2013) p.4
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R. Hyam, Britain’s Declining Empire: The Road to Decolonisation 1918-1968, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) p.301; K. Bradley, ‘The New Commonwealth Institute’, Commonwealth Journal, 4 (1961), 285-289, p.403
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S. Strange, ‘Why do international organizations never die?’, in Autonomous policy making by international organizations, eds. by Bob Renalda and Bertjan Verbeek (London: Routledge, 1998) 213-20 at p.214
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