Latest content: Social development

Commonwealth Secretary-General The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC has called on G20 members to urgently work with the Commonwealth and other partners, particularly the World Health Organization and World Trade Organization, to urgently put in place a robust plan to vaccinate the world’s 42 smallest states and shield them from COVID-19.

The positive effects of a Secretariat-organised summit aimed at Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) is being felt across the Commonwealth.

The 2020 Global Youth Development Index reveals that the conditions of young people have improved around the world by 3.1 per cent between 2010 and 2018, but the progress remains slow.

Covid-19 has been an earthquake along the already fraught fault lines of global education. The result has been a deep chasm into which the most vulnerable have fallen: 1.6 billion children were out of education at the height of school closures.

As we prepare to celebrate Nelson Mandela International Day - a day to honour the legacy of the much-loved icon - the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC Secretary-General of the Commonwealth invited UNFPA’s Executive Director, Dr Natalia Kanem, to discuss the values of championing social justice, volunteering and community service. 

Today, Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC announced the ‘Christof Heyns Memorial Commonwealth Prize’ during the 13th Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition.

In the early months of 2020, governments across the globe stood at their podiums to tell their populations that a new and dangerous communicable disease was forcing them to shut their borders and lockdown their communities.

London Saturday 26 June 2021: Today on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Commonwealth Secretary-General The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC calls on all Commonwealth countries to stand in solidarity with victims and survivors of torture and to act by ratifying and fully implementing the UN Convention against Torture.

A new tracker has been launched to help Commonwealth countries monitor progress towards halving malaria cases by 2023 and ultimately ending the disease by 2030. 

Youth workers used the words “challenging”, “resilient” and “hopeful” to describe the future of their work after COVID-19 at a Virtual Commonwealth Café.

A new Commonwealth toolkit is being piloted in Malta to help the country assess and, where necessary, reform its education system in line with international standards.

The Commonwealth's work to prevent and counter violent extremism in Africa has been bolstered by a pioneering online initiative.

As we look around the globe at the impact of the pandemic, one thing is clear: we are all in the same storm, even if we aren’t all in the same boat. While more affluent nations are now rolling out second vaccine doses, health workers across the world, from the Pacific to Africa, and the Caribbean and Latin America to Asia, are still awaiting their first doses, have inadequate testing capacity, are juggling erratic oxygen supplies and are still forced to customise out-of-date PPE.

The Commonwealth Secretariat is setting out to transform itself into a more fit-for-purpose partner to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 in the face multiple, interlocking global crises.

A blog by Tukiya-Kaunda Mutupa, a Health Consultant at the Commonwealth Secretariat

Commonwealth health ministers have today issued a joint statement after their annual meeting in which they called for swift and equal access to COVID-19 vaccines for everyone around the world. In the statement on behalf of the 54 Commonwealth member countries, they expressed deep concern over the stark gaps in access and delivery of doses, especially in poor countries, and called for “fair and transparent” pricing for the vaccine.

The number of people at risk of eye disease trachoma, which can lead to blindness, has almost halved since 2018, said the Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC.

The Commonwealth Secretariat and the Union for International Cancer Control have launched a new taskforce to step up efforts towards preventing and treating cervical cancer.

The inaugural meeting of the Commonwealth Women’s Ministers Action Group opened yesterday with calls for strong gender equality measures.

More than 70 delegates from 16 Caribbean countries joined international partners to discuss financing solutions for climate action on land, and share their experiences in tackling the inter-related challenges of desertification, biodiversity loss and climate change.

Registrations are now open for the second round of an online course, designed to harness sport for sustainable development.

Continuing determined action is needed for malaria rates to fall by more than 50 per cent by 2023 to meet the target set out by Commonwealth leaders, the Secretary-General urged on World Malaria Day.