The Commonwealth in quotes

 

"The Commonwealth continues to play a leading role in global affairs. The wonderful thing about the Commonwealth is the strength we all derive from our ability to share our experiences and learn from each other." - Prime Minister of Fiji J.V. Bainimarama

“The Commonwealth is a champion of democracy, freedom, sustainable development, the rule of law, and human rights, especially the rights of women and girls. As a member of the Commonwealth, Canada remains committed to protecting and promoting these values.” - Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau

“The Commonwealth has worked arduously to increase the awareness of the vulnerabilities of small island developing states and remains at the head of policy research and advocacy to assist small states such as Tonga to build resilience, access financing, alleviate debt burdens and devise strategies to respond to natural disasters.” - Tonga’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Siaosi Sovaleni

“We honour the critical role that the Commonwealth continues to play in the development of our country. Seychelles is pleased to have been able to share its experiences in our areas of strength, and even more so, grateful for the assistance and knowledge that has been shared with us in areas where we lacked capacity.” – President of Seychelles, Danny Faure

In their own words - Hope Strachan

“Jamaica has benefited tremendously from the Commonwealth’s peace-building initiatives through the training of election officials, legislative drafting as well as technical assistance in the proposed establishment of a national human rights institution.” - Kamina Johnson Smith, Jamaica's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade

"The Commonwealth has demonstrable experience in capacity building and technical cooperation, with a particular focus on small states." - Trinidad and Tobago's Foreign Minister Senator Dennis Moses

"Since May 2015 we’ve recovered over USD $5 billion. The initiative by the Secretariat to bring the anti-corruption agencies in the Commonwealth Africa countries has brought tremendous improvement in the process and procedures relating to cross-border crime, corruption, fraud and money laundering." - 

Ibrahim Mustafa Magu, Acting Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

Ibrahim Magu

“The association provides channels for member countries and their peoples to interact, cooperate and work together to eliminate wars, fight diseases, poverty and hunger, wipe out ignorance and illiteracy, promote democracy, protect the environment and inculcate respect for human rights, human dignity and human values.” - Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu

“We in St Kitts and Nevis have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to count on numerous Commonwealth observer missions in the past when elections were conducted in the country and we are indeed grateful for the advice and insight as to how we can continue to improve our electoral practices.”- Foreign Minister of St Kitts and Nevis, Daniel Brantley

“The Commonwealth has played a catalytic role in strengthening society’s capacity to manage disparity and diversity through its emphasis on the shared values and principles as enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter, its Good Offices role, various programmes and activities as well as assistance in building democratic institutions, good governance, credible and transparent elections.” - Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wisma Putra

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"When women are empowered, they become powerful agents for change, wherever they are in the world and in whatever capacity they are able to direct their talents. They are the backbone of our societies and in many places, are already leading the way to a more sustainable future. No-one knows this more than our distinguished Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, who hails from a small island developing state in the Caribbean and is a living embodiment of the leadership women can provide." - Prime Minister of Fiji J.V. Bainimarama

“Guyana has enjoyed decades of tremendous history and close cooperation with the Commonwealth as a member of the community and partner in development. The Commonwealth’s support for Guyana must be lauded, particularly for the impact made on governance, youth development, environmental stewardship and natural resources management.” - Raphael Trotman, Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources

"The Commonwealth Secretariat is doing a lot in terms of providing assistance to the Centre on issues of training, research, and capacity building for countries that belong to Commonwealth Africa. On an occasional basis, staff are sent to the Centre, they receive training on issues such as investigation, corruption prevention, and monitoring and evaluation." - 

Rose Seretse, Former Director-General of Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, Botswana

Rose Seretse

"We are in a time when we need more unity. Communality and respect for others runs through all youth work - and the Commonwealth seems to have that at its heart" - Robin Lockhart, Commonwealth Youth Worker of the Year 2016

“The Commonwealth played a very important role… in making the Paris Agreement possible. The clear messages by the meeting of the heads of state and government from the Commonwealth just before the Paris conference was a very important impulse” - Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 

"Another important thing that came from the Secretariat is that we were provided with an opportunity to come together as anti-corruption agencies to attend forums, such as this one in Nigeria, to exchange experience and good practices and through these we able to include other additional anti-corruption measures that we did not have before." - 

Paulus Noa, Director-General of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Namibia

PaulusNoa

“For an organisation that has sometimes appeared to be searching for a purpose, it may now be finding one – as a pioneer for the game-changing solutions some of its 52 members are desperately crying out for” - The Guardian

“As a newly established independent electoral authority, with no experience and a general election around the corner, it was felt that the Commonwealth might be in a better position to assist the commission considering its wide experience and credibility in strengthening the democratic process in member countries” – Nauru’s first Electoral Commissioner, Joseph Cain

In their own words - Bolaji Owasanoye

“Vanuatu is a young country that is still developing its democracy. With the help from the Commonwealth and others, we will see Vanuatu’s democracy become stronger and stable” - Vanuatu's Principal Elections Officer, Father Charles Vatu

“One unexpected outcome of [the Tackling Corruption Together conference] is the emergence of the Commonwealth as a potential major player in providing support to reforming governments, such as Nigeria’s, to stifle abuses. Baroness Scotland, the secretary general of the Commonwealth, is perceived to have a deep commitment to waging war on corruption. By a strange quirk of history, perhaps the London summit will be best remembered for giving the Commonwealth a new lease of life.” - The Times

"The Commonwealth Secretariat has been very focused and has given a lot of direction to the anti-corruption process in Nigeria. We are in a better position to understand this process because of having the shared values as being a member of the Commonwealth. This has really paid off because when we come to share experiences, we are talking with peer groups who also have the same process as we do." - 

Ekpo Una Nta, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission

Ekpo Una Nta

“The Commonwealth is a unique group of nations united by a willingness to collaborate for a common good: a ‘common wealth’” - Dr Daniel Wahl

“This unique constellation of 52 nations may be evolving, as some participants concluded, into the world’s leading ‘impact bloc’.” - John Elkington

In their own words Allyson Maynard Gibson