By The Editor, via Zoe Ware

This post comes from the Commonwealth Conversation website, which is the largest public consultation ever undertaken about the future of the Commonwealth.

Interesting article on whether Sri Lanka should be suspended for human rights violations or not?

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By Guest Author, Zoe Ware

This post comes from the Commonwealth Conversation website, which is the largest public consultation ever undertaken about the future of the Commonwealth.

President Nasheed of the Maldives thinks the Commonwealth should be proactively encouraging democracy and redefining international relations in respect to climate change.

Q: What are the Commonwealth’s core strengths?

Nasheed: Its members, its people, its vision, its beliefs, and especially the wealth of experience it has from a number of cultures and traditions. The Commonwealth understands how the international community may be able to deal with a certain set of problems or an issue in the international arena more than any other institution. Now I don’t want to mention other institutions, but some of the other institutions have done very silly things in trying to settle issues and coming up with solutions for problems. So its people.

Q: What key issues do you think the Commonwealth should be focusing on?

Nasheed:  Democracy and climate change. Now I think both of these things are very interrelated and linked. Democracy, human rights and climate change are all linked. Without good governance we can not have the kinds of adaptation programmes, neither can we have the kinds of mitigation programmes, that we want. So it is very important to have a structure that delivers consultation: and multiparty democracy seems to be the only thing around. And it works – it is working in the Maldives.

So the Commonwealth should focus very much on proactively encouraging democracy. They could do more in that, not just simply after the fall of a regime or when a regime is toppled. After having said this, I do understand and I do realise how sophisticatedly the Commonwealth has been dealing with a number of issues, especially in the case of the Maldives. Their engagement was, at times when we were in the opposition, frustrating. At times we thought they were not doing much, but I think their methods of engagement have yielded good results, they should keep at it.

Q: 2009 is the 60th anniversary year of the Commonwealth. How would you like to see the Commonwealth evolve in the coming years?

Nasheed: Well, I think CMAG (Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group) should become more of a body that encourages good governance, and that countries should be brought to CMAG if they don’t behave well. They should also encourage development of the judiciary and development of institutions that enhance democracy.

In climate change I think it would be good if the Commonwealth would encourage more carbon neutral policies, and encourage governments to become carbon neutral. We see climate change as a security issue, as a human rights issue, as a justice issue, more than an environmental issue. So we should really redefine international relations, and I think the Commonwealth can be at the forefront of redefining international relations in respect to climate change.

Do you agree with the President? Should the Commonwealth be focusing its efforts on democracy and climate change? Let us know what you think by commenting below.