COMMONWEALTH - A BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND OF THE COMMONWEALTH

The Commonwealth consists of sovereign countries which at some point in their history were part of the British Empire. According to the Oxford dictionary the noun Commonwealth, pronounced [kom-uhn-welth] a group of sovereign states and their dependencies associated by their own choice and linked with common objectives and interests: the British Commonwealth.

The first use of the term Commonwealth was in the 17th century when England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland came under what was known as the Commonwealth of England from 1649 to 1660.

The present Commonwealth is an association of 53 sovereign states which at some point in history may have been a part of the British Empire. The exceptions to this rule are Mozambique which was a Portuguese colony and Cameroon which was under part German, French and British rule.

The head of the Commonwealth is Queen Elizabeth II who is the also the head of government of the Commonwealth realm which consists of United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Barbados, New Zealand, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Suvalu.

The secretary-general of the Commonwealth is Kamalesh Sharma who is a former Indian diplomat. The Commonwealth Secretariat is the principal administrative body which makes decisions for the Commonwealth. The combined population of the Commonwealth countries is 2 billion people. There are various Commonwealth Organisations which operate in different fields towards facilitation of development. The Commonwealth Foundation promotes professional associations and cultural activities. The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation takes up training and activities related to Telecommunications in Commonwealth Developing countries. The Commonwealth Games Federation is the organization behind the Commonwealth Games the first of which was held in 1930 and has been held every 4 years since then.