The Commonwealth Conversation

The largest-ever public consultation on the future of the Commonwealth concludes with a call for bold reform and greater investment if the 54-member association is to avoid being marginalised in an increasingly crowded marketplace. ‘An Uncommon Association, A Wealth of Potential’, the final report of the Commonwealth Conversation, is published today to coincide with annual Commonwealth Day celebrations around the world. Click here to download a summary of the final recommendations or the full report.

After an intense few weeks, we are delighted to publish the emerging findings of the Commonwealth Conversation. In it we say that the Commonwealth must be bold to halt its declining profile, and to do this must focus on three Ps: Principles, Priorities and People. You can download the report, Common What? here, and see the full press release below.

Activist Peter Tatchell tells the Commonwealth Conversation that the criminalisation of homosexuality is not consistent with the Commonwealth values of human rights and democracy.

It looks like our polling results have caused a bit of a stir in Australia.

Today I had an opinion piece published in the Globe and Mail, a Canadian Newspaper, about what our poll results mean there…

UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband and RCS Director Danny Sriskandarajah launch the Commonwealth Conversation at the RCS, 20 July 2009, London

Seven opinion polls around the Commonwealth kick off the Conversation.
Before we started a big conversation about the future of the Commonwealth, we at the RCS thought we’d first find out what people know and think about it. And wanting to be thorough, we commissioned nationally representative surveys in seven countries: Australia, Canada, Great Britain, India, [...]

Watch UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband emphasise the importance of engaging with the Commonwealth’s two billion people about the future of their association.