CommonGround - Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the ...

MembershipMarlborough House, gardens andmember country flags.Suspension and expulsionA Commonwealth member state thatfails to uphold the basic principles ofdemocracy, human rights, or the rule oflaw, risks being partly or fully suspended,or even expelled, from the organisation.Decisions on this are taken by theCommonwealth Ministerial ActionGroup (CMAG), made up of theForeign Ministers from nine memberstates, with the authority to recommendthe suspension or expulsion of anystate that infringes any of theCommonwealth’s fundamentalprinciples.Action of this kind is a publicindication to the rest of the world of thefailure of a member state. Suspensionmeans that a country will be preventedfrom taking part in Commonwealthprogrammes and meetings, and will nolonger be eligible for aid and technicalsupport. However, existing programmesmay be allowed to continue in order tolimit the effects of suspension on acountry’s citizens.However, suspended states aredeliberately not isolated. For instance,when Nigeria was suspended from theCommonwealth in 1995, after themilitary government ordered theexecution of nine dissidents, theCommonwealth continued to work torestore just and fair government, withits voluntary and civic organisationskeeping their links. Suspension waslifted in 1999, as the country returnedto democracy.Fiji ➤ In 2009, Fiji faced fullsuspension from the Commonwealthfollowing the failure of the interimmilitary government to meet theCommonwealth’s deadline to restoredemocracy after taking power in abloodless coup in 2006.Although Fiji has lost access to newCommonwealth aid and has beenexcluded from the CommonwealthGames, contact between theCommonwealth and Fiji will continuein an effort to restore democracy.Withdrawal ● Sometimesgovernments choose to withdraw fromthe Commonwealth. This happened in1972, when the Government ofPakistan decided to leave theCommonwealth after other memberstates had agreed to recogniseBangladesh. Pakistan, however, rejoinedthe association in 1989.Following suspension from theCommonwealth in 2002, Zimbabwedecided to end its membership in2003. The communiqué issued byCommonwealth Heads ofGovernment at the end of theirmeeting in 2009 said that theylooked forward to the conditionsbeing created in which Zimbabwecould return to theCommonwealth.Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting(CHOGM) 1995. New Zealand Prime MinisterJames Bolger(left) and and CommonwealthSecretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaokuannounce the suspension of Nigeria inQueenstown, New Zealand.OrganisationHow does the Commonwealth work? 1816MaldivesMalta Mauritius MozambiqueA practical guide to the Commonwealth ➤ Organisation17