The role of youth in achieving sustainable peace in Nigeria
By VICTOR OKECHUKWU CHIMEZIE, country co-ordinator for the Commonwealth Youth Peace Ambassadors Network in Nigeria, with six years experience in peacebuilding. Nigeria is known for having one of the largest populations of young people in the world, with a median age of 18.1 years. The youth population constitutes about 70 per cent of the entire […]
Make media freedom a priority in Gabon, urges CJA
The CJA International Executive Committee has urged the Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland to intervene directly, and work with African partners, to prioritise the safety of working journalists in Gabon, following the military coup which saw General Brice Oligui Nguema, pictured, seize power. “The restoration of public Internet access and service from numerous mainstream French broadcasters […]
New King’s warm friendship with India
Charles on a recent visit to India.
The threats to democracy, right here in the Commonwealth
A personal view by the Commonwealth Foundation director-general, Anne T. Gallagher on how the organisation is failing to live up to its own ideals. So many of us are feeling powerless in the face of heartbreaking images and stories of human suffering emerging from Ukraine. And the sense of impotence is not just individual. While […]
How Tutu embodied the moral compass of a nation
A personal tribute by SYED BADRUL AHSAN Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s death at the age of ninety takes away from our mortal world one more of the individuals who have shaped modern South Africa. And modern in this context refers to the country as it emerged following the end of apartheid in the 1990s. On a […]
Inspiring projects in youth awards
Three of the finalists, Jubilante Cutting from Ghana, Tim Lo Surdo from Australia, Alina Alam from India. Twenty extraordinary young individuals from 18 countries have been announced as finalists for this year’s Commonwealth Youth Awards. The awards recognise outstanding Commonwealth young people whose projects are transforming lives in their communities and helping to achieve the […]
A plea for the Commonwealth to rediscover its radical voice
By PHILIP MURPHY, pictured, Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and Professor of British and Commonwealth History, School of Advanced Study The Commonwealth, an association of 54 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific, has always been a rather mysterious organisation. It evolved gradually over the course of the 20th Century, making it […]
Fighting back against the ‘Kill the Messenger’ policy
A personal account of how journalists in Myanmar struggle against attempts to silence the media, by TINA BURRETT of Sophie University, Tokyo. Since the military coup in Myanmar on 1 February, more than 600 pro-democracy protesters have been killed and over 2500 detained, including dozens of journalists deliberately targeted by security forces. As peaceful protesters […]
Lots of scope in the Harry Hodson Award
Pictured above, winner of last last year’s Hodson Award, New Zealander Kiraan Chetty. Nominations are open for the annual Harry Hodson award, given by the Commonwealth Round Table for a written piece of work by an undergraduate or postgraduate student from a university in the Commonwealth. The winner receives a £1000 cash prize and publication […]
A prominent Ugandan journalist and academic has painted a grim picture of what life is like for her fellow professionals in the country now, struggling against the twin assaults of state oppression and the Covid pandemic. Drito Alice spoke out at the CJA conference conducted online from Delhi. Ms Alice is president of the CJA […]