Secretary-General calls for climate action as new cyclone devastates Mozambique.
Mozambique – The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, has expressed her profound sadness at the devastation caused by Cyclone Kenneth which has ravaged Mozambique today.
She said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by Cyclone Kenneth in Mozambique, the strongest cyclone yet to have hit the country.
Its occurrence so soon after Cyclone Idai last month signals a troubling increase in the frequency of such natural disasters, and the urgent and fundamental need to build resilience at all levels in our communities.”
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally known as the Commonwealth, and historically the British Commonwealth, is a unique political association of 53 member states, nearly all of them former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Commonwealth Secretariat, which focuses on intergovernmental aspects, and the Commonwealth Foundation, which focuses on non-governmental relations between member states.
The Commonwealth dates back to the first half of the 20th century with the decolonisation of the British Empire through increased self-governance of its territories. It was created as the British Commonwealth through the Balfour Declaration at the 1926 Imperial Conference, and formalised by the United Kingdom through the Statute of Westminster in 1931. The current Commonwealth of Nations was formally constituted by the London Declaration in 1949, which modernised the community, and established the member states as “free and equal”.
“The Commonwealth stands ready to support the Government and people of Mozambique in any way it can, as they rebuild their lives and livelihoods. I would like to commend all those institutions, both public and private and all the countries within our Commonwealth family and beyond who have rallied to Mozambique’s support after Cyclone Idai and urge them to redouble their efforts in the face of the devastation caused by Cyclone Kenneth.
We must remain vigilant and continue to work together with ever-increasing determination and vigour to respond to the existential threat which we now face as a result of the rapidly changing climate. We have already started our holistic regenerative programme of work under our Common Earth and Blue Charter banners, but we will do more. Together we must wake up to these developments and mobilise to address the reality of climate change.
The Commonwealth will continue to support its member countries to develop robust policies, and help them gain access to funding to address climate-related disasters through the Disaster Risk Finance Portal and the Climate Finance Access Hub.”
The Commonwealth’s objectives were first outlined in the 1971 Singapore Declaration, which committed the Commonwealth to the institution of world peace; promotion of representative democracy and individual liberty; the pursuit of equality and opposition to racism; the fight against poverty, ignorance, and disease; and free trade. To these were added opposition to discrimination based on gender by the Lusaka Declaration of 1979 and environmental sustainability by the Langkawi Declaration of 1989. These objectives were reinforced by the Harare Declaration in 1991.
The Commonwealth’s current highest-priority aims are on the promotion of democracy and development, as outlined in the 2003 Aso Rock Declaration, which built on those in Singapore and Harare and clarified their terms of reference, stating, “We are committed to democracy, good governance, human rights, gender equality, and a more equitable sharing of the benefits of globalisation.”
The Commonwealth website lists its areas of work as democracy, economics, education, gender, governance, human rights, law, small states, sport, sustainability, and youth.
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