Commonwealth Secretariat
  1. Small States Home
  2. About Small States
    1. Countries
  3. Framework of Assistance to Small States
    1. Commonwealth Secretariat Framework
    2. International Monetary Fund (IMF) Framework
    3. African Development Bank Framework
    4. European Union Framework
    5. United Nations Framework
  4. What We Do
    1. Sustainable Development
    2. Human Development
    3. International Finance, Capital Markets and Small States
    4. International Trade and Small States
    5. Peace and Democracy
    6. Vulnerability and Resilience
    7. Small States Agreeing a Future Strategy
  5. News Archive
  6. Meetings/Events
    1. International Trade and Small States Meetings
    2. International Finance, Capital and Small States Meetings
    3. Sustainable Development and Small States Meetings
    4. Small States Forum
  7. Reports
  8. Publications
    1. More Publications...
  9. FAQs
  10. Links

Peace and Democracy

The Commonwealth is committed to a set of fundamental values as outlined in the 1971 Declaration of Commonwealth Principles and in the 1991 Harare Commonwealth Declaration.

Politics A Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration was set up in 1995 to act as custodian of these fundamental political values.

The Commonwealth works to promote democracy by dealing with serious or persistent violations of its political principles, assisting in the resolution and prevention of conflict, developing initiatives for democracy-building, and overseeing the conduct of elections.

The Commonwealth has played an important brokering role in events in Fiji Islands, The Gambia, Solomon Islands and Sierra Leone among others.

Consensus is sought within the Commonwealth through a network of consultations to reach agreement on a number of issues. The use of such networks, comprising representatives of member countries in London, senior government officials as well as those at ministerial and Heads of Government level, has proved invaluable in building consensus on a wide number of issues such as electoral arrangements among political parties in Lesotho, restoring territory to the legitimate government of Sierra Leone, and political unrest in Guyana.

For more on the Commonwealth Secretariat's activities in the area of democracy click here