From the Archive: ‘Small is beautiful’ claims Commonwealth Secretary-General

Commonwealth Secretary-General Shridath Ramphal issued a stark warning twenty-five years ago that small countries are too often “ignored, imposed upon and generally discounted” by their peers in the international arena.

The then Secretary-General, speaking ahead of a major Commonwealth study on the difficulties faced by small states, warned that, although often blessed by natural beauty, these lesser-sized countries “by their nature are weak and vulnerable” and could be treated as “second class members of the world community”.

“Sometimes it seems as if small states were like small boats pushed out into a turbulent sea, free in one sense to traverse it, but, without oars or provisions, without compass or sails, free also to perish,” said Sir Shridath said during the first meeting of a Commonwealth Consultative Group brought together to study the special needs of small states.

‘Not merely scaled-down needs’

“The world is happy to acknowledge that small is beautiful. But [small states themselves], above all, know that small is also weak and fragile and vulnerable and relatively powerless – that they live in a world where the weak are not rewarded for the beauty of their smallness but are ignored, imposed upon and generally discounted,” he said.

The 14-member Group, chaired by Telford Georges, Chief Justice of The Bahamas, and composed of government ministers, senior officials and academic specialists, was handed a mandate by Commonwealth Heads of Government in New Delhi in October 1983 to look into vulnerabilities particular to smaller nations.

Sir Shridath continued: “What is the right to equality in the councils of the world without the means to participate in those councils? What is the quality of sovereignty if reality dictates the absence of choice? In all these respects small states are so specially disadvantaged that their needs in large measure become qualitatively different from those of other developing countries. They are not merely scaled-down needs, they are different needs.”

Limited human and financial resources

The Group went on to gather background papers and hold regional forums, and bring together views from government ministers and experts from around the Commonwealth to discuss factors such as economic security.

Their report, Vulnerability: Small States in the Global Society, published in August 1985, warned of the issues such as weak institutional structures, limited human and financial resources, poorly defined borders, as well as the difficulties faced by landlocked countries, the remoteness of Pacific islands, and the susceptibility of small states to military and non-military threats.

It issued a host of recommendations for governments and the international community, including strengthening small states’ economic independence, national defence and foreign policy capacities and providing special training and support for governments.

‘Fulfil these obligations’

The report also backed an expansion of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s activities to support small states, including training support through the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, and called on the Secretary-General to intervene where necessary to resolve disputes between countries.

The Group wrote: “We believe there are compelling obligations that derive from these realities: obligations on the international community, obligations on the Commonwealth itself – which has within its membership so many states – and, of course, obligations that fall on small states themselves. All concerned must acknowledge and begin to fulfil these obligations.”

In 1984, there were 49 member states in the Commonwealth, excluding dependencies, of which 27 had populations of less than a million. Fifteen Commonwealth countries had populations of less than 200,000.

Key Links:

• From the archives
• Profile: Sir Shridath Ramphal
• Sir Shridath Ramphal in pictures