What came out of the Samoa CHOGM

In October, leaders of 56 nations (including King Charles as the symbolic head of the Commonwealth) gathered in Samoa for the 27th Commonwealth summit. 

Held every two years, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (or CHOGM as it’s more commonly known), is the Commonwealth’s primary political meeting.

At the time of the event, there was quite a disjunction between the CHOGM as reported by the media in Australia and the UK – and CHOGM as it was actually experienced.

In the Australian media, the focus was on the tensions between Australia and the Pacific Island countries (PICs) over climate action, also raising the spectre of increasing Chinese engagement in these countries.

In the British media, the emphasis was on the demand coming from the Caribbean for the UK to undertake reparations for the historical injustice of slavery.

But there is an important civil society dimension to the Commonwealth that is not generally appreciated. It is not just about governments.

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The first part of this CHOGM was about Commonwealth civil society, pre-eminently in the People’s Forum that runs over two days. The focus was on climate justice, health justice and freedom of expression.

For the second part of CHOGM, the emphasis was on the role of governments.

With 33 of the 56 members classed as small states (that includes 24 small island states or SIDS), the issues concerning those states received a lot of attention.

At one level, the Samoan CHOGM was an attempt to advance the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (another acronym, this time ABAS), agreed to at the decennial meeting of SIDS held in May.

The broad goal of ABAS is sustainable development, giving particular attention to climate change, economic vulnerabilities and the impact of exogenous shocks.

As reflected in the meeting’s final Communiqué, there is an avoidance of geopolitical issues unless there is strong support for a Commonwealth country in relation to a neighbour.

So, for example, the territorial disputes between Guyana and Venezuela, or Belize and Guatemala. Disputes over governance between Cyprus and North Cyprus. Or disputes over refugees, as we’ve seen between Bangladesh and Myanmar around the Rohingya.

Samoa was the first SIDS CHOGM, as well as the first PIC CHOGM. The CHOGM in 2026 will also be in a SIDS: Antigua and Barbuda. And overall, the SIDS should be well satisfied with the outcome of this meeting.

Working cross regionally

The future of the Commonwealth might be as a ‘SIDS plus’ organisation.

There is a strong synergy between the PIC and Caribbean members, with the Indian Ocean members and Malta also important in this respect.

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The ‘plus’ includes Africa, with the strong Commonwealth focus in that region attracting new African members in recent times (consider Mozambique, Rwanda, Cameroon, Togo and Gabon). It is also Africa’s turn to have one of its own as Secretary-General, with Shirley Botchwey (foreign minister of Ghana) the successful candidate.

The SIDS have regional organisations like the Pacific Islands Forum, CARICOM and the Indian Ocean Commission. There is also the SIDS only global organisation, the Alliance of Small Island States.

The Commonwealth is unique in that it enables the SIDS to work cross-regionally, but also with other small states and the Global South members generally, as well as with the Global North members (some of which are in the southern hemisphere).

It is a context where the SIDS/small states and the Global South can try to influence some significant countries in the Global North, although not the major world powers.

While Canada and India were underrepresented at CHOGM, the leaders of Nigeria and South Africa were also absent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Cyril Ramaphosa were at the BRICS meeting in Moscow. Only about 20 government heads attended CHOGM.

Some of the African countries, particularly the newer members, make it difficult to implement the principles of the Commonwealth Charter concerning democracy and human rights.

Commonwealth civil society strongly supports the Charter. While there is an argument for ‘engagement’ with members not upholding the Charter, the methods for engagement might be worked out better.

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“Good international citizenship”

Despite the tensions over climate action, Australia had a successful CHOGM, with both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong attending.

Not only did Australia provide significant support to Samoa in staging CHOGM, it also won support for a joint Australia-PIC bid to host COP in 2026. Australia is also building up political capital to give momentum for its bid to be on the UN Security Council in 2029-2030. And Commonwealth countries make up more than one quarter of the United Nations.

While the issue of reparations for slavery might be seen by some as primarily a UK-Caribbean issue, the Caribbean countries (with twelve members) were in a strong position to further their argument at CHOGM.

Other historical injustices were included in the final communiqué – issues ranging from Indigenous dispossession, indentureship, blackbirding and colonialism (a very broad category).

At CHOGM,  international jurist, educator and former judge, Justice Michael Kirby, made the case for a values-based Commonwealth, but many members approach international politics from a realpolitik perspective.

Among the major Commonwealth countries, this applies to India, but also affects the way Australia and Britain relate to the world.

Involvement in the Commonwealth might primarily be a manifestation of “good international citizenship”, but this can also have practical benefits, building support on issues that are important to those major Commonwealth powers.

This is an edited extract of earlier articles published on The Commonwealth Round Table and Australian Outlook (Australian Institute of International Affairs).