It would be interesting to find out, if one had to go on the streets of Valletta one busy morning, how many people really know much about the Commonwealth. Would anyone be able to mention more than 10, perhaps 20 at best, of the 53 member states? Would the average Maltese citizen be able to tell us anything about the role and functions of the Commonwealth?

Somehow I get the impression that very few people would be able to answer too many questions on the Commonwealth. I, myself, could not have answered too many questions myself until a few weeks ago until I plunged myself into a new job in Delhi, India with a human rights NGO specifically dealing with Commonwealth countries. Shamefully enough, I had no clue that Vanuatu or Kiribati were countries - and yet they are countries within the Commonwealth: a group which Malta has now been part of for the past 41 years.

I don't think I need to remind anyone about how offended us Maltese get when we go abroad and are asked by some foreigner whether Malta is a country or not. And, yet, most of us would ask the same of St Kitts and Nevis, Tuvalu or Nauru. Now, many high-ranking officials, including heads of state and of government, of such countries are in Malta for the 2005 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

The chances of bumping into a journalist or representative of such countries is rather high considering Malta's size and our knack of bumping into everyone at every time of the day.

The Commonwealth as we know it today originates from the British Commonwealth, which was made up of Britain and her former colonies.

The changes in the world over the last century led the Commonwealth to evolve into a voluntary association of independent countries with the scope of cooperating in the common interests of their peoples and to work together in promoting international understanding and world peace.

Perhaps the main remnant of the colonial origins of the Commonwealth is the fact that the head of the Commonwealth is Queen Elizabeth ll.

The 53 member countries are scattered all over the globe - in Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Each of these (with the exception of Mozambique) had earlier been ruled by Britain or linked administratively to another member (for example Papa New Guinea was linked with Australia).

Not all former colonies have chosen to join the Commonwealth on independence - Myanmar (independent since 1947) for instance chose not to join and Ireland withdrew in 1949. Others, like the Cameroon and the Maldives, waited some years after independence before joining and others left and rejoined (South Africa and the Fiji Islands). A few countries (such as Pakistan and Zimbabwe) have been suspended and in December 2003 Zimbabwe left the Commonwealth as a reaction to its suspension.

The Commonwealth can be divided into two parts: the official Commonwealth - made up of the intergovernmental meetings and the official agencies (the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealth of Learning) - and the unofficial or people's Commonwealth which is made up of the civil society.

In the Commonwealth, the term "civil society" is used to describe organised groups of citizens who come together voluntarily to pursue those interests, values and purposes which are termed as the "common good".

The main intergovernmental agency of the Commonwealth is the Commonwealth Secretariat (COMSEC), which was established in 1965 and is based in London. Its primary task is to assist consultation and cooperation among member governments and countries. The head of the secretariat is the Secretary-General, though the work of the secretariat is based upon the decisions of the heads of state and of government and governing bodies of the various member states.

The Commonwealth Secretariat's strategic plan - work programme - is decided by the mandates set by Commonwealth heads of government who meet every two years at the CHOGM.

The main body responsible for human rights in the secretariat is the human rights unit (HRU), which is a free-standing unit that reports directly to the Secretary-General. The HRU deals with the promotion of human rights - as it has no enforcement or investigative role.

Another important Commonwealth agency is the Commonwealth Foundation, founded in 1966, and serves the people's (also known as the unofficial) Commonwealth. The foundation is funded by Commonwealth governments and its mission is to promote the work of civil society and provide links between the official and the people's Commonwealth. It assists non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and professional associations in the Commonwealth and also provides funding for networking, capacity-building, training and information exchange, as well as arts and cultural activities.

At the CHOGM, the foundation organises civil society events such as the Commonwealth People's Forum and the People's Festival.

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL), which is based in Canada, is the third part of the official bureaucracy of the Commonwealth. COL is an intergovernmental agency established in 1987 and designed to extend, improve and link distance education facilities in the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth is considered not only as an association of nations but also of peoples. The term "unofficial Commonwealth" describes the groups that are not part of the formal structure of the Commonwealth but are recognised as playing a vital role in its work. There are about 70 NGOs that are officially accredited with the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), which I work for, is one of these accredited NGOs. There are thousands of other NGOs which work for people across the Commonwealth including a number of Maltese NGOs.

CHOGM is a good occasion for us Maltese to get to know more about the Commonwealth and perhaps for civil society in Malta to understand better how to use the Commonwealth institutions to the benefit of the Maltese society. We should not make the mistake of considering CHOGM simply as an event for politicians to meet other politicians from different countries. We should use this event to actively participate in the civil society events that are being held around the meeting and form networks which might enable us to learn from the 52 other countries of the Commonwealth as well as offer our help where possible, thus growing together both individually and as an association of countries.

For further information about the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) visit its website at http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/.

andrewgd@humanrightsinitiative.org