LONDON, CMC – The Antigua and Barbuda Ambassador to the US, Sir Ronald Sanders, says the Commonwealth faces new challenges and that the world wants “enlightened, collective motion now greater than ever”.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary affiliation of 56 impartial international locations, primarily with historic ties to the UK. Whereas it’s not a political union, however quite a framework for cooperation amongst its members, they share a dedication to democracy, human rights, and the rule of legislation.
Sir Roland delivered the 2025 Patsy Robertson Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, reflecting on the legacy and enduring classes from the life and management of the late Sir Shridath “Sonny” Ramphal, who served because the Commonwealth’s second and longest-serving Secretary-Basic from 1975 to 1990.
He reminded the viewers, which included the present Secretary-Basic, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, of Ramphal’s position in condemning Southern Rhodesia’s white-minority regime in 1977 and facilitating Zimbabwe’s transition to majority rule in 1980 regardless of important opposition from the British authorities.
Sir Ronald, who can also be Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the Group of American States (OAS) highlighted the 1988 Eminent Individuals Group report, convened below Ramphal’s chairmanship that demanded Nelson Mandela’s unconditional launch and endorsed focused financial sanctions, noting that “financial strain might be wanted earlier than the white minority yields its monopoly of energy”.
Turning to improvement and environmental stewardship, Sir Ronald famous Ramphal’s distinctive distinction as the one particular person to serve on all 4 main worldwide commissions of the Eighties, together with the Fee on Atmosphere and Growth. Its 1989 report issued an early warning of sea-level rise, now threatening small island states throughout the Commonwealth.
He additionally detailed Ramphal’s institutional reforms on the Commonwealth Heads of Authorities Conferences, pointing to the two-day retreats launched on the 1982 Ottawa summit, which yielded the Declaration on Debt Aid and Growth, and the 1985 Nassau gathering, which mixed sanctions on South Africa with new environmental pledges for weak nations.
He invoked Ramphal’s precept that “whereas the Commonwealth can’t negotiate for the world, it might assist the world to barter,” urging member states to revive these retreats as boards for candid, solution-driven dialogue.
Sir Ronald shared that, then in his 90s, the previous Secretary-Basic appeared nearly earlier than the Worldwide Court docket of Justice on behalf of his native Guyana within the border dispute with Venezuela.
“The place did he discover the power, stamina, and dedication to work diligently and to excel in each discussion board? Nicely, it was in his character: a fierce urgency to make change for the higher, all the time pushed to make sure that progress would attain the best quantity — and that progress would endure.”
Seeking to the current, Sir Ronald warned that “three many years on from Sonny’s tenure, the Commonwealth confronts contemporary trials—every putting on the values he cherished. Our world wants enlightened, collective motion now greater than ever”.
Sir Shridath died on August 30, 2024, and the lecture was preceded by a memorial service in his honor at The Queen’s Chapel, St James’s Palace, earlier within the day.
