According to your report, our organisation's "silence" over human rights abuses by our member states speaks volumes about where we stand on this key issue (Commonwealth 'has abandoned' human rights role, 9 October).
It states "the secretary general ... will not speak out against abuses by any of the 54 member states". The article continues that this represents a reversal of the Commonwealth's tradition of speaking out over gross abuses.
All 54 nations of the Commonwealth, accounting for a quarter of the world's countries and a third of its people, have backed the UN declaration of human rights, yet only five of them – Lesotho, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles and Uganda – have ratified eight key treaties that come from it. In fact, only one of the UN treaties – the convention on the rights of the child – has been ratified by all Commonwealth nations. Meanwhile, the sovereign primacy of national law means that 21 of our member countries retain the death penalty, and as many as 42 outlaw homosexual acts.
The same goes for beyond the Commonwealth. Of the 192 member states of the UN, the 1948 declaration remains at best an aspiration and at worst a loose promise. Declarations – whether unilateral ones, of precious things like love, or universal ones, on issues such as human rights – are hollow if they are not backed by deeds.
The Commonwealth's own stated values and commitment to human rights cannot be taken to mean that all its members are perfect and are observing them to the letter. All our members are journeying on the democratic path, the UK included. But the majority of Commonwealth members are less than 50 years old, and their journey represents a steeper climb.
As an organisation, we accept we are fallible, but when a member errs we see little point in naming and shaming – such crude megaphone diplomacy would be simply counterproductive – we'd rather proffer a helping hand.
The article questions whether such "quiet diplomacy … has been effective as states have little to fear from the Commonwealth".
The Commonwealth has teeth: five members have been suspended in the last 15 years. But even when we do take this most extreme measure, we do so with the offer of help to return a country to its democratic path.
We will never renege on the fact that human rights are fundamentally woven into our values and everything we do: as much in our efforts to support women and young people, as in our health and education programmes, as in our work – more predictable, perhaps – to promote democracy and the rule of law.
We have published guidelines on best practice for bodies such as the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission. We have supported our members in meeting the practical obligations that come with ratifying the two first – and foremost – UN human rights instruments: the 1966 covenants on social and economic, and civil and political rights. We have given human rights training to police forces in over 40 of our member countries. And in supporting other bodies across the Commonwealth – election commissions, parliaments, and central and local administrations – we are investing in societies which can actually yield the benefits of their stated values and rights.
Kamalesh Sharma, the Commonwealth secretary general.