Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations (also known only as "Commonwealth") is a voluntary organisation of countries. Originally, it was called the British Commonwealth which was founded in 1926 when the British Empire began to break up. Now, there are 56 member countries of the Commonwealth.

Only countries which were part of the British Empire are allowed to become members of the Commonwealth (although an exception was made for Rwanda, Mozambique and Gabon which were never colonised by Britain, when they were allowed to become members). Members are free to leave and rejoin the Commonwealth. However, joining or rejoining the Commonwealth can become difficult, when the candidate country has serious human rights violations.