Protest, silence and repression: Gaza and the state of freedom and democracy in the Commonwealth

The Gaza conflict, widely characterised as a genocide carried out by Israel, has challenged not only international norms of human rights and state conduct but also those of freedom of expression and democratic accountability within Commonwealth states and beyond. The Commonwealth hardly figured in the strikingly ineffectual international diplomacy that marked the two years after October 7th. Yet the political positions taken by several of the founding and leading members of the modern Commonwealth pose uncomfortable questions about their collective commitment to proclaimed Commonwealth values of freedom of expression, association and assembly, and to the protection of human rights abroad.