Commonwealth Interests
We help to advance the interests of the Commonwealth in several ways. Jewish tradition is unashamed about the right of humanity to manipulate the world for its advantage. We believe confidently in the use of human ingenuity to fix the world and its problems. That is why this need – to address the current issues facing the whole human population of the planet, let alone all the other flora and fauna who share it with us – urgently demands our attention and best efforts. If we’re in charge, we’d better take responsibility.
Commonwealth Values
We help raise awareness of our shared Jewish and Commonwealth values and of the advantages to communities that are guided by those values.
Commonwealth Cohesion
We contribute to social cohesion within the Commonwealth by bringing together people from different communities throughout the Commonwealth in mutual respect and understanding.
Faith in the Commonwealth
The Commonwealth contains a diversity of religions, spanning 56 countries, with a population of 2.4 billion (of which 60% is aged 29 or under). Just about every religion in the world is to be found somewhere within the Commonwealth.
84% of the world’s population identifies with a religious group, so the figure is likely to be similar in the Commonwealth, or possibly even higher.
CJC is one of only two faith-based organisations (along with Muslim Aid) officially accredited to the Commonwealth. The CJC has accepted the responsibility of ensuring that religious communities are not forgotten as an asset, and that their value and deep potential in harnessing the positive contribution of their adherence and leaders are well recognised.
CJC is the leading organisation in the Commonwealth that acts to integrate faith into its work. We have created a programme called “Faith in the Commonwealth”, which brings together leading faith figures in the Commonwealth with the aim of broadening understanding and discussing how religious communities and their principles and teachings can help to improve life across the Commonwealth. The first event, held virtually in June 2021, was introduced by the then H.R.H. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales. Participants included the Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, the (CoE) Bishop of London, the Rwandan (RC) Cardinal Archbishop, and leading Hindu and Muslim teachers and scholars from India and the United States. This initiative resulted in the establishment of the Inter-Religious Commonwealth Youth Alliance.
We seek out partners from other religious communities within the Commonwealth to spread our shared vision for peace and togetherness guided by our respective teachings.
Campaigns
We run and support a number of campaigns to try to address some of the huge challenges facing countries within the Commonwealth.
Climate Champions
Our Climate Champions programme brings together representatives from across our communities to work on the climate crisis we are facing. By combining our knowledge and ideas, the group works on new initiatives at community level, and comes together to lobby our governments for policy change.
If you would like to be involved with the Climate Champions, or represent your country, be in touch with us below:
Small Islands, Big Challenges
CJC is putting the challenges posed by climate change and the championing of small islands at the core of the global Jewish agenda. Our manifesto In Pursuit of Climate Justice urges climate action now.
The small island developing states (or ‘SIDS’) comprise 51 nations and territories across the Caribbean, Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans, representing some of the most beautiful and most fragile places on earth. Many of these small island developing states are members of the Commonwealth, from Antigua and Barbuda, to Vanuatu.
The CJC is working to make its voice heard by decision-makers.
COP26 in Glasgow, presented a huge opportunity to pressure the world’s governments and big corporations to agree a robust strategy to stem global warming. The CJC was proud to be the only faith-based organisation to be given a slot on the programme, which it used to bring together internationally recognised religious leaders and challenge them as to what their communities were actually doing, rather than saying, to address the climate challenge.
We are also working to make small but significant steps throughout our communal networks and institutions, for example through tree planting, reusing and recycling, switching to renewable energy, and avoiding plastics.
What you can ask governments and businesses to do...
We must do more to hold the world’s governments accountable for their commitments and make the instruments of international aid more responsive to the realities of climate change. We need to make our voices heard by decision-makers: governments, corporations, major institutions, and international bodies.
We must demand that the world’s governments deliver on their promises as part of the Paris Agreement to keep global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. That means action plans at the heart of government, with buy-in from the top of government, and clear national targets.
We must insist that as the global economy recovers from recession, it is not at the expense of the environment. That means, post-pandemic, we need a renewed effort to switch to low-carbon public transport, energy supplies and manufacturing processes.
Governments and major bodies must do more to protect green spaces, forests, jungles, and marine environments, to end deforestation and protect endangered species. We can start with our local authorities, businesses, schools, colleges, synagogues, and employers.
The developed world must honour its commitments to the developing world, in terms of international aid and investment as well as more responsive financial arrangements and instruments to address the inordinate costs to many small island nations as they strive to respond to ever increasing and repeated damage to their environments. This is especially true of flood defences, flood-resistant building programmes, and other measures in the small island states and other coastal areas which face the greatest immediate threat. This includes better insurance against flood damage.
We need to rethink our patterns of consumption, trade and travel so that we balance the need for trade and tourism with the needs of the planet, so we promote ethical, fair trade as a means of equity not exploitation, and we reduce the impact of air travel, which is one of the major contributors to greenhouse gasses.
What you can do to stem climate change...
We can make small but significant steps towards saving the world.
Rethinking our travel habits, for work or leisure, to reduce our carbon footprint. If we drive cars less and use public transport more (especially when powered by renewables) we help reduce global warming. If we all try to walk and cycle more, we improve public health, personal fitness, and mental wellbeing, not only becoming more resilient to pandemics, but also reducing congestion, pollution, and carbon emissions. Avoiding air travel where possible makes a major contribution to the world’s ‘net zero’ target.
Rethinking our eating habits. If we try to eat more locally-grown and produced food, we reduce ‘food miles’ and cut carbon. We can choose local fruit and veg in season, support local markets, cut food waste, avoid food, and drink in plastic packaging, and even grow more of our own produce if possible. This must be done in ways which do not damage developing countries’ export trade.
Rethinking our shopping habits. We can make choices as consumers which drive demand for environmentally-friendly products and services, using market forces to change the ways goods are manufactured and services provided. We can choose to bring our own shopping bag, avoid goods in packaging, reject single-use plastic, back ethical suppliers, and support local outlets.
We can support local community environmental schemes, through our own communal networks and institutions like schools and synagogues, such as planting bio-diverse bee-friendly gardens, switching to renewable energy suppliers, reusing, and recycling, and avoiding plastics.
We can use our voices and platforms, to encourage our friends and families, our leaders, and governments. We can use our positions on boards and committees, as elected representatives, and community leaders, as activists and neighbours, to raise awareness and take action.