The Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth Principles was a declaration issued by the assembled

Heads of Government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a ...

of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the C ...

, setting out the core political volunteering

value Value or values may refer to: Ethics and social * Value (ethics) wherein said concept may be construed as treating actions themselves as abstract objects, associating value to them ** Values (Western philosophy) expands the notion of value beyo ...

s that would form the main part of the Commonwealth's membership criteria. The Declaration was issued in Singapore on 22 January 1971 at the conclusion of the first

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM; or) is a biennial summit meeting of the governmental leaders from all Commonwealth nations. Despite the name, the head of state may be present in the meeting instead of the head of ...

(CHOGM). Along with the Harare Declaration, issued in 1991, it is considered one of the two most important documents to the Commonwealth's uncodified constitution, until the adoption of the

Charter of the Commonwealth The Charter of the Commonwealth is a charter setting out the values of the Commonwealth of Nations as well as the commitment of its 54 member states to equal rights, democracy, and so on. It was proposed at the 2011 CHOGM in Perth, Australia, ado ...

in 2012. The declaration opens with a description of the Commonwealth's identity, the relationship between the organisation and its members, and its fundamental goals: The second article describes the extent and diversity of the Commonwealth, encompassing both rich nations and poor across six continents and five oceans. The third article states, at the height of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

, that membership of the Commonwealth is compatible with membership of any other

international organisation An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states an ...

or non-alignment. The next ten articles in turn detail some of the core political principles of the Commonwealth. These include (in the order in which they are mentioned):

world peace World peace, or peace on Earth, is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Planet Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would ...

and support for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

;

individual liberty Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

and

egalitarianism Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all h ...

; the eradication of poverty, ignorance, disease, and

economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of ...

;

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...

; institutional co-operation; multilateralism; and the rejection of international

coercion Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a des ...

. These are summed up in the final article, which serves as a touchstone for Commonwealth principles: The part of the declaration considered the most troubling was the last to be mentioned: 'rejecting coercion as an instrument of policy'. The implication is that not even the Commonwealth itself has any right to enforce its other core values, as that would be using coercion. This apparent conflict was resolved by the Harare Declaration and the Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme, which clearly mandates the Commonwealth to concern itself with its members' internal situations.

Footnotes

External links

PDF Full text of the Singapore Declaration
{{Commonwealth of Nations key documents History of the Commonwealth of Nations History of Singapore Political charters 1971 in international relations 1971 in Singapore 1971 documents