Editing Harare Declaration (section)

{{Short description|1991 statement of the Commonwealth of Nations' core values and membership criteria}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}

The '''Harare Commonwealth Declaration''' was a declaration of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], setting out the Commonwealth's core principles and values, detailing the Commonwealth's [[Commonwealth of Nations membership criteria|membership criteria]], and redefining and reinforcing its purpose. The Declaration was issued in [[Harare]], [[Zimbabwe]], on 20 October 1991, during the [[Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 1991|twelfth]] [[Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting]].<ref name="Harare Declaration text">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=34457 |date=20 October 1991 |title=Harare Commonwealth Declaration |access-date=25 July 2007 |publisher=[[Commonwealth Secretariat]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040207030954/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=34457 |archive-date=7 February 2004 }}</ref> It reaffirmed the political principles laid out in the [[Singapore Declaration]] of twenty years before, and (along with the Singapore Declaration) is considered one of the two most important documents to the Commonwealth's [[uncodified constitution]],<ref name="Key Declarations">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/20723/key_declarations/ |title=Key Declarations |access-date=25 July 2007 |publisher=[[Commonwealth Secretariat]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819010922/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/20723/key_declarations/ |archive-date=19 August 2007 }}</ref> until the adoption of the [[Charter of the Commonwealth]] in 2012.

The Singapore Declaration had committed the Commonwealth to several principles in 1971: [[world peace]] and support for the United Nations; [[individual liberty]] and [[egalitarianism]]; opposition to racism; opposition to [[colonialism]]; the eradication of poverty, ignorance, disease, and [[economic inequality]]; [[free trade]]; institutional co-operation; multilateralism; and the rejection of international [[coercion]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/20723/32987/singapore_declaration_of_commonwealth_principles/ |date=22 January 1971 |title=Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth Principles 1971 |access-date=25 July 2007 |publisher=[[Commonwealth Secretariat]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511174313/http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/20723/32987/singapore_declaration_of_commonwealth_principles/ |archive-date=11 May 2008 }}</ref> The Harare Declaration reaffirmed all these except the last. It also emphasised in particular a few of the principles and values mentioned in Singapore as integral to the Commonwealth project:
<blockquote>
* We believe that international peace and order, global economic development and the rule of international law are essential to the security and prosperity of mankind;
* We believe in the liberty of the individual under the law, in equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender, race, colour, creed or political belief, and in the individual's inalienable right to participate by means of free and democratic political processes in framing the society in which he or she lives;
* We recognise racial prejudice and intolerance as a dangerous sickness and a threat to healthy development, and racial discrimination as an unmitigated evil;
* We oppose all forms of racial oppression, and we are committed to the principles of human dignity and equality;
* We recognise the importance and urgency of economic and social development to satisfy the basic needs and aspirations of the vast majority of the peoples of the world, and seek the progressive removal of the wide disparities in living standards amongst our members.<ref name="Harare Declaration text" /></blockquote>

At Harare, the [[Commonwealth Heads of Government|Heads of Government]] dedicated themselves to applying these principles to then-current issues, such as the end of the [[Cold War]], the near-completion of [[decolonization|decolonisation]], and the impending end of the [[apartheid]] government in South Africa.<ref name="Harare Declaration text" /> The declaration also charted a course for the Commonwealth to take it into the next century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Commonwealth Declarations |url=https://thecommonwealth.org/commonwealth-declarations |access-date=2022-03-13 |website=Commonwealth |language=en}}</ref>

The next part of the declaration details the purpose of the Commonwealth, and the activities in which it ought to engage to further the values expounded.<ref name="Harare Declaration text" />

Critical to the document is the removal of a reference to the opposition to international [[coercion]], which had been included in the Singapore Declaration.<ref name="Blair's Britain">{{cite journal |last=Williams |first=Paul D. |date=July 2005 |title=Blair's Britain and the Commonwealth |journal=[[The Round Table Journal|The Round Table]] |volume=94 |issue=380 |pages=381–391 |doi=10.1080/00358530500174960 |s2cid=154400556 }}</ref> The implication at Singapore was that not even the Commonwealth itself had any right to enforce its other core values, as they could only be enforced by using coercive powers.<ref name="Blair's Britain" /> This apparent conflict was resolved at Harare, and further clarified by the [[Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme]], which clearly mandated the Commonwealth to concern itself with its members' internal situations.<ref name="Blair's Britain" />

In 2002, Zimbabwe was suspended for breaching the Harare Declaration. The country withdrew from the Commonwealth in 2003 when the Commonwealth refused to lift the suspension.