Edinburgh Declaration
The Edinburgh Declaration is a statement by Commonwealth leaders about how new members join the Commonwealth. It was issued at the 15th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Edinburgh on 27 October 1997 and endorsed the Inter-Governmental Group on Criteria for Commonwealth Membership (IGCCM) report, which put all the membership rules into one document.
A key point was that Mozambique’s 1995 admission was considered unique because of its past support for Commonwealth policies toward Apartheid-era South Africa and Rhodesia. From then on, new members were expected to have a direct constitutional link with an existing member.
The rules were consolidated into a single, codified set of criteria. These requirements, which remain in place today, were reaffirmed and detailed further in later reviews.
In 2005, on the advice of Secretary-General Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth decided to re-examine the Edinburgh criteria. A Committee on Commonwealth Membership reviewed the rules and reported in 2007, with the Heads of Government endorsing the recommendations.
The updated rules reaffirm the principles of earlier declarations (such as the Singapore Declaration and the Harare Declaration) and add concrete details on membership. For example, applicants must demonstrate democracy by holding free and fair elections for legislative representatives, and good governance must include well-trained public servants and transparent public accounts.
The wording on the first requirement—a “constitutional association” with existing members—was weakened to allow a “substantial relationship” with the Commonwealth or a group of its members. In the executive CHOGM summary, this was broadened further to a case-by-case approach, allowing membership in exceptional circumstances.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 12:52 (CET).