The Melbourne Declaration
We, the Heads of Government here assembled, drawn from five continents representing a quarter of the world's entire population:
1. Affirm our strong and unanimous conviction that all men and women have the right to live in ways that sustain and nourish human dignity;
2.
Believe that this right imposes obligations on all states, large and small, not only in respect to their own people but in their dealings with all other nations;
3. Assert that the gross inequality of wealth and opportunity currently existing in the world, and the unbroken circle of poverty in which the lives of millions in developing countries are confined, are fundamental sources of tension and instability in the world;
4. As a consequence, assert our unanimous conviction that there must be determined and dedicated action at national and international levels to reduce that inequality and to break that circle;
5. Believe that for all these reasons it is imperative to revitalise the dialogue between developed and developing countries;
6 Declare that this will require a political commitment, clear vision and intellectual realism which have thus far escaped mankind and to all of which the Commonwealth can greatly contribute;
7.
Believe that the dialogue must be conducted with a genuine willingness to accept real and significant changes commen- surate with the urgency of the problems we now face;
8. Firmly believe that the choice is not between change and no change but between timely, adequate, managed change and disruptive, involuntary change imposed by breakdown and conflict;
9. Maintain that success will only be achieved as states recognise and give due weight to the essential inter-dependence of peoples and of states;