Earth Government for Earth Community
A grassroots process
|
Earth Government for Earth Community A grassroots process
|
|
|
Earth Government recognizes that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. As universal values,
freedom and equality are concerned with our ability to decide, to choose values and to participate in the making of laws, and they are
dependent on the recognition of other people. These values forbid any form of
discrimination on the grounds of race, nationality, sex, religion, age or mother
tongue. By accepting both values of freedom and equality we can achieve justice.
One can be answerable for one's actions in a 'just' way only if judgments are
given in the framework of democratically established laws and courts. Social justice consists in sharing wealth with a view
to greater equality and the equal recognition of each individual's merits. Human
rights and democracy are closely intertwined. Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is one of the characteristics of a democracy. The typical
fundamental freedoms of a democracy (freedom of expression, thought, assembly, and association) are themselves part of human rights.
These freedoms can exist everywhere. Democracy is a political system based on the participation of the people. It foresees the separation of
powers among the judiciary, the legislative and the executive authorities, as well
as free and regular elections. Earth Government gives equal emphasis to cultural rights, economic and social rights, and civil and political rights. We will not enforce economic rights alone to the detriment of individual civil rights and the rights of all individuals to decide their own fate and the future of their country, their political rights. We are aware that traditional customs and standards could burden the sustainability of all life on Earth. They could burden Earth society or any society forever, and holds individuals in a straitjacket. We cannot accept that. No one can! There are choices to be made and you must make them. Cultures can develop and can go on developing. Even religious beliefs may evolve. We are living now and we are able to create these changes. We are at least as bright , most certainly brighter, than the people who were living thousand of years ago. As far as Earth Government is concerned, cultural and religious differences cannot be a reason or an excuse or a pretext for not respecting human rights. Quite the contrary, all kinds of cultures may promote human rights and especially cultural rights. They are different in their achievements, but they are equal in dignity where they are expressions of freedom. At any time or in any given place, men, women and children use their culture to invent new ways of making human rights a living reality. Diversity enriches us if it respects the dignity of each individual, and if it takes account of human rights as a whole. Each individual is recognized as a representative of humankind. Human dignity resides in each of us and this dignity must be recognized and respected by all. Earth Government recognizes that corporations have social responsibilities as they are an integral part of society. Global ethics recalls that those realities, on which others build upon, have to be protected first. A classical example is, that to the stewardship of the ecological base (the base of life) has to be given priority before the fulfillment of various economic and social wishes. Demands resulting from the social system of a particular country have to find their limits in the protection of the global ecosystem or the aim of maximization of labour productivity in agriculture and forestry should not be realized at the expense of biodiversity landscapes. Vital interests of future generations have to be considered as having priority before less vital interests of the present generation. Typical examples are climate change, fresh water, clean air and soil erosion. Supply chains have to be designed in a way, that the goods can enter after usage or consumption into natural or industrial recycling processes. If serious damages to persons, animals, plants and the ecosystem cannot be excluded, an action or pattern of behaviour should be refrained from. A striking example is the use of negotiations and community principles to resolve conflicts in other countries. Never use armed intervention to resolve a conflict. Never go to war. A measure for supplying goods or services should choose a path which entails the least possible impact on the ecological and social system concerned. This way functioning proven systems will not be disturbed, and unnecessary risks will not be taken. The Polluter Pays Principle applies to all with no exception. Supply strategies consuming less resources should have preference before those enhancing more resource consumption. Strategies, which violate human dignity, should not be permitted. Examples are the expulsion of an indigenous population by the flooding of a valley for a hydroelectric power plant. A more balance world economy will result of annual checks and balances. Corporations will take their social responsibilities and become involved in designing, monitoring, and implementing these checks and balances. Corporations are required to expand their responsibilities to include human rights, the environment, community and family aspects, safe working conditions, fair wages and sustainable consumption aspects. Earth Government has extended the idea of sustainability to be a moral and ethical state, as well as an economic and environmental state, wherein sustainable consumption patterns respect the universal values of peace, security, justice and equity within the human relationships that exist in the global community. When there is a need to find a solution to a problem or a concern, a sound solution would be to choose a measure, if possible, which causes reversible damage as oppose to a measure causing an irreversible loss. Consumers should be concerned with the impact of their decisions on the environment but also on the lives and well-being of other people. Since one of the key functions of families as a social institution is to engage in production (selling their labour in return for wages) and consumption (using those wages to buy goods and services), then the role of families has impacts on sustainable consumption and development. Earth Government assumes that the eradication of poverty in the world is a priority and our responsibility. The interaction of poor health, poverty and environmental deterioration have a direct relationship with the stage of economic and social development of a country. Several developing countries are ruled by socio-economic and political structures that are oppressive, and it is the inherently vulnerable and dependent groups that are at a higher risk of neglect and abuse. There has to be an organized NGO sector and active human-rights groups in such societies in order to protect and defend the oppressed people. Earth Government proposes to make fresh drinking water a human right. The existing and future uses of water are constantly challenged; balancing supply and demand is made even harder by the amounts of pollution found in the air, land and waters. Pollution is widespread and people are dying because of it. As soon as more pollution is added into the fresh water systems than people and all life die. This is true even with the best system in the world. We live on the edge. Rainwater could carry pollution to the fresh water supply, and it is too late. Our fresh water sources are already being used and yet, the world population is increasing rapidly. This increase in population and the increase of pollutants in our drinking water sources have created conflicts which will only become more and more serious in the near future. Earth Government proposes to make clean air a human right. Industrial pollution plays a major role in the deterioration of nature but this time the level of pollution is above the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. Human rights are those that individuals have by virtue of their very existence as human beings: to live, eat, drink fresh water, breath fresh air, have shelter. Just as human beings have human rights, they also have moral, legal responsibilities and related obligations and accountabilities. Every person needs Oxygen to live so clean air is certainly a primordial human right by our very nature. A large part of our body is made of water and we could not live without water; therefore water is also a primordial human rights by our very nature. |
|
Copyright © 2000 Earth Government for Earth Community
|