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Article summary:

Harms H:
"The idea of a charter for human responsibility",
In XXIII CSSP: 1-10, (Jul 2004)

Keywords
Abstract	The idea for a Charter was born out of the need to face the manyfold crisis confronting us. The massive challenges of the 21st century call for a new social covenant among human beings, a partnership which could ensure the survival both of humankind and of the planet. Such a covenant should take the form of a Charter to be endorsed by citizens from all over the world and -later- by international institutions. This Charter could serve as a «third pillar» of global society. At present, international life is underpinned by two pillars: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which focusses on the dignity of individuals and on the defence of their rights, and the Charter of the United Nations, which focusses on peace and development between nations. These two pillars have undeniably been a framework for progress in the organisation of international relations. But the last fifty years have seen radical global changes. Humankind now confronts new challenges. It is clear that these two initial pillars are no longer enough to come to grips with current and future change. The notion of a "third pillar" first surfaced at the 1972 Stockholm World Conference where the idea of an "Earth Charter" was launched, at the time focussing mainly on relations between humankind and the biosphere. It was revived during preparations for the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. In the face of the challenges of the 21st century, the notion of 'human responsibility' has acquired a new and challenging meaning. Individual responsibility, collective responsibility… responsibilities proportionate to the possibilities which are open to us. Human responsibilities… indeed, but how to proceed and to bring about awareness among individuals, peoples, professional groups and public authorities that -in addition to a Universal Declaration of Human Rights- creating a Charter of Human Responsibilities is relevant to our times? The dissemination and promotion of the Charter of Human Responsibilities will have to be a continuous and multiform process to be conducted over a number of years. Conceiving methods of implementation of this process -culturally adapted to the various regions of the world- constitutes, evidently, a considerable and at the same time difficult challenge. A capacity to invent such methods, a careful monitoring of emerging possibilities and a constant stimulation of this process, are the conditio sine qua non for the success of the dissemination and promotion campaign
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