December 2011

The heads of state who will meet at the UN Conference in Rio from June 20 to 24, 2012 will have the historic opportunity of agreeing on a Charter of Universal Responsibilities. On the issue of regulating climate change and of every individual and every state’s place facing the current challenges, the principle of responsibility has become the fundamental pillar that can help build the global community on new ethical and political foundations. The text of the Charter of Universal Responsibilities could be submitted to the chiefs of governments who will be meeting at Rio+20.
Read the proposal for a Charter of Universal Responsibilities.

In parallel to this Charter, the Peoples Summit at Rio+20 deserves a Charter as well, in order to leave the stamp of a written “footprint” of the historical demands of those who will participate on site and from afar in this event. At every moment of history that has marked a big change, peoples have sought to express their visions of the future in a Carta Magna, Declarations, and/or Manifestos. The Charter of the Peoples of the Earth is inspired from the historical South African Freedom Charter, which was the banner of the anti-Apartheid movement and was adopted in 1955 by the Congress of the People. This first version of the Charter of the Peoples was drafted by the coordination team of the Forum for a new World Governance and regional Citizens Assemblies in solidarity and committed with grassroots movements active in different continents. The text of the Charter of the Peoples is a first initiative and an invitation to talk. It is already being enhanced, modified, and reformulated through dialogs organized in preparation for the Rio+20 Peoples Summit and beyond.