- Why a universal declaration of humankind rights when there is already a universal declaration of human rights ? The time has come because the stakes have changed. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose effective application is more than ever necessary, focuses on the rights and freedoms of each individual. It does not meet the collective challenges of future generations’ rights, public goods, climate change, the sixth of species destruction, endangering human, animal and plant health through chemical pollution or transhumanism. The purpose of the Universal Declaration of Humankind Rights is precisely to lay down the principles and rules to ensure an appropriate response.
- What is DHR ? The Universal Declaration of Humankind Rights is the first text recognizing the rights and duties of humanity to ensure its survival and that of living species in the face of contemporary ecological and technological challenges. In short, it lays the foundations for a global general interest in which civil society is the main actor and guarantor rather than the States. This is why it is the only text to date that has been signed by both public entities, non-governmental organizations, businesses, universities and citizens.
- How did this text come about ? This text was born out of an initiative by the President of the French Republic in connection with the preparation of Cop 21 ; he instructed Mrs Lepage to draft a text setting out the responsibility of current generations with regard to major climatic and ecological issues. Subsequently, civil society in all its forms, public entities, bar associations, NGOs took over the Declaration to support it with the greatest number of people.
- What is the purpose of the DHR ? Developed in the form of a declaration, with an extremely simple content (4 principles, 6 rights, 6 duties), the declaration not only has a moral and unifying scope of a project for humanity; it is also a legal act that everyone can use. In two months’ time, a book of commentaries will be published, article by article, by 16 professors of the declaration’s law, highlighting the jurisprudential capacity of each article. It forms the basis for the great movement launched on climate justice, which will gradually extend to all areas that concern the dignity and rights of humanity. It is a tool at the service of all those who want to act in favour of the sustainability of life on Earth.
- What do we commit to by signing the declaration ? The signing of the declaration is above all a moral commitment to respect the rights and especially the obligations contained therein. But it is also a legal commitment. In other words, non-compliance could be invoked as is already the case with charters and various declarations signed by public and private entities. Its strength comes from its less formalistic nature than other acts, the importance of its dissemination in civil society, in public authorities as well as in the private sector and above all its content.
- Who can sign the declaration and how ? Any individual, public or private entity can sign the declaration directly on the site ( http://droitshumanite.fr/sign/?lang=en ) or in a more formalistic way by organizing an event to sign the declaration with a representative of the association of friends of the declaration.
- What is the association of friends of the Universal Declaration of Humankind Rights ? It is an association intended to bring together the signatories of the declaration and define the development strategy in order to obtain as much support as possible. This association, chaired by Corinne Lepage, is supported by a board of directors, some 20 ambassadors and signatories who themselves agree to actively support the declaration.
- Who has signed to this day ? Cities like Strasbourg, Paris or Modena, regions such as the region of Tangier Tetouan, a state The Comoros, many French, European and African bar associations, NGOs. Thousands of citizens and personalities from very different countries such as Matthieu Ricard, Edgar Morin, Jean-François Clervoy, Yann Arthus Bertrand and many others.
- What can it bring to a city or region ? The mayor of Strasbourg, the first to sign the declaration, answered this question perfectly. Since then, all the cities that have adopted the declaration have done so unanimously, regardless of political sensitivity. This simply means that cities, departments, regions and more generally public authorities are today the first actors and guarantors of adaptation to the essential transformations and of short- and long-term security for their citizens.
- What can it bring to a company ? The company’s status in society is undergoing profound changes. Beyond its primary production function, the company more than ever needs meaning for itself and its employees. Social and environmental responsibility is now an integral part of the law. In addition, a number of countries now recognize, as in France, a duty of vigilance or, as in the United States, a responsibility of parent companies for their subsidiaries. In any case, adherence to the Universal Declaration of Humankind Rights affirms for a company its sense of responsibility, its willingness to be long-term and to participate in the definition of a form of global general interest, which is increasingly demanded by those who work for it and by society as a whole.
- What can it bring to an NGO ? Whatever the NGO’s purpose, including human rights, adherence to the Universal Declaration of Humankind Rights can only reinforce and strengthen its action by placing it in the context of intergenerationality and the long term as well as in a global vision, without any competition between the organizations. It is in fact the sharing of a common struggle for a viable and desirable future that is at the heart of all the actions of non-governmental organizations.
- What can a Bar Association bring ? Advocates are the spearheads of the Universal Declaration. All French Bars, the Conference of European Bars, probably soon part of the International Bar, 19 African and European Bars have joined the declaration. It is natural that this text should be carried by lawyers, and eventually by lawyers all over the world, simply because it is in the DNA of a lawyer to defend rights and that humanity more than any other entity needs to be defended.
- What can it bring to a university ? The first university to sign the declaration was Modena in Italy and the second will be Aix-en-Provence. It is clear that a university which has the dual characteristic of carrying research and teaching on the one hand and youth on the other must be by definition an active part in making the Universal Declaration of Humankind Rights a reality.
