A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS-Jacques-Yves Cousteau

"Why should we preserve a livable planet if not for our children and
grandchildren?"

-Jacques-Yves Cousteau

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

MINDFUL of the determination proclaimed by the peoples of the world
in the Charter of the United Nations to reaffirm faith in the dignity
and worth of the human person and to promote social progress and
better standards of life in larger freedom,

ACKNOWLEDGING that it is among the purposes of the United Nations to
achieve international cooperation in solving international problems
and to be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the
attainment of these common ends,

RECOGNIZING that for the first time in history the rights of future
generations to exercise options with respect to the nurture and
continuity of life and the enrichment and diversity of their mental
and physical environment are seriously threatened,

BELIEVING that the preservation and promotion of these rights has a
claim on the conscience of all peoples and all nations,

CONVINCED that each generation has the inherent right to determine
its own destiny and the corresponding responsibility to accord a
similar right to future generations as an extension of the right of
the living,

SOLEMNLY PROCLAIMS the necessity of securing the universal
recognition of this right and this responsibility; and to this end

DECLARES THAT:



Article 1. Future generations have a right to an uncontaminated and
undamaged Earth and to its enjoyment as the ground of human history,
of culture, and of the social bonds that make each generation and
individual a member of one human family.

Article 2. Each generation, sharing in the estate and heritage of the
Earth, has a duty as trustee for future generations to prevent
irreversible and irreparable harm to life on Earth and to human
freedom and dignity.

Article 3. It is, therefore, the paramount responsibility of each
generation to maintain a constantly vigilant and prudential
assessment of technological disturbances and modifications adversely
affecting life on Earth, the balance of nature, and the evolution of
mankind in order to protect the rights of future generations.

Article 4. All appropriate measures, including education, research,
and legislation, shall be taken to guarantee these rights and to
ensure that they not be sacrificed for present expediencies and
conveniences.

Article 5. Governments, non-governmental organizations, and the
individuals are urged, therefore, imaginatively to implement these
principles, as if in the very presence of those future generations
whose rights we seek to establish and perpetuate.


P.D. In keeping with its commitment to future generations, the
Society drew up a Bill of Rights for Future Generations. A global
petition campaign was launched in May 1991, and generated millions of
signatures. A revised and expanded version has been approved by the
Executive Committee of UNESCO for submission to the General Assembly.
In 2001, President Francine Cousteau presented the petition and Bill
of Rights to Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations.