Article submitted to Environmental Conservation
September 1999
By Arthur H. Westing, M.F., PhD
It was 50 years ago that the fledgling United Nations
expressed its revulsion against the German wartime
atrocities, doing so by means of a Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (UNGA 1948). The 30 principles declared in
1948 were eventually solidified in 1966 via two widely
adopted international covenants (Afghanistan 1966a;
1966b). However, the need for environmental conservation
was nowhere directly mentioned in any of these three
landmark documents. Nonetheless, their fundamental
principle that every human being has the inherent right to
life (UNGA 1948, Article 3; Afghanistan 1966a, Article
6.1) has been inferred to imply the need for an
environment adequate for the fulfillment of that right
(Westing 1993).
It is of course heartening to note that the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights was widely celebrated on the
occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. But not so widely
linked with those affirmations was the need to explicitly
couple declarations of individual rights with coordinate
declarations of responsibilities, both individual and
governmental or societal. One notable attempt to at least
spell out this unavoidable relationship between individual
rights and individual responsibilities has been by the
InterAction Council. The InterAction Council, established
in 1983, consists of 26 former heads of state who have
come together from the four corners of the earth. Its
secretariat is located in Tokyo.
The Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities (IAC
1997) was prepared in time for consideration by the 53rd
United Nations General Assembly, in conjunction with the
Assembly's commemoration of the golden anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Regrettably, it was
not brought before the full Assembly for its
consideration. (Although not directly elated to present
concerns, the 53rd United Nations General Assembly did
adopt a resolution that recognizes the responsibility of
states to guarantee a number of basic political rights and
civil liberties (UNGA 1998).)
Two of the 19 principles enunciated by this recently
formulated Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities
stand out as being of particular relevance if the earlier
promulgated individual rights are, indeed, ever to have
the opportunity to be realized. These two principles,
novel in the present context, are of central importance to
the achievement of the thereby sought after comprehensive
human security, doing so by virtue of coupling social
security with environmental security (Westing 1989). The
two included principles that accomplish this quantum leap
are:
Article 7. Every person is infinitely precious and must be
protected unconditionally. The animals and the natural
environment also demand protection. All people have a
responsibility to protect the air, water and soil of the
earth for the sake of present inhabitants and future
generations.
Article 9. All people, given the necessary tools, have a
responsibility to make serious efforts to overcome
poverty, malnutrition, ignorance, and inequality. They
should promote sustainable development all over the world
in order to assure dignity, freedom, security and justice
for all people.
Transmuting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from
hortatory resolution to formal international commitment
took the world community of nations 18 years to achieve.
It now falls upon all of us to see that the Universal
Declaration of Human Responsibilities receives favorable
attention by a future United Nations General Assembly,
thence to be followed by a more rapid evolution from
aspirational declaration to binding covenant. And as a
next step we might then even attempt to facilitate the
evolution of the aspirational World Charter for Nature
(UNGA 1982) into a binding international covenant that
explicitly guarantees appropriate rights for nature per
se.
References
Afghanistan (1966a) International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights [UNTS 14668]. United Nations Treaty
Series, New York, 999:171-346. [141 (73%) of the current
192 states are parties as at 15 December 1998.]
Afghanistan (1966b) International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights [UNTS 14531]. United Nations
Treaty Series, New York, 993:3 106. [130 (72%) of the
current 192 states are parties as at 15 December 1998.]
IAC (1997) Universal Declaration of Human
Responsibilities. Tokyo: InterAction Council,
UNGA (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights. New
York: United Nations General Assembly, Resolution No. 217
(III) A (10 December 1948), 3 pp. [48 (83%) in favor, 8
abstentions, 0 against, and 2 absent of the then 58 member
states.]
UNGA (1982) World Charter for Nature. New York: United
Nations General Assembly, Resolution No. 37/7 (28 October
1982), 5 pp. [114 (73%) in favor, 17 abstaining, 1
against, and 25 absent of the then 157 member states.
UNGA (1998) Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of
Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and
Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms. New York: United Nations General
Assembly, Resolution No.53/144 8 (9 December 1998), 7
pp.[Adopted without vote by the 185 current member
states.]
Westing, A.H. (1989) Comprehensive human security and
ecological realities. Environmental Conservation,
Cambridge, UK,16:295.
Westing, A.H. (1993) Human rights and the environment.
Environmental Conservation Cambridge, UK, 20:99-100.
*****
Article by Dr. Arthur H. Westing submitted to journal,
Environmental Conservation, 26 (3): 157-158 September 1999
(Foundation for Environmental Conservation, Cambridge, UK)