High-Level Expert Group Meeting
22-24 March 1996
Vienna, Austria
Chaired by Helmut Schmidt
Introduction
1. As human civilization advances into the 21st century,
the world is entering a period of transformation at least
as profound and far reaching as that of the industrial
revolution. Globalization of the world economy is matched
by globalization of the world's problems ? population,
environment, development, unemployment, security and moral
and cultural decadance. Humankind is crying out both for
justice and for meaning.
2. The physical changes in technology and the applied
sciences have far outstripped the ability of our
institutions to respond. The state is still the main
instrument for translating collective will into concrete
action but everywhere the concept of state sovereignty is
under siege. To repeat the well known phrase the nation
state is too small for the big problems and too big for
local problems. The multinational corporation enjoys
unprecedented opportunities as world trade and investment
expands but corporate leaders now face agonizing questions
about corporate responsibility in unfamiliar areas like
human rights. Religious institutions still command the
loyalty of hundreds of millions of people but
secularization and consumerism command even more support.
The world is also afflicted by religious extremism and
violence preached and practiced in the name of religion.
The use of the word "fundamentalism" in this regard is a
misnomer, because religious people everywhere believe
deeply in the fundamentals of their faiths, but most
religious people also reject violence and believe that
force should never be used to advance their cause. So the
world is in flux. Where do we turn?
Concrete Recommendations
3. To promote the dissemination of ethical norms, the
InterAction Council recognizes that sovereign states are
still the primary vehicles of change. Granted that the
sovereign states are the main target, we should also pay
due attention to the role of electronic mass media and the
possible transnational organizations that are increasingly
gaining power on the global scene.
4. To ensure some significant degree of success in
promoting a global ethic, it is essential and perhaps
crucial that religions of the world with divergent believe
systems and regions of influence should be able to
cooperate closely in persuading the sovereign states and
various relevant institutions to help realize this goal.
This would serve at least two important functions. On the
one hand, this collaborative effort will demonstrate that
different religions can indeed meet with open minds in
reaching an agreement on the urgency of the problems
humanity faces today, and on the role of ethical standards
and norms required to combat this world crisis. On the
other, the mere fact that all the religions of the world
have been able to work in concert to promote global
ethical standards will ease the task of disseminating such
norms throughout the world.
5. Meetings of the world religious leaders could
facilitate the cause of global ethics. Such meetings can
specifically urge sovereign states and their leaders,
educational institutions, mass media (TV, video, etc.), as
well as their own religious institutions, to adopt and
promote by every means possible a consensus on the global
ethic. It should be stressed that such gatherings should
include representatives of religions, making sure to
include women. Existing global religious organizations
could facilitate such meetings.
6. Recommendations by these groups should be directed
mainly to the people in decision-making positions of
government, education, mass media, non-governmental
non-profit organizations, and religious organizations of
each sovereign state. These have direct or indirect
involvement with propagation and inculcation of the global
ethical standards and norms contained in the
recommendations and other basic information related to
world religions.
7. If religious leaders accept the invitation of the
InterAction Council to meet, the world will welcome a
discussion of a concrete action plan to promote the
dissemination of the global ethic. While not exclusive,
elements of such a plan could include:
- the compiling of a common code of ethics which could then be put in booklet form and disseminated across the globe.
- In addition to this general code of ethics, specific codes of ethics should be promoted for the professions, business, political parties, mass media and other critical interests. Such codes of ethics will contribute to self-regulation.
- Suggestions to the world's leaders that in 1998, the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations should convene a conference to consider a Declaration of Human Obligations to complement the earlier crucial work on rights.
- Development of a global educational curriculum that would include the best contributions of the world's religions and philosophies. Such a curriculum should be available to every educational institution and it should be accessible through the most current communications technologies ? the internet, educational television, videos, radio, etc.
- To broaden understanding and to combine the intellectual resources necessary for the development of such a curriculum, the United Nations should consider establishing as part of the U.N. University system a World Interfaith Academy that would bring together scholars, students and leaders of the world's faiths.
The Need for Global Ethical Standards
8. As Aristotle taught us the human being is a social
animal. Because we must live in society ? because we must
live with each other in harmony? human beings need rules
and constraints. Ethics are the minimum standards that
make a collective life possible. Without ethics and
self-restraint that are their result, humankind would
revert to the jungle. In a world of unprecedented change
humankind has a desperate need of an ethical base on which
to stand.
9. The world's religions constitute one of the great
traditions of wisdom for humankind. This repository of
wisdom, ancient in its origins, has never been needed
more. Ethics should precede politics and the law, because
political action is concerned with values and choice.
Ethics, therefore, must inform and inspire our political
leadership. Education at its best opens up human potential
to understanding and tolerance. Without ethics and the
teaching of right and wrong, our schools become mere
factories mass producing labor soon to be obsolescent.
Mass communications is one of the most powerful mediums in
influencing the mind and behaviors of human beings but the
violence, degradation and triviality of much of the media
pollute the human spirit rather than elevate it.
10. To respond to this world of change each of our
institutions needs a re-dedication to ethical norms. We
can find the sources of such a re-dedication in the
world's religions and ethical traditions. They have the
spiritual resources to give an ethical lead to the
solution of our ethnic, national, social, economic and
religious tensions. The world's religions have different
doctrines but they all advocate a common ethic of basic
standards. What unites the world's faiths is far greater
than what divides them. They all advocate self-restraint,
obligations, responsibilities and sharing. They all
advocate the virtues of humility, compassion and justice.
Each assesses the maze of life and in its own way discerns
the patterns which give meaning to the whole. To solve our
global problems we must begin with a common ethical
base
The Core of a Global Ethic
11. Today humanity possesses sufficient economic,
cultural, and spiritual resources to introduce a better
global order, but old and new ethnic, national, social,
economic and religious tensions threaten the peaceful
building of a better world. In such a dramatic global
situation humanity needs a vision of peoples living
peacefully together, of ethnic and ethical groupings and
of religions sharing responsibility for the care of earth,
a vision which rests on hopes, goals, ideals, standards.
We are therefore grateful that the Parliament of the
World's Religions, which assembled in Chicago in 1993,
proclaimed a Declaration towards a Global Ethic which we
support in principle.
12. There have been landmark advances to strengthen human
rights in international law and justice beginning with the
United Nations adopting the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, strengthened by the two Human Rights Covenants on
Civil and Political Rights and Social, Cultural and
Economic Rights, and elaborated by the Vienna Declaration
on Human Rights and Programme for Action. What the U.N.
proclaimed on the level of rights, the Chicago Declaration
confirmed and deepened from the perspective of
obligations: the full realization of intrinsic dignity of
the human person, the inalienable freedom and equality in
principle of all humans and the necessary solidarity and
interdependence of all humans with each other, both as
individuals and as communities. Also we are convinced that
a better global order cannot be created or enforced by
laws, prescriptions, and conventions alone; that action in
favor of rights and freedoms presumes a consciousness of
responsibility and duty, and that therefore both the minds
and hearts of women and men must be addressed; that rights
without obligations cannot long endure, and that there
will be no better global order without a global ethic.
13. The global ethic is no substitute for the Torah, the
Gospels, the Qur'an, the Bhagavadgita, the Discourses of
the Buddha or the Teachings of Confucius and of others. A
global ethic provides a necessary minimum of common
values, standards and basic attitudes. In other words: a
minimal basic consensus relating to binding values,
irrevocable standards and moral attitudes which can be
affirmed by all religions despite their dogmatic
differences and can also be supported by non-believers.
14. In affirmation of the Chicago Declaration which for
the first time in the history of religions formulated this
minimal basic consensus, we recommend two principles which
are vital for every individual, social, and political
ethic:
(1) Every human being must be treated humanely.
(2) Do unto others as you want others to do unto you. This
Rule is part of every great religious tradition.
15. On the basis of these two principles there are four
irrevocable commitments on which all religions agree and
which we fully support:
- a commitment to a culture of non-violence and respect for life,
- a commitment to a culture of solidarity and a just economic order,
- a commitment to a culture of tolerance and a life of truthfulness,
- a commitment to a culture of equal rights and partnership between men and women.
16. Cognizant of the different approaches of religions
towards family planning policies and methods, it was
agreed that present population trends make the pursuit of
effective family planning inevitable. The positive
experience of several countries and religions should be
shared and scientific research into family planning should
be accelerated.
17. Education, at all levels, has a crucial role to play
in inculcating global ethical values in the minds of the
younger generation. From the primary school to the
university, curricula and syllabi should be restructured
to include common global values and to promote
understanding of religions other than one's own.
Educational programmes should inform values like
"affirmative tolerance" and curricular materials should be
produced accordingly. The development of the aspirations
of youth should be a major emphasis. UNESCO and the United
Nations University and other international bodies should
work together to achieve this objective. The electronic
media should be enlisted.
18. We note the ongoing participatory process, initiated
by the Earth Council and Green Cross International to
develop and Earth Charter. We welcome this initiative as
an example of an effort to involve the world's religions
and other groups in defining the basic change in values,
behavior and attitudes of government, private sector and
civil society, needed for a shift to a sustainable
development.
19. Because respect of life is a core ethical commitment,
combating the scourge of war and violence must be at the
top of the world's priorities. Two issues in particular
smut receive immediate attention: the trade in small arms,
semi-automatic weapons must be curbed and the easy
availability of such weapons must cease. And like small
arms, landmines have destroyed a score of innocent lives.
This problem is especially acute in Cambodia, in the
former Yugoslavia, in Africa and in Afghanistan. The
systematic removal and dismantling of landmines is an
urgent need.