HUMANIST MANIFESTO 2000
The Need for New Planetary Institutions

  The urgent question in the 21st Century is whether humankind can develop global institutions to address global problems. Besides ongoing voluntary, private, and public efforts at the local, national, and regional level there remains a need to develop new global institutions that will deal with the problems directly and will focus on the needs of humanity as a whole.

In the aftermath of the Second World War a number of international institutions, such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization, were founded to deal with these tasks. Unfortunately, a wide gap has appeared between the way in which these institutions operate and the needs of the new planetary community. Existing institutions must therefore change dramatically, or new institutions must be forged.

The de facto political boundaries of the world are arbitrary. We need to go beyond them. We need to continue to defend the growth of democracy in the diverse nations in the world community, but we also need to enhance the transnational rights of all members of the planetary community. We need now more than ever a world body that represents the people of the world rather than nation-states.

To solve problems on the transnational level and to contribute to planetwide development, we need gradually but drastically to transform the United Nations. Some of these changes will involve amending the UN Charter; others will entail radically altering the structure of the UN.

The most fundamental change would be to enhance the effectiveness of the UN by converting it from an assembly of sovereign states to an assembly of peoples as well. Such a transformation does have precedents, including the self-conversion of America's early confederation of sovereign states into the current federal system. If we are to solve our global problems, nation-states must transfer some of their sovereignty to a system of transnational authority.

Any new transnational system should be democratic and would have limited powers. There would be a maximization of autonomy, decentralization, and freedom for the independent states and regions of the world. There would also be a system of checks and balances as a safeguard against arbitrary power. The transnational system would deal primarily with questions that can only be solved on the global level, such as security, the defense of human rights, economic and social development, and the protection of the planetary environment. To achieve these goals, we offer the following reforms, working from the framework of the United Nations:

First, an effective World Parliament --and elections to it based on population-- which will represent the people, not their governments. The idea of a World Parliament is similar to the evolution of the European Parliament, still in its infancy. This new World Parliament would enact legislative policies in a democratic manner. Perhaps a bi-cameral legislature is the most feasible with both a Parliament of peoples and a General Assembly of nations. The detailed formal structure can only be worked out by a charter review convention that we recommend should be convened to examine thoroughly options for strengthening the UN and/or supplementing it with a parliamentary system.

Second, a workable security system to resolve military conflicts that threaten the peace. We need to amend the United Nations Charter to achieve this aim. Thus the veto in the Security Council by the Big Five needs to be repealed. The world needs an effective police force to protect regions of the world from conflict and to negotiate peaceful settlements. We recommend that the UN Security Council, elected by the General Assembly and World Parliament, should require a three-quarters vote to take any security measures.

Third, an effective World Court and an International Judiciary with sufficient power to enforce its rulings.

Fourth, a planetary environmental monitoring agency on the transnational level. The United Nations Environment Programme should be given the power to enforce measures against serious ecological pollution. The United Nations Population Fund must be allocated sufficient funding to satisfy the unmet global need for contraception and therefore help stabilize population growth. If they cannot cope with the massive problems, a stronger planetary agency will need to be created.

Fifth, an international system of taxation to assist the underdeveloped sectors of the human family and to fulfill social needs not fulfilled by market forces. We would begin with a tax levied on the Gross National Product of all nations, the proceeds to be used for economic and social assistance and development. The existing vital agencies of the United Nations, including UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, etc., would be financed by the funds raised. Wide international agreement on tax reform is needed to ensure that multinational corporations pay their fair share of the global tax burden. Tax credits should be given for charitable donations for human and social development. A levy on international fund transfers should be considered to finance social development in the poorest nations and the selective cancellations of impairing debts.

Sixth, some procedure for the regulation of multinational corporations and state monopolies. We should encourage free-market economies, yet we cannot ignore worldwide human needs. Extreme disparities between affluent and less developed parts of the world can be overcome by encouraging self-help, but also by harnessing the world's wealth to provide capital, technical aid, and educational assistance for economic and social development.

Seventh, keep alive a free market of ideas, respect diversity of opinion, and cherish the right to dissent. Resist control of the media, whether by national governments, powerful economic interests, or global institutions. Dictatorships have used the media for propagandistic purposes, denying alternative viewpoints. The mass media in capitalist societies are often under oligopolic control and offer no alternatives to maximize ratings. We need a democratic movement worldwide to allow for cultural diversity and enrichment and a free give-and-take of ideas.

Finally, we need to nurture a sense of optimism about the Human Prospect. We are responsible for our own destiny, and the best we can do is to muster our intelligence, courage, and compassion to realize our highest aspirations. We believe that a good life is possible for every person of the future. Life can be meaningful for those willing to assume responsibility and undertake the cooperative efforts necessary to fulfill its promise.

In the midst of our diversity and the plurality of our traditions, we need to recognize that we are all part of an extended human family, sharing a common planetary habitat. Solving our problems will require the cooperation and wisdom of all members of the world community. We invite other men and women representing different traditions to join with us in working for a better world in the planetary society that is now emerging.

Excerpted from the Fall 1999 issue of Free Inquiry. This draft by Paul Kurtz, Editor-in-Chief, was endorsed by 125 humanists from 29 countries, including Steve Allen, Alan Cranston and Edward O. Wilson (U.S.A.), Sir Arthur C. Clarke (Sri Lanka), Richard Dawkins (U.K.), Richard Leakey (Kenya), and Taslima Nasrin (Bangladesh). The International Society of Humanism.