Cousteau Society Bill of rights for future generations

A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

"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.

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