Declaration of Individual Human Responsibilities

The proposition of a Charter of Human responsibilities

Six theses as the foundation of the Charter

1. Facing the radically new situation of humankind, a third ethical pillar, common to all societies and all social spheres, is needed to serve as a complement to the two existing pillars which underpin international life : the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter of the United Nations.

2. The same ethical principles can be used at the personal level and the collective level, both to guide individual behaviour and to underpin law.

3. The notion of responsibility, inseparable from any human relationship, constitutes a universal principle. It is the common ethical basis of the Charter of Human Responsibilities.

4. Given the impact of human activities and the interdependence among all human societies, a broader definition of responsibility is essential. It comprises three dimensions : accepting responsibility for the direct and indirect consequences of our actions; uniting with one another to escape from powerlessness; acknowledging that our responsibility is proportional to the knowledge and power which each of us holds.

5. The Charter of Human Responsibilities does not lay down rules; it proposes priorities and prompts choices.

6. Every social and professional sphere is invited to draw up, on the basis of the Charter of Human Responsibilities, which is shared by all, the rules of its own responsibility. These rules are the foundation of the contract which links it to the rest of society.

Humans have rights, which have long been established and enshrined. Those rights are defined in terms of individuals' rights against groups of other individuals. It follows that individuals also have responsibilities in upholding those rights and other desirable ends. These responsibilities are set forth here in order of decreasing importance:

1. A person has the duty not to harm humans in body, mind, or spirit. This responsibility centers first on the individual, who cannot fulfill this duty without taking the highest degree of care in self-mastery, because to do otherwise would harm those close to the individual. The second degree of duty is to immediate family, who are most affected by the individual's actions. The duty attenuates as relationship attenuates, and as the commitment of another person to these principles attenuates; however, to the least-entitled person, the individual owes a duty not to support any organization that oppresses that person or fails to oppose such person's oppression by others.


2. A person has the duty not to harm the environment. At the individual level, this means the individual honors the first human responsibility by recognizing that the environment is indispensable for the health and survival of humans. The individual must not despoil the land, foul the water, or pollute the air to the extent good stewardship can avoid it without conflicting with the first human responsibility.


3. A person has the duty to remain informed to the extent of the person's ability. Without sufficient information, a person cannot uphold the first two responsibilities. The degree of detailed knowledge which the person should aspire to should be governed by the importance of the issue and its proximity, however, distance in time or location is not a license to ignorance, because some level of knowledge is required to gauge the importance of an issue.


4. A person has the duty to support the elevation of individuals of ability, judgment, and integrity to positions of power over matters within their capacities; and the creation of dynamic organizational structures and machines equal to the tasks demanded. An individual's personal capacity is limited, and must therefore be augmented.


5. A person has the duty to procreate only if it can be accomplished without unduly compromising the higher-priority duties. Children, properly reared, are assets to the human race. The duty to the child must include taking reasonable steps not to pass on genetic conditions that result in undue harm to the child's prospects to uphold its responsibilities at maturity.


6. A person has the duty to recognize that the Earth is an extremely small part of a vast universe, and that humanity's destiny is not to be restricted to such a limited sphere. A person's duties include helping his fellows and their descendants by supporting efforts to take advantages of resources and living space beyond the Earth. Should other life be discovered, it should be treated as part of the environment unless it has the ability to make tools or use language.


7. A person has a duty not to labor in a vocation for less than can be obtained, all other things being equal. To do otherwise is to be at least partially enslaved. A person has a duty to avoid being enslaved, for such diminishes the capacity to uphold the person's other duties.


8. A person has a duty to be prepared to defend against violence and theft, which depending on time and circumstance may include the use of deadly force; however, the person must be cautious in the choice and keeping of weapons so that no other duties are compromised. The person should prevent and defend against violence and theft whenever possible because committing a crime is a harm to the criminal as well as the victim, and because leaving a criminal unchecked increases the risk of crimes against others.