Bill of Rights of Future Generations

What rights do we give to future generations?

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Previous efforts on this subject include:

• " Every person has the right to inherit an uncontaminated planet on which all forms of life may flourish. "

Captain Jacques Cousteau in the early 1990's launched a campaign for a formal resolution to inscribe this first Article of this Bill of Rights in international law. It is carried on by the Custeau Society and in 2001 the motion was deliverd to the Secretary General of the United Nations.

• In 1993, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) joined Cousteau's project as a partner. in 1997, a Declaration on the Responsibilities of the Present Generations Towards Future Generations was approved by its General Conference.

• The Constitutional Law Foundation counts among its purposes to work for the application of the U.S. Constitution's provisions for the protection of posterity and works on the Stewardship doctrine and discuss various historic views on the subject in detail.

• In 1997 the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations (Stiftung für die Rechte zukünftiger Generationen) was founded, a think-tank that considers intergenerational justice to mean that today's youth and future generations must have at least the same opportunities to meet their own needs as the generation governing today. It publishes the publishes the journal "Intergenerational Justice Review"

• 2006 Jörg Tremmel: Handbook of Intergenerational Justice, 366 Pages, ISBN 13-978145429003 (review). Tremel argues for intergenerational justice as enabling advancement

• In 2007, Kevin Conway put a petition for a plea of future generations online, of which video versions exist by paperbagprince and SpartacusMoriarty.

• 2009 Jörg Tremmel: A Theory of Intergenerational Justice ISBN-10: 1844078264

• 2009 Axel Gosseries and Lukas Meyer (Eds): Intergenerational Justice ISBN: 978-0-19-928295-1 Describes libertarian, Rawlsian, sufficientarian, contractarian, communitarian, Marxian and reciprocity-based approaches to the subject.

• 2010 (May) International Conference "Ways to Legally Implement Intergenerational Justice" in Lisbon organized by Marisa dos Reis in collaboration with the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations with support from the World Future Council and others. Speakers were Marisa dos Reis, Jörg Tremmel, Patrick Wegner, Sándor Fülöp, Shlomo Shoham, Lucy Stone, Abel de Campos, Pedro Barbosa, Marisa Matias, Axel Gosseries, Viriato Soromenho-Marques, Emilie Gaillard Sebileau, Maja Göpel, Sébastian Jodoin, Armando Marques Guedes, Manuel A. Ribeiro, Francisco P. Coutinho.

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Let's come up with a text for a bill of rights that inspires us and our own generation to take the rights of possible future generations as seriously as we take our own rights. Please comment on the discussion page or improve the efforts below.

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Bill of Rights of Future Generations

1. All possible future generations have a right to exist.
2. Future generations have a right to benefit from knowledge of previous generations.
3. ...