Second International Meeting for Human Responsibilities
Santiago - Valparaíso - January 19 to 23, 2005 - Chile

The city-port of Valparaíso, declared World Heritage by UNESCO, and Santiago, the capital of Chile, located at the southern tip of America, were the setting in which the members of the Coordination Committee for the promotion of the Charter of Human Responsibilities held their work sessions. This was the second international meeting of the Committee, which had met for the first time in October 2003 on the island of Syros, Greece.

Representatives came from the five continents and the purpose of the series of meetings was to evaluate the progress made and the obstacles arisen in the course of 2004 for the circulation of the Charter globally.

“We are very pleased to be your hosts this time around,” said Carlos Liberona, director of the Corporación Ayún and permanent member of the Committee. The meetings were attended by Edith Sizoo (The Netherlands), Betsan Martin (New Zealand), Pinky Cupino (Philippines), Isis de Palma ( Brazil), Rachel Trajber (Brazil), Cecile Sabourin (Quebec- Canada), and Sudha Sreenivasa Reddy (India). Also present were Gustavo Marín (France), John Stewart (Zimbabwe), Rob Wheeler (United States), Sidiki Daff (Senegal), José Domingo Vasconcelos (Brazil), Diego Escobar Díaz (Colombia), Ziad Majed (Lebanon), Zhao Yifeng (China). Eikatherina Apostolaki and Lydia Nicollet, also there, acted as interpreters to facilitate the members’ discussions.

The opening act of the second International Meeting for Human Responsibilities took place on Tuesday, January 18 at the Catholic University Silva Henríquez, located in downtown Santiago. The main presentation was made by Edith Sizoo.

MEETINGS WITH ETHICS AND CULTURE

The Committee’s presence constituted the appropriate framework for the presentation of three publications. Among these was the Spanish version of the Charter of Human Responsibilities with comments by the academic and philosopher Renato Espoz and the psychiatrist Luis Weinstein, specializing in human development. The other two were new books related to the Charter: Mujeres y Responsabilidad Humana (Women and Human Responsibility), a gender focus, and Espiritualidad y Responsabilidad Humanas (Spirituality and Human Responsibility), published by Corporación AYUN. The international members’ presence motivated other activities: the inauguration of murals painted by young artists and meetings with cultural, academic, and social circles that were invited to participate in cross-cultural dialogs and debates on social ethics and the contribution of the Charter of Human Responsibilities.

The last International Coordination Committee meeting was held on Sunday 23rd, after which the members were free to return to their original destinations or to travel, as most did, to Porto Alegre, Brazil, to participate in the World Social Forum, which gathered more than one hundred thousand people.

Further information

The Charter Web site
Further reading on this issue: