The international life rests on two founding pillars: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights lays stress on the dignity of individuals and their rights; the Charter of the United Nations emphasises peace and development.

These two pillars have brought about indisputable progress and provided a stable framework to the international life. But now they prove to be insufficient and hardly conform to the changes we are undergoing. They have two major weaknesses: by reflecting the power equation existing in 1945, they are rooted in the traditions of the West and in its vision of modernity of that time; based on a philosophy prior to the prodigious demographic, scientific and technical development, they no longer correspond to the challenges of this development.

Historically speaking, the search for a complement to these two pillars goes back to the Stockholm Conference on Environment (1972). The idea of a third pillar - an Earth Charter regulating the relationship between Humanity and the biosphere - comes from there. This idea was taken up during the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro in 1992, but since no text arrived at any consensus, its approval by the heads of States was not possible.

There are presently two parallel processes for drawing up an Earth Charter. The first lies within the framework of a joint initiative taken by the Earth Council (created by Maurice Strong) and the International Green Cross (presided over by Mikhail Gorbatchev). This initiative was launched in response to the failure of arriving at an Earth Charter approved by the Governments. The second one is within the framework of the Alliance workshop called "Human Cross-roads" started in 1995 and 1996 in different continents in order to identify the "dualities" common to different civilisations. For the moment, these two processes have produced perceptibly different texts, in spite of a constant effort to highlight the common points.

The first difference lies in the structure of the Charter. According to the workshop of the Alliance, the charter must be centred around major dualities common to different civilisations (see Human Crossroads Workshop) so that we concretely formulate certain criteria in our choices in order to give direction to human actions and international life. As for the project of Earth Charter of the Earth Council and International Green Cross, they follow fifteen principles which essentially support the ecological management of the planet.

The second difference concerns the mode of discussion of projects. We feel that it is not possible to examine an Earth Charter without prior discussions and propositions on the other necessary changes required to prepare for the 21^st century. This Charter must also be made more operational by applying broad principles to different spheres of human activities (see article). As for the Earth Council and the International Green Cross, they propose a method of consultation confined to the Earth Charter, with a view to get it approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in the year 2000. These two processes, far from being competitive, must nurture each other.

Pierre Calame

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