Just Societies
A World in Dignity and Equity
Decisions taken today may impact life and the future of life on this planet for decades or even centuries to come. Yet, our current economic systems are driven by short-term profit-making. Frequently human rights and human dignity are neglected and our representative democracies fail to take the interests of non-voting and succeeding generations into consideration.
The WFC programme on Just Societies seeks to counter this discrimination against long-term thinking and acting and make responsibility for our common future a policy-priority. It identifies and promotes new knowledge and holistic expertise, develops concrete proposals for institutional checks and balances safeguarding long-term security and speeds up political action in order to achieve the respect of human rights of all, especially for the most vulnerable groups of society. The diverse projects share the goal to spread ethical, integrated, long-term orientation in all sectors of society to accelerate the shift to just and sustainable practices and respect for the universal and inviolable dignity of all life now and in the future.
Trustworthy governance and future just jurisdiction
Ombudspersons for Future Generations
The World Future Council works towards installing official institutions with the mandate to speak up for the rights of future generations, so that the gap between short-term and long-term interests can be narrowed. Current business and investment is geared towards short-term profits and representative governments are tailored to the needs and desires of present voters – often to the detriment of all overarching sustainability commitments and plans that corporations, countries or regions have committed to. Some countries have countered this discrimination against the long term with an additional body, independent from electorate majorities, that reviews policy proposals concentrating on their impact on future generations.
Crimes against Future Generations
A second project is to develop and spread knowledge and legal concepts concerning the amendment of current institutions, so that currently prevailing structural discrimination against long-term interests is overcome. The first bias that the Commission challenged concerned the threats to long-term health, safety and living conditions of future generations. As environmental devastation of the planet continues and gathers momentum, despite increasingly precise knowledge on the devastating effects, regulatory approval or authorisation globally must concentrate on (potentially) future-foreclosing behaviour which needs to be declared unacceptable in the short term and eventually even criminal.
Human dignity and rights for the most vulnerable groups of society
Good policies for Disabled People
In May 2008 the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entered into force. However, the lack of expertise on how to plan and execute policies and strategies that actively promote the rights of disabled people both now, and for the future, remains a major challenge. In response to this shortage of policy role models, the World Future Council has joined forces with the Essl Foundation, in order to find international policy examples that have successfully overcome social, legal, economic, political and environmental conditions that act as barriers for disabled people. They will be presented and discussed at the International Conference entitled “Good Policies for Disabled People” on 22-23 January 2012 in Vienna with the aim to speed up political action to ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights by all disabled people.
Holistic Science and Education
The goal of the work on Holistic Science & Education is to draw attention to the influence that our ideas about reality have on what we see, what we believe is possible, and therefore how we define success, intend to lead happy lives, design communities and set up the laws of our societies. It challenges assumptions in our world views and scientific paradigms that our current culture has accepted as “normal” or unavoidable, but that the Commission sees at the root of many of the difficulties we are facing today. Such assumptions involve our views on human nature, standards in economics, consequences of “neutral” technology decisions, as well as power relationships hidden behind a-historical viewpoints on fundamental norms like justice, property, or democracy. Read more on how we connect theory and pratice >>
