- To find out more about the current Future Justice campaign, click here
The 7 Future Justice Policy Principles
We already have international laws and treaties that respect the integrity, value and dignity of all human beings, the earth, and all its life. But while these values may be incorporated into national laws, they often don’t filter down into real practice, whether in government or business. In fact, ensuring the rule of law may not mean ensuring justice.
Future Justice means putting the values that are essential to our survival at the heart of every law, and every policy. Helpful in this are the seven principles for sustainable development law presented at the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development. The WFC amended some details on the advice of its Expert Commission on Future Justice and uses the principles actively in its policy evaluation.
Read our peer-reviewed paper on this methodology "Applying the Delhi Sustainable Development Law Principles", published by Sustainability 2/2010. An outline of the methodology and how everyone can apply it, can be downloaded here.
In order to guide thinking and research when evaluating single laws the WFC has identified three questions for each principle. They serve as a 'practical demonstration standard' to clarify the details of a law or policy. They can be used to evaluate and amend existing law, or to draft new policies carefully.
The principles are the product of ten years of academic work within the International Law Association and were presented as “first blueprint for the emerging field of sustainable development law and policy” for professionals dealing with policy making and evaluation. They build on several global and local policy-making frameworks for sustainable development.
The goal of principled policy work is to ensure that important universal standards of sustainability and equity, human rights and freedoms, and respect for the environment are taken into account. It also helps to increase policy coherence between different sectors.
For our own work we have developed an Application Tool Kit for our researchers. This guideline is strictly adhered to, for example, in the process of evaluating nominated policies for the Future Policy Award.
We would be delighted if like-minded groups or individuals started using this guideline as well. Please do inform us about your experiences and findings!
An example assessment of the Feed-in-Tariff Law promoted in our department on Climate and Energy can be found here.
Browse through all seven principles and find additional resources for their implementation.
In line with our two-pronged strategy to promote the best and denounce the worst, we also start using the principles to identify worst policies.
