Future Justice Commission
Decisions taken by politicians today will have a major influence on the world of tomorrow. But our offspring and the generations yet to be born cannot stand up for their rights. It is therefore our duty and responsibility to ensure the survival of both present and future generations.
It is our conviction that we can only create a world that is more equitable, sustainable and peaceful over a long period of time if our solutions address the root causes of our current crises. Otherwise, as we can witness in the global system today, we risk dumping the costs of geographically limited or temporary solutions onto the shoulders of others - be they in other parts of the world or yet to be born.
The WFC has set up this Commission with the goal of analyzing and exposing the long-term effects of our decisions today and connecting current problem-solving with a long term perspective. For this, we work from an integrated perspective, highlighting the connections between human rights and security, ecological integrity, social equity and peaceful relations.
The Future Justice Commission is composed of WFC Councillors, Advisors and selected experts from different fields of knowledge. It has defined three complementary work strands: prevention, governance and criminalization. Partly, the developed engagement tools become independent (like the Future Policy Award), and partly they inform in the Just Societies Programme.
The Expert Commission on Future Justice includes Councillors Judge Christopher Weeramantry (Former Vice-President of the International Court of Justice), Prof. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (Director of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law), Prof. Hans Peter Dürr (Nuclear Physicist and Peace Activist), Dr. Scilla Elworthy (Founder of the Oxford Research Group), Dr. Rama Mani (Scholar, Activist and Policy Analyst), Count Hans von Sponeck (Former UN Assistant Secretary General), as well as Honorary Councillors H.E. Arthur Robinson (Former President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) and Prof. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (Co-Chair of the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management) and several Advisors.
"The acorn has a 400 year business plan. Humans ought to be able to do at least as well as an acorn."
WFC Councillor Scilla Elworthy
Future Justice…
...is about thinking and acting differently, based on respect, dignity and mutual trust
…considers not just what is happening now, but the effects of our actions in the years, decades and centuries to come
… is a means of creating new rules for how we live and work, pass laws and run countries
…is the giving of rights to the poorest, the weakest, the ignored, to the planet and to the other living creatures we share it with
…is a protection for all the people yet to be born, whose lives we are blighting before they have even started
…is about what we do now. Our actions today will determine the conditions of life for centuries to come
