Faith, Shared Wisdom and International Law
By
Patrick Nickisch
A Consultation of some sixty religious scholars, legal experts and leading thinkers and policy makers was held on the theme Faith, Shared Wisdom and International Law in Kuala Lumpur during October 3rd–7th 2010. It was jointly convened by the International Movement for a Just World (Kuala Lumpur), the Weeramantry International Centre for Peace Education and Research (Colombo), the Centre for Dialogue, La Trobe University (Melbourne), and the Sri Ramanuja Mission Trust SRMT (Chennai).
The consultation had its emphasis on four working groups, apart from penal discussions and presentations that were all focusing on themes of building a more peaceful world, environmental concerns, how to integrate our shared values into international law, and what the next steps after this meeting will be in the form of a follow up plan. It came up with a document summarizing its findings, stressing not only to integrate more of our faith traditions into international law, but also endorsing the universal declaration of human responsibilities which seeks to compliment the human rights charter.
The draft states:
“The Consultation seeks to define a common ethic and to suggest how this can be more effectively integrated into the work of the United Nations, including its various agencies, other international global and regional institutions, and relevant legal institutions, such as courts and tribunals. In this regard the Consultation notes the work of many groups who have addressed the idea of a commonly accepted global ethic.”
I was involved, apart from participating in the consultation itself, in the planning discussions of the convening team from December 2009 onwards, and met the other conveners in Melbourne at this time, who were all present due to the Parliament of World Religions. My role was to represent the Shri Ramanuja Mission Trust in these discussions, which also is an active member of the United Religions Initiative in India. Interesting for me was that all of the conveners are working for a long time in the field of peacebuilding and dialogue, and now did envision a different type of conference than usual, one that would lead to a global action plan to give religions a more integrated role in shaping policies and becoming agents and advocates for peace.
Noteworthy is the aim to strengthen the voice of modest religious leaders and scholars, who stand for contemporary reforms and applications to face and grow together with the challenges of our multicultural world that grew closer together. A spirit of cooperation to work on the implementation of what has been discussed was a desire shared by many participants. Truly, the time has come where various organizations, NGOs, institutes and civil society in general is ready to work more together. In this regard, the gift of what URI gives to the world became more apparent to me how much a bridge-building organization is needed, with its methodology to foster cooperation based on proven dialogical principles as developed in the URI Charter.
Another thread in some discussions has been, that many laws have been developed, but there is a lack in following them and a lack of binding agreement as well. My observation is that there are primary rules of law, and secondary rules, which seek to strengthen the former, but due to a lack of consensus, religions in the world did not contribute in a grand manner to create more binding agreements on following the primary rules in international law. Law has been the hallmark of religions since civilizations exist, and religion has great influence in creating commitment and desire to follow the law. But in different parts of the world, distinct cultures developed, with different emphasis and language even, which presents challenges when we start talking of universal declarations of rights. This is often perceived to be Western impositions, without sufficiently dialoguing with Eastern and indigenous traditions, who at times emphasize more the community than the individual, more the next generations than the present, more the harmony with nature than our dominance of it, and more our responsibility than our rights.
As such, the consultation is one important steps of many to dialogue between East and West, and work for the unification of humanity, not on religious grounds, or a common world ethic even, but on the mere fact that there is only one humanity and one earth we share, and that cooperation is the natural conclusion to create peace on our planet, that looks from outer space, to be in a constant state of war with itself, a civil war of its global citizens.
To ensure the continuity and outreach of this initiative, it was agreed to create an implementation committee which reads as follows:
“The Global Action Plan will be executed by a Secretariat under the oversight of the Implementation Committee. It will include programs of research, publication, education, consultation and advocacy relating to gaining acceptance of the incorporation of universal spiritual and moral principles into the corpus of international law; strengthening the role of values and norms derived from our philosophical traditions in the policies of the United Nations and other organizations; and campaigning for the endorsement of the Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities as a High Principle at the international level.”
"One of the first tasks of the Implementation Committee will be to establish a comprehensive directory of institutions, organizations and individuals that we can work with in furtherance of our goals."
My hope is that this initiative will find the support from as many individuals, initiatives and movements around the world as possible, and those organization involved in creating bridges between these can have an especially relevant role to play to bring this forward. A united effort is needed, and a combined approach between grassroots work and policy level. The mechanics to facilate such change is the chance that the judiciary institutions offer to us with the binding energy of international law to commit to its peaceful and just regulations between humans, nations and the earth.
I thank all those who were present, and look forward to continue my work in this global mission, to give religions a stronger and united voice for peace in society and to integrate its wisdom more in the peacebuilding world, both at the grassroots, political and judiciary leadership.
May Peace Prevail on Earth!
Hari Aum Tat Sat
