Brussels, 07 Apr 2003
Renowned thinkers and researchers in the areas of philosophy, science and the arts have called for an 'international ethical, political and scientific collegium' to assess global disorder, it was announced in the European Parliament on 2 April.
The appeal is being led by Michel Rocard, MEP and former Prime Minister of France, along with the former President of Slovenia, Milan Kucan. Around 60 additional well known public figures have also put their name to the appeal, including former Russian Prime Minister Evgeny Primakov, Indian economist and Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen, former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonis Gutterres, Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh and German philosopher Jürgen Habermas.
The collegium would tackle three global challenges, the first being ecological threats. 'We are beginning to understand the extent to which our biosphere is fragile, that the Earth could become uninhabitable for ourselves, for our children and for coming generations if we do not act in a more responsible manner,' the appeal states.
In an interview for the United Nations Chronicle, Mr Rocard outlined where scientists could fit into the collegium, highlighting not only the deterioration of the planet, but the lack of effective remedies to pandemics such as AIDS and malaria.
'A new effort is obviously called for to improve the quality of world governance, which can be initiated by a collective body of philosophers, economists, sociologists and biologists, as well as present and former heads of Government,' said Mr Rocard.
The suffering caused by economic and financial deregulation and the 'global crisis of thought and meaning' would be the other challenges addressed by the initiative.
For further information, please visit:
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2003/is sue1/0103p74.html