On the occasion of Eirenefest, the book festival on peace and nonviolence, Lista Civica Italiana organised an event (The road to peace passes through “A Constitution for the Earth”) to discuss UN reform, a topic addressed in a session of the recent Civil Society Conference in Nairobi on 9 and 10 May.
The main speaker at the event in Rome was Prof. Luigi Ferrajoli (*), who published the book “Per una Costituzione della Terra” (Feltrinelli Editore) in 2022 and has now produced a 50-page summary of it in order to more easily disseminate his proposal to all nations of the world. Prof. Ferrajoli believes that this initiative should be supported from the bottom up, especially by the weaker states. LCI, which participated in the UN meeting in Nairobi, noted that the reform of the UN Charter is underway and will therefore be committed to promoting activities in Italy to involve civil society in this important process, which aims to create a more democratic and inclusive UN. It should be emphasised that all the extremely useful activities carried out by thousands of organisations and groups around the world would lose their meaning if a war were to break out (perhaps a nuclear one!): it is therefore essential that there be a supranational body capable of finding peaceful solutions. Anyone interested in making Italy a leading nation should write to info@listacivicaitaliana.org.
Anyone who can help with the translation of the 50-page text and/or its dissemination should write to us.
Versions in German, Spanish and English are already available. All other languages (French, Arabic, Swahili, Portuguese, Chinese, etc.) are welcome!
Here is the interview.
1) What are your reasons for proposing a Constitution for the Earth?
There are global problems that are not on the political agenda of national governments, even though the survival of humanity depends on their solution. The first and most serious problem is the danger of nuclear war. For several months now, European leaders have been talking calmly and irresponsibly about the need to rearm Europe, the need for Ukraine to use NATO weapons against Russian territory, and a possible clash between Europe and Russia, which could obviously degenerate into nuclear war and the devastation of the whole of Europe. In short, they are talking about the apocalypse, through threats and counter-threats, as if in a game of poker where the stakes are our survival. Then there is global warming, which is increasing every year, making growing parts of the Earth uninhabitable, the growth of inequality, world hunger, the devaluation and global exploitation of labour, and the plight of migrants
None of these problems can be addressed by national policies, which are inert and powerless because they are anchored to the narrow confines of electoral constituencies and the short timeframes of elections and polls. The only effective guarantee of peace is global and total disarmament, i.e. the prohibition as crimes of the production, trade and possession of weapons, which are jointly responsible for every war, every act of terrorism and every murder that takes place in the world. Peace, equality and fundamental rights promised by the many bills of rights have remained on paper for the vast majority of humanity, as unfulfilled promises due to the total lack of adequate guarantees and global institutions to enforce them.
The only alternative to these catastrophes is the expansion of rigid constitutionalism beyond the state. It is certain that 8 billion people, 196 sovereign states, nine of which are equipped with nuclear weapons, a voracious and predatory anarcho-capitalism and an ecologically unsustainable industrial system cannot survive for long without endangering the habitability of the planet and the very survival of humanity. This is a fact that requires a leap in civilisation, i.e. a reform of the UN through the expansion of constitutionalism beyond the state, commensurate with the global powers from which the threats to our future originate: a Constitution of the Earth, in fact, as a rigid constitution, superordinate to states, establishing a planetary domain of the common goods of nature, the banning of weapons, global functions to guarantee human rights – i.e. global health and education services and basic food for all – and a truly progressive global tax system.
2) What steps could be taken to implement it? Have there already been attempts in this direction?
There have been many proposals for global constitutions. But all of them have limited themselves to repeating statements of principle – peace, equality, rights – and perhaps supplementing them with new statements of principle. The novelty of our project lies in the introduction of guarantees and institutions capable of effectively implementing the proclaimed principles. Peace, equality and human rights are passive expectations, which imply and impose corresponding duties: the prohibition of the production and trade of all weapons as crimes, a global public domain to protect vital assets, from drinking water to air, large forests and large glaciers, and finally, the creation of global health, education and subsistence institutions capable of guaranteeing all human beings the rights to health, education and survival. Today, public property in Italy and other countries is governed by the civil code, which is an ordinary law, and it has therefore been possible, through another ordinary law, to remove certain items from public ownership and privatise them, such as spring water and railways. Only by providing for their status as public property in a rigid Earth Constitution can they be removed from the market and from the reach of politics.
3) Who are the possible allies?
All the people we can involve, by spreading the word about our project and calling for amendments and additions that can transform it into a constituent process from below. The prospect of unifying humankind on the basis of equality and peace – which, after all, are unfulfilled promises already formulated in the many human rights charters and the UN Charter, but systematically violated – is literally in everyone’s interest. Of course, it is bound to encounter powerful obstacles: the short-sightedness of the political class, interested in maintaining its own small powers and privileges, and the equally short-sighted interests of the great economic and financial powers, which fail to see the future. But in the face of challenges and threats that affect everyone, rich and poor, weak and strong, the awakening of reason is inevitable, sooner or later – hopefully before some great catastrophe that would dwarf the tragedies of the 20th century. The Earth, as an old slogan says, is the only planet we have. We are all in the same boat, and we must be aware that humanity’s presence on Earth is a fleeting phenomenon, which may cease and will probably cease if there is no change of course. The strength and novelty of the leap in civilisation proposed here lie in the suitability of a Constitution of the Earth, unlike any other revolutionary project of the past, to realise the interests of all, rich and poor, weak and strong, powerful and marginalised, being against no one but for the benefit of all.
4) What would you say to the young men and women living on Earth today?
I would say that, as always, the future belongs to young people. But today, unlike at any other time in the past, the very existence of the future depends on young people. Today, many young people are mobilising in defence of peace and the environment. I would tell them that it is not enough to protest, that is, to denounce what everyone knows: the irreversible nature of global warming and nuclear holocaust, and the growth of inequality and poverty with their attendant terrorism, fundamentalism and organised crime. Above all, it is necessary to point out that there is an alternative to the suicide of humanity: it is the implementation of the principles already established in many international charters with the introduction of appropriate guarantees of their effectiveness. Without the guarantee of global disarmament, wars will continue. Whereas they will be made impossible by the banning of weapons, since wars cannot be waged with poisons or kitchen knives. In short, young people, in addition to denouncing the catastrophes that are taking place, must demand responses that are equal to the task. And the only response equal to the task is the refounding of the UN on the basis of a Constitution of the Earth, strictly superior to any other source, which imposes the construction of adequate guarantees and guaranteeing institutions.
Here you will find a summary of his proposal for UN reform in various languages
Luigi Ferrajoli, A Constitution of the Earth, to save humanity
Spanish: Una Cost. della Terra per salvare l_umanità
German: Ferrajoli Entwurf einer Verfassung der Erde Version 15.02.2424
(*) Luigi Ferrajoli is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Law at Roma Tre University. He has written numerous books and essays on the philosophy of criminal law, general theory of law, legal methodology, jurisdiction, fundamental rights and constitutional democracy. Among his books, translated into several languages, are: Diritto e ragione. Teoria del garantismo penale (1989) and Principia iuris. Teoria del diritto e della democrazia, 3 vols. (2007), both published in several editions by Laterza. His most recent books are: Manifesto per l’uguaglianza (Manifesto for Equality), Laterza, Rome-Bari 2019; La costruzione della democrazia. Teoria del garantismo costituzionale (The Construction of Democracy. Theory of Constitutional Guarantees), Laterza, Rome-Bari 2021; Perché una Costituzione della Terra? (Why a Constitution of the Earth?), Giappichelli, Turin 2021; Per una Costituzione della Terra. L’umanità al bivio (For a Constitution of the Earth. Humanity at a Crossroads), Feltrinelli, Milan 2022; Giustizia e politica. Crisi e rifondazione del garantismo penale (Justice and Politics. Crisis and Refoundation of Criminal Guarantees), Laterza, Rome-Bari 2024. He has received honorary degrees from numerous universities in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Spain and Uruguay.
Since the late 1970s, he has participated in many civil battles, writing articles in newspapers and magazines, particularly in the daily newspaper il manifesto, giving lectures and participating in countless debates and conferences.
He has participated, as a member of the judging panel, in numerous sessions of the so-called “Permanent Peoples” Tribunal (PPT)‘, a court of opinion explicitly conceived and practised as a substitute for a missing international jurisdiction. He is one of the founders of Costituente Terra.
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