Earth is Our Common Home.
Therefore we must protect it together.
Humanity faces important challenges - political and ecological, economic and social - on its path toward a world community. The Association of World Citizens is a transnational network of women and men working together for a more just world society. The Association has consultative status with the United Nations, and much of our effort is to support the principles of the United Nations, the resolution of conflicts, the promotion of human rights, the development of world law, and a higher standard of living in wider freedom for all. Our website provides analysis, information, and reports of our efforts. We welcome your interest and participation.
Certificate of Commitment and Individual Responsability
Join in the worldwide movement to create a Global Community for the 21st century that is free from war and weapons of mass destruction; where disputes between nations
and peoples are settled through the framework of world law; and where policies and resources are directed to human needs and securing a healthy and sustainable environment for present and future
generations.
The way in which each person works to develop a world community is his personal responsibility. The Association of World Citizens works closely with the United Nations and its Specialized Agencies, but there are also activities at the national and local levels to develop awareness that the Earth is Our Common Home and therefore we must protect it together. The concept of individual responsibility is a core value for the Association of World Citizens inspired by the Prophet Jeremiah who marked in his time the passage from a tribal identity to one of individual responsibility.
We are united by virtue of our common intention to transform consciousness to an awareness of the world society. By recognizing our oneness as a point of departure rather than as a destination, we proceed to bring our respective approaches into harmony. If we started out as fragments, we would never find our way to becoming whole.
For those in agreement with this orientation and as a mark of commitment to work for the common good, the Association of World Citizens delivers a Certificate of Commitment and Individual Responsibility.
Name, date of birth, and address should be sent through the option "Contact"
Organizational Structure - Contribute
The Association of World Citizens is an all-volunteer organization of persons who believe that we have within us the strength, the patience, and the passion to change
the world for the better. By working together we weave the threads that tie humanity together to live harmoniously in a global community.
Yet we recognize that people, governments, and the world society are in a period of deep transition and that there are conflicts, injustices, repression, and discrimination. Therefore, much of the effort of the Association of World Citizens is devoted to working through the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations such of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on conflict resolution, human rights, disarmament, and ecologically-sound development.
Financial stability is crucial for all non-governmental organizations to keep their independence, to have an impact on government policymakers, and to reach out to a wider public. Therefore, contributions to the Association of World Citizens are warmly welcomed.
Checks should be made payable to the Association of World Citizens and sent to the Association of World Citizens' Secretary-Treasurer,
Ms. Sue Zipp
Association of World Citizens
P. O. Box 1206
Novato, CA 94948-1206
USA
People who develop the habit of thinking of themselves as world citizens are fulfilling the first requirements of sanity in our times.
In this period of world transformations, independent voices are needed, to warn, to highlight the need for cooperative action and to propose measures for the peaceful resolution of disputes.
On behalf of world citizens, the Association of World Citizens, which has consultative status with the United Nations, issues Appeals for UN action and measures to be taken by individual governments, multilateral institutions and non-governmental organizations.
These World Citizen Diplomacy Appeals aim to reduce violence, protect human rights, and to create bridges between cultures.
The New Global Context
2018 is in the process of becoming an important year in the emerging world society. The United Nations has a new Secretary General and is in the process of evaluating its priorities. Likewise, Non-governmental organization are reviewing their capacity of action to meet new challenges of armed conflicts and persistent poverty.
Although progress has been made in many social and economic fields, persistent poverty still remains the daily life of many people - what Paul Collier has called “the bottom billion”. (Paul Collier. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It Oxford University Press, 2008)
Citizens of the World have always stood for a simple yet powerful idea that humanity must think of itself as one society and thus must
unite in developing the basic policies that advance peace with justice. A central task is to develop a problem-solving,future-oriented global view which addresses the issues of our new era:
to overcome persistent poverty;
to reduce ecological degradation;
to develop conflict-resolution measures to abolish armed violence.
The United Nations and world citizens have been at the forefront of efforts to promote an economic system which puts the basic needs of people first. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
incorporated economic, social and cultural rights such as the right to work, the right to social security, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to health, and the right to
education. World Citizens hold that people-centered economic growth will be the result of economic and social policies which are consciously designed to meet basic needs - policies and practices
which are ecologically-sound. Ecologically-sound development requires a new orientation of moral and spiritual values. Concepts of caring, respect, sharing and cooperation with others must be at the
center of the values of Citizens of the World.
World Citizens are helping with this vast transformation toward a cosmopolitan, humanist world society. Thus we uphold a set of values, attitudes and ways of life which promote an awareness of the unity of humanity and the need to live in harmony with Nature.
UN: Growth of World Law
Today, the United Nations is at the center of efforts for cooperative action, for advancing human dignity, and for the creation of a world community. Conflict resolution, human rights and a higher standard of living in larger freedom - the three pillars of the UN- are advancing together with equal strength. The challenge to the United Nations is to create resilient, responsive organizational structures which nourish the human spirit. Cooperative ventures of all sizes are on the increase. Non-governmental organizations, such as the Association of World Citizens, play an increasingly important role in this common world effort.
Rapprochement of Cultures
Building on efforts in the UNESCO General Conference of October 2011, the United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the Decade 2013-2022 as the International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures, with UNESCO as the lead Agency.The Decade is part of a strong momentum created by the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010) which called for peace and non-violence at every level of society.The 2006 UNESCO General Conference in its resolution on Promotion of dialogue among peoples had called for "the development of a universal global consciousness" based on dialogue and cooperation in a climate of trust and mutual understanding and for a "new humanism for the twenty-first century". The year 2010 had been designated as the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures "to promote universal respect for, and observation and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms." Cultures encompass not only the arts and humanities but also different ways of living together, value systems and traditions. It is true today that, to an unprecedented degree, people are meeting together in congresses, conferences and universities all over the globe. However, in themselves, such meetings are not dialogue and do not necessarily lead to rapprochement of cultures. There is a need to reach a deeper level. Reaching such deeper levels takes patience, tolerance, the ability to take a longer-range view, and creativity.For any UN-sponsored Year or Decade to have a real impact, there must be wide initiatives and actions by civil society: non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academic institutions and the media.As Citizens of the World have been in the lead in efforts to create a new humanism for the twenty-first century, they welcome this 2013-2022 Decade and will play their part to highlight the creative efforts of individuals who have helped to create bridges of understanding among cultures.
Reading for Action
Reading is one way of learning. It does not replace reflecting on experience or meditation or intuition, but reading books and reports can be a powerful tool for appropriate action, for innovation and creativity. Reading can provide insights into new organizational structures and working relationships. In the Association of World Citizens' central activity of conflict resolution, books can provide analysis of power relations and the patterns of struggle centered on class, ethnic and religious conflicts and relations among States. Books can also develop values of respect, benevolence and gratitude toward one another, toward dialogue and reconciliation.
Refugees and Migrants
Portraits of World Citizens
Blessed is he who visited this world in its fateful moments - Fyodor Tyutchev (1803-1873)
Modern world citizen action has been a response to important challenges faced by the world community. Individuals who saw the dangers of traditional ways of thinking have acted together to promote loyalty to the human family and negotiated responses to violent conflicts. The Association of World Citizens in its current form as a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the UN was created in 1975 in San Francisco during the 40th anniversary celebration of the drafting of the UN Charter. Thus the Association of World Citizens builds upon the efforts of a long line of creative thinkers and active world citizens.