December 2001 - The World Citizens Assembly: Challenges, Changes, Results

The first World Citizens Assembly was held in Lille, France, from December 2 to 10, 2001. Gathering four hundred participants in a fair representation of the different regions of the world and the different socioprofessional contexts, it was the prefiguration of a Parliament of the planet. It was not an isolated event but the outcome of a large number and diversity of international workshops, per theme, per region, or per socioprofessional network organized in the framework of the Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and United World. These workshops led to writing sixty Proposal Papers presented for the first time in Lille. The World Assembly identified the common priorities for change on the basis of the concerns of the different socioprofessional groups and the different regions of the world, and outlined the contents of a strategy for change for the 21st century. It also discussed and amended the Charter of Human Responsibilities, an indispensable complement to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Charter. This outline was drawn up on the basis, among others, of the work achieved in the framework of the Alliance. The Assembly demonstrated the desire for dialog existing within an emerging global society and it called for follow up in different regions of the world and in different socioprofessional contexts.