Assessment of our activities for 2005 - Orientations for 2006

* Objectives 2005

In Europe, the work on the Charter of Human Responsibilities has actually started in February 2005. In a first stage, until November 2005, our objectives were the following :
 to locate the representations of the concept of responsibility, in European professional and associative sectors ;
 to diffuse the Charter of Human Responsibilities and the project on the Charter for Europe ;
 to collect opinions and remarks on the contents of the Charter itself.

This stage should give us the first elements on the relevance of the Charter project at the European level, which would allow us to plan the following stages.

* Interviews : first results

The first elements came from the interviews we have carried out, in various professional and social sectors, in three countries : France, Greece and Italy. The interviews were orientated by the questions of a questionnaire that the coordination team of the Charter in Europe had prepared, that was especially adapted to the European context. Between beginning March and end September 2005, we have interviewed approximately thirty people. From now to mid November, we will have transcribed the results of some 20 additional interviews.

We have noted that the persons interviewed found the Charter project interesting and quite necessary. Its first utility would be to use it as a tool to make people sensitive to the question of responsibilities, to reach a change of mentalities and behaviors. Most of the persons interviewed speak about a personal change, as a condition for a social change. If the Charter is used to make people become sensitive, to stimulate consciences, there will be a change of behaviors, a citizen involvement within social and professional groups, a daily involvement in action. The socially responsible action will then become more effective and, from there we can think of proposing the Charter as a reference text at the international level. These people consider that it would be unrealistic and ineffective to try - at this precise moment - to make the Charter become a “third pillar” of the international life.

Obviously, the sample of our research is so restricted that we cannot claim that these first results are representative of the social representations on the notion of responsibility and the possible value given to the Charter, at the European level. Nevertheless, these first results give us some indications and tracks that help us specifying the next stages in our project.

* Significant experiments

In parallel, we have tried to pinpoint significant experiments from the point of view of professional and social sectors in Europe that assume responsibilities, experiments such as “a responsible company”, cases with local authorities assuming responsibilities, cases with consumers assuming responsibilities, etc. We also pinpointed European NGOs projects whose objective is to make people become responsible, change their attitudes, in order to behave responsibly in their everyday life, during purchases, at home, at the place of work and of leisures.

* Plurality of charters, codes, pacts…

Through this first inventory, we have noted that there are several other “charters”, quite widespread at the European level, underlying principles of the same kind as those of the “Charter of Human Responsibilities” ; i.e. : “I am aware that I am partly responsible in the environmental pollution”, etc. Those are charters such as a “Code of ethics” for some or other “responsible” company, “Green purchases” proposed by the European Union for the public sector supplies, the “Pact for the Earth” proposed by Nicolas Hulot Foundation in France, the “Earth Charter” and others.

* Objectives 2006-2007 : awareness and partnership

Based on these first results and indications, with regard to the European context, we think of concentrating our work in priority, during the years 2006-2007, on using the Charter as a tool for making people sensitive and aware. In particular, we will try :

1. To make people become sensitive on the concept of responsibility, by creating the adequate educational tools :
 through the text of the Charter itself
 through all the literature and the socially responsible initiatives which can be pinpointed and related to it (concepts and experiments such as “responsible consumption”, “equitable trade”, “ecological footprints”, “ecological debt”, etc),
 through the initiatives of the groups of Allies pursuing goals that are similar to ours (“the Alliance of journalists”, the “Workgroup on Solidarity Socio-economy”, etc).

2. To diffuse the Charter and the information on the international project of the Charter to professional groups that can play the role of educational agents and information “multipliers : teachers, leaders, trainers, journalists, persons in charge for communication within public or private organizations.

3. To try to associate the above mentioned professional groups in an awareness rising effort in assuming individual responsibilities, based on the Charter as a stimulating tool.