View this page in:
English | Français | Español

From the Preamble to the WFM Statutes (PDF):

As members of the World Federalist Movement, we affirm our determination to exercise our rights and responsibilities as citizens of the whole world in order to achieve the high purposes of the United Nations.

Ours is a planet in crisis, suffering grave problems unable to be managed by nations acting separately in an ungoverned world. It has become urgent for the world's people and governments to join in achieving a new level of global cooperation such as can only be sustained by a commitment to the planet as a genuine community. We make that commitment, and call on our fellow citizens and governments to do the same.

As world federalists, we view the world as one society embracing all of humanity in all its diversity. We affirm that the ideals and principles of community life which are basic to civilized existence can and must be applied to international relations. To this end, we call for urgent progress in developing the democratic world institutions of law by which the world's people and nations can govern their relations to assure a peaceful, just, and ecologically sustainable world community.

These institutions must have actual and sufficient authority to make and enforce law in their given jurisdictions in accordance with the basic federalist principle of subsidiarity, which is the division of political authority and jurisdiction between different levels of government and the solving of problems at the level at which they occur, in general at the most local level possible. For this is the essence of world federalism: to seek to invest legal and political authority in world institutions to deal with problems which can only be treated adequately at the global level, while affirming the sovereignty of the nation-state in matters which are essentially internal. Our objective is a world order in which the legitimate rights of nations to self-determination are balanced by and consistent with the collective rights of the global community to protect and advance the common good of humanity.

Our objective is to have not only governments but individuals recognize their obligation to uphold and affirm world law through allegiance to these institutions. It is the citizen who is finally the rightful source and subject of the authority of world law. Individuals, whether heads of government or ordinary citizens, must be accountable under due process of world law for crimes against humanity.

In our work for world federation, we are dedicated especially to work for:

understanding and amity among the world's cultures and political ideologies

an end to the arms race, and the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction

an end to the use and threat of use of military force

respect for universal human rights and freedoms, including the right of all to the requirements of a dignified life, and the freedom of all to responsibly express their beliefs

equitable participation of all in the global economy and in global decisions which affect their lives

the protection of our common environment and the preservation of the ecosystem for succeeding generations and

the emergence of a global ethos and a consciousness of humanity as one community and of every person as a citizen of one world

In the service of our goals we support transnational tendencies which lead towards a more mature world legal order and world community. We especially support:

the important functions and work of the United Nations system, while working at the same time to make it more democratic, reliable and effective

respect for international law, as well as its further development through such existing mechanisms as state ratification of treaties and conventions and

the development of associations and/or federations for regional or functional purposes.

We recognize that the building of a world community -one based on fundamental justice and an appreciation of differences- is the greatest intellectual, moral and political challenge of our time. It calls on each of us to examine our beliefs and priorities, and to express in our personal way our commitment to global change.

Change requires the organized will and intelligence of many individuals, and each person has something positive and vital to contribute to the process of change. Believing that by working together we can achieve more than by working separately, we unite our efforts through the World Federalist Movement and adopt hereby this constitution.