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By Ulian Bilotkach
It is time to get serious indeed about the rules that govern people’s and nation’s lives on the planet, meaning that the universal rules for nations and people need to be internationally adopted and enforced.
Why the rules? Because without the rules and enforcement people and nations get into conflicts that impair mankind’s development and may even lead to global destruction. These conflicts are increasingly demanding more resources, thereby diverting those from contributing to accelerated development.
Why is it time? It appears that presently the conflicts between nations/people have advanced to the point where a large-scale destruction of life/infrastructure has become a real possibility. Though it was a possibility since the beginning of the Cold War, its probability was still low due to the powerful counter-force, the self-preservation instinct. Being embedded into humans over hundreds of thousands of years, instincts are powerful forces that drive people’s behavior, but nowadays groups have emerged that can defy this powerful instinct of self-preservation. The very fact of their emergence and their ability of damaging suicide at will is the result of the deepening conflicts.
These groups, also called the international terrorists, have openly proclaimed that they were fighting for their, and their siblings’ rights, which they believe were deprived as a result of the existing global/regional conflicts. There does not seem to be a good reason to believe that the suicide attackers are conducting their deadly acts because of some other motives; it is difficult to imagine that a healthy person that summarily enjoys his/her life would wish to interrupt it in such a horrible way just for fun of it. These people do not seem to be mentally sick; on the contrary, they are pretty smart in their deeds, which means that they know very well what they are doing, and it appears that their eventual goal is to get access to the weapons of mass destruction and to inflict as big damage as possible. Since there does not seem to exist a complete protection against suicide attackers, the realization of such a scenario appears to be just a matter of time.
The current response of the international community to the terror, which is to locate, isolate or destroy terrorists, is not going to achieve much since it does not address the root causes the terrorism feeds on, the underlying conflicts. No matter how efficient the anti-terror measures are, the terrorist organizations will not run out of new recruits until the motive for certain people to join their ranks disappear. This is why the international community should focus on ending the existing and preventing the future conflicts first of all, and that can be effectively achieved through the adoption and implementation of the appropriate rules of behavior by nations/people.
Many rules were proposed in human history for people and nations to live by but there still does not exist a system of universal rules that the vast majority of planet’s population would accept and adhere to. It seems that religions were most consistent in promoting rules of behavior for individuals but different religions had different rules and their efforts often led to the new conflicts rather than to the conflict prevention/mitigation. Nations have adopted their internal rules but those differed quite significantly from nation to nation. And at the international level, some rules were proposed but those either were not perfect or had no enforcement mechanism associated with them, or both.
Generally, people seem to understand what the good rules are but many are not particularly keen to follow those rules since they come in conflict often with what the human instincts dictate. Yet it is time to understand that it is paramount to live by the good rules rather than by instincts because the latter were formed in the ancient past, and are better suited for situations that existed then.
It seems that one of the most universal and applicable to both nations and individuals rule is the “do not harm” rule. It simply means that each individual (or nation) should behave in a way that does not cause harm to others, intentionally or unintentionally. It is easy to see that if this rule were followed by all people and nations, the humanity would not have had conflicts that they had and continue to have. There are several reasons why this rule was/is not followed:
- People (as individuals or groups) have always preferred to follow their instincts, which forced them to fight with each other for a better slice of whatever was available rather than to try to share that among themselves in a fair way;
- Lack of understanding that inflicting harm to others always backfires to those who have done so, sooner or later, giving rise to conflicts;
- There has never been a full understanding and/or consent in regard to what type of people’s actions cause harm to the others. As a result, many could be unaware that what they were doing was actually harmful for other people; and
- Even if they are aware they may still chose not to observe the rule on the grounds of getting personal benefits, and hoping they won’t be punished for that.
It follows from the above that the way to make this rule work is through reaching consensus throughout the world (or the most parts of the world) that this rule should be complied with by all, then reaching a worldwide agreement on types of actions that are not acceptable under the rule, and then instituting an international enforcement system. Since these measures would require global actions, they should be coordinated by the appropriate international body. None of the existing international bodies (such as UN etc.) seems to fit this role well so either a new body would have to be created, or one of the existing bodies should be transformed to be able to complete this function.
Some of the actions that would qualify as unacceptable at the level of nations under the said rule would include:
- Planning/conducting military aggression by one nation against the other;
- Providing state support to groups or individuals that are engaged in planning/conducting hostile actions against other nations aimed at getting control over other nations’ resources;
- Limiting access to the available information by the national population, providing false information, restricting freedom of movement and freedom of speech, and using violence to control people;
- Other actions as seen appropriate by international community.
Some of the actions of individuals that are unacceptable under this rule would be:
- Physical violence against other individuals of any kind. More specifically, this would include:
√ Killing
√ Inflicting injuries
√ Rape
√ Confinement
√ Other similar actions.
- Actions aimed at the seizure of other individual’s private property/possessions against their will. More specifically, these would include:
√ Burglaries
√ Robbery
√ Seizing others’ property through corruption, deceit, misleading
√ Other similar actions.
- Dissemination of a false information about other individuals to inflict moral harm and gain advantage over them. More specifically, this may encompass:
√ Spreading the deliberately distorted information about other individuals or groups of individuals through the mass media or other information channels
√ False witnessing against other individuals
√ Spreading rumors that contain false information about other individuals
√ Other similar actions.
- Actions aimed at benefiting from other individuals by misleading them, providing false information or withholding information from them. More specifically, these may involve:
√ Gaining advantage by withholding information from others
√ Profiting by utilizing others’ unawareness or by deliberately misinforming them
√ Other similar actions.
These are just a few actions that would lead to the break of the rule in question; a full list of such actions, including that at the groups within the nation level, should be defined in the process of the development of the universal rules system.
Once the initial draft of the list of actions is prepared, this needs to be widely publicized around the world and the global discussion of the forbidden actions should be conducted through the mass media and official channels. It is expected that the final action list will emerge as a result of this public debate, which the majority of people and nations agree to and commit themselves not to undertake.
The international community should then agree on the international enforcement mechanisms that will be applied to individual nations that do conduct the forbidden actions and/or do not properly implement the enforcement of the rule within their countries. Such mechanisms should focus on providing assistance to nations in achieving full compliance with the rule though, rather than on utilizing force against the delinquent nations. However, if the particular nation does not follow the rule or does not enforce it internally not because of inability to do so but because of the deliberate defiance of the rule, then it should be forced to comply. The enforcement in such cases could include economic sanctions, international travel restrictions, isolation, and military action by the international force acting on behalf of the international community.
The implementation of the enforcement mechanisms shall be the responsibility of the above-mentioned international coordinating body, established by international community. Obviously, this body, along with a significant resource to assist nations that have difficulty enforcing the rule inside their countries, should also possess a pretty strong military regiment, to building of which all nations should contribute, but it should also be accountable to the general assembly of nations (could be the existing or the renewed one).
Besides the “do not harm” rule, the international coordinating body should also propose for the worldwide discussion other rules that work towards mitigating conflicts. Some other rules that could be of help may include:
- Be helpful to those in need of help. This rule would require that the nations that are better off should use their vast resources to assist the countries that need help to improve the quality of life of their population. This assistance should be coordinated by the international body mentioned above. The same rule shall apply to individuals – those who have been lucky to acquire vast fortune should be obliged under the rule to spend a sizeable portion of that on assisting those in need. Practical implementation of such an assistance would surely benefit from international guidelines proposed by the international body, while nations should be responsible for the enforcement of this rule internally.
- Always try to be useful. This rule would call for everybody to plan and conduct its activities in such a way that these activities be always of some use to the others. Such a rule would probably be more of suggestive character rather than obligatory requirement but its mere introduction into international practice would certainly bring about additional positive results.
With these, and possibly other rules that might be worked out, the procedure of the acceptance and implementation should be similar to that described for the “do not harm” rule above.
What is written above is just an initial idea of how the things could be done in a better way, and does not intend to be an ultimate recipe by any means. It could serve as a good starting point for a wide discussion though, the discussion that is believed to be of great need these days.
Written by: Mr. Ulian Bilotkach
[email protected]
June 2, 2004[/FONT]
It is time to get serious indeed about the rules that govern people’s and nation’s lives on the planet, meaning that the universal rules for nations and people need to be internationally adopted and enforced.
Why the rules? Because without the rules and enforcement people and nations get into conflicts that impair mankind’s development and may even lead to global destruction. These conflicts are increasingly demanding more resources, thereby diverting those from contributing to accelerated development.
Why is it time? It appears that presently the conflicts between nations/people have advanced to the point where a large-scale destruction of life/infrastructure has become a real possibility. Though it was a possibility since the beginning of the Cold War, its probability was still low due to the powerful counter-force, the self-preservation instinct. Being embedded into humans over hundreds of thousands of years, instincts are powerful forces that drive people’s behavior, but nowadays groups have emerged that can defy this powerful instinct of self-preservation. The very fact of their emergence and their ability of damaging suicide at will is the result of the deepening conflicts.
These groups, also called the international terrorists, have openly proclaimed that they were fighting for their, and their siblings’ rights, which they believe were deprived as a result of the existing global/regional conflicts. There does not seem to be a good reason to believe that the suicide attackers are conducting their deadly acts because of some other motives; it is difficult to imagine that a healthy person that summarily enjoys his/her life would wish to interrupt it in such a horrible way just for fun of it. These people do not seem to be mentally sick; on the contrary, they are pretty smart in their deeds, which means that they know very well what they are doing, and it appears that their eventual goal is to get access to the weapons of mass destruction and to inflict as big damage as possible. Since there does not seem to exist a complete protection against suicide attackers, the realization of such a scenario appears to be just a matter of time.
The current response of the international community to the terror, which is to locate, isolate or destroy terrorists, is not going to achieve much since it does not address the root causes the terrorism feeds on, the underlying conflicts. No matter how efficient the anti-terror measures are, the terrorist organizations will not run out of new recruits until the motive for certain people to join their ranks disappear. This is why the international community should focus on ending the existing and preventing the future conflicts first of all, and that can be effectively achieved through the adoption and implementation of the appropriate rules of behavior by nations/people.
Many rules were proposed in human history for people and nations to live by but there still does not exist a system of universal rules that the vast majority of planet’s population would accept and adhere to. It seems that religions were most consistent in promoting rules of behavior for individuals but different religions had different rules and their efforts often led to the new conflicts rather than to the conflict prevention/mitigation. Nations have adopted their internal rules but those differed quite significantly from nation to nation. And at the international level, some rules were proposed but those either were not perfect or had no enforcement mechanism associated with them, or both.
Generally, people seem to understand what the good rules are but many are not particularly keen to follow those rules since they come in conflict often with what the human instincts dictate. Yet it is time to understand that it is paramount to live by the good rules rather than by instincts because the latter were formed in the ancient past, and are better suited for situations that existed then.
It seems that one of the most universal and applicable to both nations and individuals rule is the “do not harm” rule. It simply means that each individual (or nation) should behave in a way that does not cause harm to others, intentionally or unintentionally. It is easy to see that if this rule were followed by all people and nations, the humanity would not have had conflicts that they had and continue to have. There are several reasons why this rule was/is not followed:
- People (as individuals or groups) have always preferred to follow their instincts, which forced them to fight with each other for a better slice of whatever was available rather than to try to share that among themselves in a fair way;
- Lack of understanding that inflicting harm to others always backfires to those who have done so, sooner or later, giving rise to conflicts;
- There has never been a full understanding and/or consent in regard to what type of people’s actions cause harm to the others. As a result, many could be unaware that what they were doing was actually harmful for other people; and
- Even if they are aware they may still chose not to observe the rule on the grounds of getting personal benefits, and hoping they won’t be punished for that.
It follows from the above that the way to make this rule work is through reaching consensus throughout the world (or the most parts of the world) that this rule should be complied with by all, then reaching a worldwide agreement on types of actions that are not acceptable under the rule, and then instituting an international enforcement system. Since these measures would require global actions, they should be coordinated by the appropriate international body. None of the existing international bodies (such as UN etc.) seems to fit this role well so either a new body would have to be created, or one of the existing bodies should be transformed to be able to complete this function.
Some of the actions that would qualify as unacceptable at the level of nations under the said rule would include:
- Planning/conducting military aggression by one nation against the other;
- Providing state support to groups or individuals that are engaged in planning/conducting hostile actions against other nations aimed at getting control over other nations’ resources;
- Limiting access to the available information by the national population, providing false information, restricting freedom of movement and freedom of speech, and using violence to control people;
- Other actions as seen appropriate by international community.
Some of the actions of individuals that are unacceptable under this rule would be:
- Physical violence against other individuals of any kind. More specifically, this would include:
√ Killing
√ Inflicting injuries
√ Rape
√ Confinement
√ Other similar actions.
- Actions aimed at the seizure of other individual’s private property/possessions against their will. More specifically, these would include:
√ Burglaries
√ Robbery
√ Seizing others’ property through corruption, deceit, misleading
√ Other similar actions.
- Dissemination of a false information about other individuals to inflict moral harm and gain advantage over them. More specifically, this may encompass:
√ Spreading the deliberately distorted information about other individuals or groups of individuals through the mass media or other information channels
√ False witnessing against other individuals
√ Spreading rumors that contain false information about other individuals
√ Other similar actions.
- Actions aimed at benefiting from other individuals by misleading them, providing false information or withholding information from them. More specifically, these may involve:
√ Gaining advantage by withholding information from others
√ Profiting by utilizing others’ unawareness or by deliberately misinforming them
√ Other similar actions.
These are just a few actions that would lead to the break of the rule in question; a full list of such actions, including that at the groups within the nation level, should be defined in the process of the development of the universal rules system.
Once the initial draft of the list of actions is prepared, this needs to be widely publicized around the world and the global discussion of the forbidden actions should be conducted through the mass media and official channels. It is expected that the final action list will emerge as a result of this public debate, which the majority of people and nations agree to and commit themselves not to undertake.
The international community should then agree on the international enforcement mechanisms that will be applied to individual nations that do conduct the forbidden actions and/or do not properly implement the enforcement of the rule within their countries. Such mechanisms should focus on providing assistance to nations in achieving full compliance with the rule though, rather than on utilizing force against the delinquent nations. However, if the particular nation does not follow the rule or does not enforce it internally not because of inability to do so but because of the deliberate defiance of the rule, then it should be forced to comply. The enforcement in such cases could include economic sanctions, international travel restrictions, isolation, and military action by the international force acting on behalf of the international community.
The implementation of the enforcement mechanisms shall be the responsibility of the above-mentioned international coordinating body, established by international community. Obviously, this body, along with a significant resource to assist nations that have difficulty enforcing the rule inside their countries, should also possess a pretty strong military regiment, to building of which all nations should contribute, but it should also be accountable to the general assembly of nations (could be the existing or the renewed one).
Besides the “do not harm” rule, the international coordinating body should also propose for the worldwide discussion other rules that work towards mitigating conflicts. Some other rules that could be of help may include:
- Be helpful to those in need of help. This rule would require that the nations that are better off should use their vast resources to assist the countries that need help to improve the quality of life of their population. This assistance should be coordinated by the international body mentioned above. The same rule shall apply to individuals – those who have been lucky to acquire vast fortune should be obliged under the rule to spend a sizeable portion of that on assisting those in need. Practical implementation of such an assistance would surely benefit from international guidelines proposed by the international body, while nations should be responsible for the enforcement of this rule internally.
- Always try to be useful. This rule would call for everybody to plan and conduct its activities in such a way that these activities be always of some use to the others. Such a rule would probably be more of suggestive character rather than obligatory requirement but its mere introduction into international practice would certainly bring about additional positive results.
With these, and possibly other rules that might be worked out, the procedure of the acceptance and implementation should be similar to that described for the “do not harm” rule above.
What is written above is just an initial idea of how the things could be done in a better way, and does not intend to be an ultimate recipe by any means. It could serve as a good starting point for a wide discussion though, the discussion that is believed to be of great need these days.
Written by: Mr. Ulian Bilotkach
[email protected]
June 2, 2004[/FONT]
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