Rabat – The 2021 Global Assembly on the climate and ecological crisis selected over 100 citizens worldwide by civic lottery. The selected citizens urged the International community to recognize ecocide as an international crime under Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
During the event, the Global citizens’ Assembly discussed possible solutions and provided considerable recommendations to the governments and world leaders in attendance at COP26 conference.
The Assembly voted that “the crime of Ecocide should be enshrined in international and national laws, and that it should be firmly enforced.”
Legal experts worldwide define ecocide as “Unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.”
The representatives called on governments to enact their own national ecocide laws, urging it to be “firmly enforced alongside existing environmental protection laws.”
Bridges to the future, a co-working space based in Fez, served as a community host for the Moroccan representative who is featured among the selected participants.
Meanwhile, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) School of collective intelligence is responsible for the coordination of the Francophone and Arabic clusters at the global assembly.
The Global citizens’ Assembly is a new operating system for global governance and a demographic representation of people from all around the world who gather to learn about climate challenges, discuss and turn ideas into real-life solutions.
The UN Climate Conference COP26, held in Glasgow on November 1, is the first conference of its kind to guarantee ordinary citizens a seat at the global governance table.
“The Global Assembly has developed the most rigorous global sortition process ever achieved. It is also the first time that everyday citizens, anywhere in the world can participate through Community Assemblies,” said the Global Assembly in a press release.
The event featured speakers from the Global Assembly delivery team along with the President of COP26 Alok Sharma, former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Bob Watson, and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Declarations of the 2021 Global Assembly members
Members of the Assembly drafted a declaration for COP26 to address the climate and ecological crises in a fair and effective manner. The final version of the declaration will be published in March 2020.
The global assembly is set to endorse the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, emphasizing that the agreement should be monitored by the UN in collaboration with other relevant governance actors.
The declaration states that “Parties to the [Paris] agreement have to adopt immediate measures for transitioning to a sustainable low-carbon economy.”
As mitigation should be equitable between all countries, the assembly stressed that “developed countries should assist developing countries in building up autonomous capabilities for climate action, particularly in financial and technological terms.”
Global Assembly member Chom Chaiyabut from Thailand said: “As a leader of my village who fights for Mother Nature in my community for all my life, I believe the power of citizens’ assemblies such as the Global Assembly will pave the way for the fair and effective action we wish to see towards climate change.”
The assembly judged the current climate change decisions made globally as “not democratic” or “fair enough.” As a result, its members are asking for the voices of the most affected people to be given priority in the decision-making process.
As ecological crises lead to food insecurity, displacement, poverty, and diseases, the assembly calls for equal basic rights among the world population to prevent human rights violations and provide a sustainable environment for all.
The declaration also urged world citizens to coexist with nature and maintain a sustainable ecosystem.
The Global Assembly and the selection process
The Global Assembly is supported by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and COP26 President, Alok Sharma MP, and consists of a Core Assembly and Community Assemblies.
The Global Assembly will be held until February 28, 2022, and will offer grants of $500 (MAD 4,530) for people worldwide to run Community Assemblies.
The Core Assembly consists of 100 citizens selected by a global lottery based on Nasa population data, and who represent an accurate snapshot of the world’s population by gender, age, geography, education and attitude to climate change.
Anyone in the world is eligible to participate in the assembly through running or attending a community assembly.
Participants are supported by renowned experts to understand the climate and ecological crisis.
“In these locations, pools of potential participants have been recruited, from which, through sortition, the Core Assembly member is selected,” the statement said.
To ensure that the citizens’ assembly reflects the demographic profile of the global population, the organizers underlined that 60% of participants will come from Asia and 17% from Africa, half will be women and 70% will earn $10 a day or less.
